«We can Build You»! Some Reflections about Human Fate and Vocation

All you can drink: should we worry about quality?

All you can drink” specials are forbidden by law in several places. Authorities claim that establishments tend to offer low quality drinks when they use this type of promotion. In this paper, I elaborate a model to determine whether a monopolist produces higher or lower quality goods when using buffet pricing (all you can drink) instead of a two-part tariff. I find that the more profitable stra...

We Can Build the Future

An Inexpensive Micro-Goniophotometry You Can Build

This paper describes the design and use of a microgoniophotometer. The instrument, configured with a CCD video camera and microscope optics, is meant to resolve goniophotometric measurements to microscopic dimensions for the study of the interactions between ink and paper in a variety of non-impact printing applications. Data for ink jet systems is used to illustrate the use of the instrument. ...

Some Reflections about Virtual Organisations

One problem that arises with virtual organisations is to keep coherence. Electronic communication should not only be available but also be moderated. This is shown for email as well as for Internet-based voice communication in two different case studies: a co-operative university seminar between two countries and a commercial qualification project with participants from all over Germany. The pr...

Can we build a conscious machine?

The underlying physiological mechanisms of generating conscious states are still unknown. To make progress on the problem of consciousness, we will need to experimentally design a system that evolves in a similar way our brains do. Recent experimental data show that the multiscale nature of the evolving human brain can be implemented by reprogramming human cells. A hybrid system can be designed...