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Marketing Theory, 21 (2), 277 - 286. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593121992539 29 Kravets, O., Preece, C., & Maclaran, P. (2020). Editorial: Troubled times demand heroes: Heroic marketing and marketing heroes. The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk was welcomed with an even mix of horror and excitement. Moving beyond understanding vulnerability as a researcher's failure, Steadman reveals how memories and unexpected futures can trigger a researcher's vulnerability during fieldwork. [Extracted from the article]

In this work, the level of influence of the posts published by famous people on social networks on the formation of the cryptocurrency exchange rate is investigated. Celebrities who are familiar with the financial industry, especially with the cryptocurrency market, or are somehow connected to a certain cryptocurrency, such as Elon Musk with Dogecoin, are chosen as experts whose influence through social media posts on cryptocurrency rates is examined. This research is conducted based on statistical analysis. Real cryptocurrency exchange rate forecasts for the selected time period and predicted ones for the same period, obtained using three algorithms, are utilized as a dataset. This paper uses methods such as statistical hypotheses regarding the significance of Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Pearson’s correlation. It is confirmed that the posts by famous people on social networks significantly affect the exchange rates of cryptocurrencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study critically investigates the Dead Internet Theory, emphasizing how it emerged in the context of a changing digital environment. The growing internet seems to have disappeared somewhere between 2016 and 2017. The virtual world appears lifeless due to the growth of automated creatures and AI-generated content. Despite continuing high levels of human creativity and production, the widespread impact of bots raises significant concerns about the basic structure of the internet. Researchers anticipate that the internet will change beyond recognition in the future because to this transformation, which is being driven by apps like GPT-3. This study illuminates the consequences of online interactions by investigating the widespread impact of AI-driven models such as GPTs and the ensuing discussions regarding the dominant position of AI-generated content. This research examines the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated material, as evidenced by examples like Imperva's Bot Circulation Report, Twitter bots, Elon Musk's Twitter acquiring it, and phony YouTube views. Through the examination of notable cases like the Twitter bot scandal and the widespread trafficking of phony YouTube views, this study adds to a more comprehensive knowledge of the possible consequences of the increasing prevalence of automated entities in the online environment. Our findings predicted that 99.9% of all media may be AI generated, which raised concerns when ChatGPT became available in 2022. Furthermore, Imperva stated in 2016 that 52% of all Internet traffic is bots now, indicating bots replacing humans, forecasting a day when content generated by AI will dominate. This outcome give conformity to the idea of dead internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every utterance produced by a speaker has its own type and function. However, this research focuses on illocutionary speech acts. This research aims to describe the types and functions of illocutionary speech acts in the conversation between Elon Musk and the moderator at TED Talk 2022 and describe the function of these speech acts. This data is in the form of sentences and clauses in conversations between Elon Musk and Chris Anderson which contain illocutionary acts. The data source was collected through observation methods using transcribing and note-taking techniques by watching and listening to video to know the context. The data is analyzed qualitatively using the theory proposed by Searle to study various types of illocutionary acts, followed by the theory proposed by Leech regarding the functions of illocutionary acts. The data analysis method used in this study is constant comparative or often called the equivalent method. The problems in this research are (1) What speech acts are contained in the conversation between Elon Musk and the moderator and (2) What is the function of each utterance. The results show that there are 4 types of speech acts in the conversation between Elon Musk and the moderator, namely (1) Assertive, (2) Directive, (3) Commissive, and (4) Expressive. Based on the function of illocutionary speech, two functions are obtained, namely (1) Collaborative function and (2) Convival function. The researcher suggests that further research needs to be carried out to understand illocutionary acts in conversation to be able to provide information and it is also necessary to pay attention to the context and situation to understand the meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates a neglected aspect of charismatic authority: the problem of economic practices of charismatic leaders and their communities. Drawing on Weber's classical theory of charisma, I argue that charismatic communities and their ideologies economically operate on principles of gift and bounty. I demonstrate the value of this analysis on a contemporary case of Elon Musk's charisma and his involvement with the Dogecoin cryptocurrency through Twitter. Through analysis of Musk's performances and his admirers' online activity, I argue that to those who believed in Musk, his involvement constituted either a gift to the community or a bounty-hunter-like feat that further enhanced his charismatic authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OpenAI is a research organization founded by, among others, Elon Musk, and supported by Microsoft. In November 2022, it released ChatGPT, an incredibly sophisticated chatbot, that is, a computer system with which humans can converse. The capability of this chatbot is astonishing: as well as conversing with human interlocutors, it can answer questions about history, explain almost anything you might think to ask it, and write poetry. This level of achievement has provoked interest in questions about whether a chatbot might have something similar to human intelligence and even whether one could be conscious. Given that the function of a chatbot is to process linguistic input and produce linguistic output, we consider that the most interesting question in this direction is whether a sophisticated chatbot might have inner speech. That is: might it talk to itself, internally? We explored this via a conversation with 'Playground', a chatbot which is very similar to ChatGPT but more flexible in certain respects. We put to it questions which, plausibly, can only be answered if one first produces some inner speech. Here, we present our findings and discuss their philosophical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the publication strategies of legacy news outlets on Twitter following the company's acquisition by Elon Musk. We used SCImago Media Rankings to identify the news organizations with the highest online audiences, namely The Guardian, The New York Times, USA Today, The Independent, and The Washington Post. Data was acquired through the Twitter Academic API v2 and the SEMrush platform at the beginning of 2023 and covers all of 2022. The database includes website audits that monitor the web traffic of a domain, with the aggregate data subsequently processed using R packages and Atlas.ti. Our analyses show that a higher presence on Twitter leads to a substantive increase in social traffic, as seen with The Independent. This is in sharp contrast to the other news outlets. These differences remain irrespective of their topical news coverage, broadly focused on the Russo-Ukrainian war, or compositional feature in their messages, which largely lack typical Twitter features like hashtags and @-mentions. We conclude our analysis by discussing the communication strategies of news organizations on Twitter following the company's acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cryptocurrency market cap has experienced a great increase in recent years. However, large price fluctuations demonstrate the need for governance structures and identify whether there are market manipulations. In this article, we conduct three analyses—social media data analysis, blockchain data analysis, and price bubble analysis—to investigate whether market manipulation exists on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin platforms. Social media data analysis aims to find the reasons for price fluctuations. Blockchain data analysis is used to find detailed behavior of the manipulators. Price bubble analysis is used to investigate the relation between price fluctuation and manipulators' behavior. By using the three analyses, we show that market manipulation exists on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. However, market manipulation of Bitcoin is limited, and for most of Bitcoin's price fluctuations, we found other explanations. The price for Ethereum is the most sensitive to technical updates. Technical companies/teams usually hype some new concepts (e.g., ICO, DeFi), which causes a price spike. The price of Dogecoin has a high correlation with Elon Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter) activity, showing that influential individuals have the ability to manipulate its prices. In addition, the poor monetary liquidity of Dogecoin allows some users to manipulate its price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a review of the book "Elon Musk" by Walter Isaacson. The book provides a narrative biography of Elon Musk, highlighting his leadership qualities and how he has changed the world despite his perceived flaws. The author, a history professor, had the opportunity to shadow Musk for two years to document his work. The book covers Musk's early years, his various business ventures, and his leadership traits and behaviors. Trait theorists will find that Musk's drive, honesty, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and business knowledge align with their notions of effective leadership. However, they may be surprised by Musk's emotional instability. The book also explores Musk's leadership behaviors, including his job-centered management ability and his lack of concern for others. Overall, the book provides a thorough and well-investigated account of Musk's complex character and leadership style, making it useful for leadership scholars, students, and practitioners. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Luridica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current state of social media research struggles to keep pace with a social media ecosystem that features quickly proliferating new platforms and the reinvention of existing platforms. In this perspective article, we encourage social media researchers to adopt systems thinking perspectives to cope with this reality. By thinking systemically, we hope that scholars of social media may be able to uncover complex phenomena that may help to address some of the wicked problems in social media research. We also hope that the field may benefit from scholars discussing the implications of their work in ways that relate to the systemic context of the social media platforms that they study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even after Elon Musk announced Twitter Blue, subscription services such as Snapchat+, YouTube Premium and Meta Verified, remain an uncritiqued aspect of social media. Within this article, subscription services on social media take centre stage. This article focuses on three key points: First, subscription services have remained uncritiqued because of the blind spot created by the emphasis on data collection. Second, the Social Media Subscription Model (SMSM) now asserts social media as part of a mixed model (Fuchs 2020, 134) instead of only being considered as an advertising model. Third, applying the classical Marxian twist of capitalism as self-negating, the SMSM is also a structural response to a contradiction of "peak data", meaning how does social media sustain itself if commodifies all data? Stressing the necessity of viewing the SMSM and social media as part of a Mixed Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The contemporary business environment steered by forces of globalization, digitization and automation can only be navigated by a resilient workforce. This requires inculcating self-leadership (SL) traits in individuals, which will allow them to exercise self-direction and self-motivation required to survive high-strain situations. The SL characteristics most significantly reflected by Musk are self-goal setting, authenticity and responsibility. Least evidence was found for positive self-talk and self-cueing. This study aims to add to the repertoire of leadership studies, furnishing important implications for academia and practice. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors explore the dimensionality of SL through a systematic literature review. The authors also take the case of Elon Musk, one of the most resilient technopreneurs in the contemporary business world, and scrutinize his journey as a self-leader. Findings: The SL characteristics most significantly reflected by Musk are self-goal setting, authenticity and responsibility. Least evidence was found for positive self-talk and self-cueing. This study adds to the repertoire of leadership studies, furnishing important implications for academia and practice. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to explore the controversial Elon Musk's leadership style through the prism of SL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of Twitter users to Mastodon following Elon Musk's acquisition presents a unique opportunity to study collective behavior and gain insights into the drivers of coordinated behavior in online media. We analyzed the social network and the public conversations of about 75,000 migrated users and observed that the temporal trace of their migrations is compatible with a phenomenon of social influence, as described by a compartmental epidemic model of information diffusion. Drawing from prior research on behavioral change, we delved into the factors that account for variations of the effectiveness of the influence process across different Twitter communities. Communities in which the influence process unfolded more rapidly exhibit lower density of social connections, higher levels of signaled commitment to migrating, and more emphasis on shared identity and exchange of factual knowledge in the community discussion. These factors account collectively for 57% of the variance in the observed data. Our results highlight the joint importance of network structure, commitment, and psycho-linguistic aspects of social interactions in characterizing grassroots collective action, and contribute to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms that drive processes of behavior change of online groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a critical approach typical of humanities-based research, this article investigates the changing nature of toxic leadership in our digital world. Drawing on the perspective of media ecology, which asserts that the prevailing communication technologies at a given moment create the social conditions that, in turn, condition us, the authors illustrate how the digital logics of publicity, intransigence, impertinence, and impulsivity remake the contours of leadership. Based on a critical case study of Elon Musk's public management of Twitter, which has subsequently been rebranded as "X", it is argued that the four digital logics transform toxic leadership into digital authoritarianism, an unabashed form of authoritarian rule. A concluding section of the essay explores the implications of this evolution for traditional categories of leadership; the importance of attending to communication technologies in leadership research; and the individual, institutional, and social harms of digital authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the acquisition process of Twitter by Elon Musk. It will analyze the legal validity of Musk's initial claims for rescinding his offer, as well as Twitter's defense arguments. It will consider questions such as: Did Twitter cause a material adverse effect to its operations that would be a basis for Musk to avoid the deal? Did Musk run afoul of any regulatory requirements under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations? What impact did the ultimate sale of Twitter have on other stakeholders, such as corporate executives and non-executives, shareholders, employees. The paper further examines some of the resulting preand post-acquisition issues that emerged, why they may remain nagging issues, and the lessons learned from the Twitter purchase debacle for the future of corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically interrogates Elon Musk's celebrity image through an analysis of Musk's appearance in the podcast The Joe Rogan's Experience. It shows that the billionaire's public persona is a constitutive part of his corporate strategy, and introduces the concept of 'celebrity management' to theorise how the affordances of celebrity can be mobilised to create conditions for a company to operate. Combining celebrity studies with critical political economy, Musk's stardom is situated in the context of financialised capitalism, addressing the systemic contradictions contained (and artificially solved) in his image, while also demonstrating that it is tactically deployed to further financialised logics of his companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent medical breakthrough, Elon Musk's startup company Neuralink implanted the first brain chip in a human patient, purportedly for aiding paralysis. While certainly representing a significant medical milestone for many patients afflicted with debilitating brain and spinal cord injuries, as well as devastating neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, it must be noted that this very same technology can also be manipulated for human memory or cognitive enhancement. What happens if a brain chip were to be developed that can significantly improve either IQ (intelligence quotient) or memory, and these were then implanted in people to enhance their performance in highly competitive national examinations for college entrance or gaining employment in civil service positions? This article therefore discusses the ethical implications of this nascent technology platform, and whether its use in competitive national examinations should be banned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss the complexities and foresight of Mars colonization. There are many pioneers competing in a space race to Mars, for example, Elon Musk – SpaceX, Jeff Bezos – Blue Origin and Richard Branson – Virgin Orbit. The analyses are focused on the aerospace industry – the process of space adventures to Mars. Design/methodology/approach: This study offers new methodological approaches – the development of a complexity metric and system innovation mode – to analyze how the complexities relate to the systemic nature of innovation. The complexity metric and system innovation model can be applied in various industries. These analysis tools can help gain insights into the strategies for achieving the diffusion of commercial space. Findings: The analyses of findings have shown that, despite various attempts among the pioneers in a space race to colonize Mars (Elon Musk – SpaceX, Jeff Bezos – Blue Origin and Richard Branson – Virgin Orbit, among others), the aerospace industry has not yet reached a stage of commercialization. The commercial space to Mars is of low systemic nature at present. Many companies compete in a space race to develop technologies on a proprietary basis. However, the highest complexity level suggests a multinational and intergovernmental collaboration to achieve economies of scale and economies of scope as well as accelerate the process of technology diffusion – successful commercial space for the interplanetary settlement. Originality/value: The main contribution that shows originality and value of this paper is the development of a complexity metric and system innovation model which can be used to explore how the complexities relate to the systemic nature of innovation and how they relate to the strategies in managing technological innovations. The new methodological approaches can be used and applied to various industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022. Topics include Twitter continues to be a digital home to some, but like many homes, it is not free of conflict, power relations, and harm; and aiding the international reach of Black media in Britain (Sobande, 2020) and both the creation and accessibility of archives.

Despite the prominence of Durkheim in social theory, various threads of work did continue around the processes of private people coming together to form publics that cut across social categories such as collective identity. (https://twitter.com/fstflofscholars/status/1589273618995109892) The observation about Twitter and what constitutes the social here is apt and seems to be what Musk is missing. On October 27, 2022, the world's wealthiest person walked into the San Francisco headquarters of Twitter Inc. carrying a kitchen sink. Back in the spring of 2022, Musk posted a tweet saying, "Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy" (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1507777261654605828). [Extracted from the article]

Since the announcement of the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, the risks for the future of the social network suggest the advent of a "Frankenstein 2.0" – a notion that refers to large technology companies whose control escapes their creators. Behind this event, the question of technological drifts and their impact on society arises. This is an opportunity for governments, and in particular the Canadian government, which promotes open data and technology policies, to redefine the game rules. In this sense, some recommendations are proposed, especially to consolidate the normative framework of technologies in Canada. The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), currently in discussion at the Parliament, should go further in terms of the automated systems transparency and strengthen its requirements for the "algorithmic" data governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presenta un editorial que discute sobre la evolución en el ámbito empresarial, como el cambio de nombre de Facebook a Meta y la adquisición de Twitter por Elon Musk. También se destaca el papel creciente de la inteligencia artificial, incluyendo el uso de GPT-4 y la discusión en torno a su regulación. Se examina cómo la inteligencia artificial se utiliza en la investigación científica y se enfatiza la necesidad de transparencia y ética en su uso. El artículo concluye con un análisis de diversos artículos académicos en el ámbito de la comunicación y el audiovisual.

Purpose: Instead of merely adding a socially popular mission to its existing business goals, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has innovated its operations by working backwards from its mission of saving the planet by making and selling a vast number of electric cars in order to help remove a principal cause of an approaching global environmental disaster. Design/methodology/approach: When Elon Musk became CEO in 2008, Tesla's mission of saving the planet by replacing gasoline-driven cars with electric cars seemed a preposterous overreach. Findings: Tesla is not only making extraordinary progress towards the accomplishment of its mission, but the mission serves as an accelerator of its business generally and its innovations in particular. Practical implications: The example of CEO Musk showing up on the factory floor, and working shoulder to shoulder with the staff in teams and mobs to solve urgent bottleneck issues sets the tone of Tesla's workplace. The overriding preoccupation with accelerating innovation is enabled by modularity in design. Originality/value: A unique study of Tesla's post-Agile management innovations by an expert on Agile teams and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a textual analysis that explains how Elon Musk's sentiments in his Twitter content correlates with price and volatility in the Bitcoin market using the dynamic conditional correlation-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model, allowing less sensitive to window size than traditional models. After examining 10,850 tweets containing 157,378 words posted from December 2017 to May 2021 and rigorously controlling other determinants, we found that the tone of the world's wealthiest person can drive the Bitcoin market, having a Granger causal relation with returns. In addition, Musk is likely to use positive words in his tweets, and reversal effects exist in the relationship between Bitcoin prices and the optimism presented by Tesla's CEO. However, we did not find evidence to support linkage between Musk's sentiments and Bitcoin volatility. Our results are also robust when using a different cryptocurrency, i.e., Ether this paper extends the existing literature about the mechanisms of social media content generated by influential accounts on the Bitcoin market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starlink is a long-term project to address disparities in rural broadband Internet access that is led by SpaceX and Elon Musk. The project's goal is to launch thousands of smallsat-class satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) as part of a mega-constellation to provide continuous, high-speed Internet around the world. SpaceX believes that its technology can outperform the competition by using shallow orbits. When compared to traditional geosynchronous satellite Internet infrastructure, Starlink promises lower latency and higher-quality connections to its customers (Walker & Elliott, 2021). This study aims to investigate the public perception of the Starlink Satellite project in Thailand. A quantitative approach was used and an online questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a convenience sample of 1,258 participants in Thailand. Binary regression analysis was performed to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the public perception of the Starlink Satellite project in Thailand could be described by gender, age, computer, laptop, tablet, wearable device, Internet duration, mobile Internet, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Consequently, Starlink should devise an effective strategy to entice users to increase their awareness and use satellite Internet in countries where fibre Internet is more affordable and convenient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses judicial decisions related to mergers and acquisitions reported by the Annual Survey Working Group. In Crispo v. Musk, a motion was granted by the Delaware Court of Chancery to dismiss, in part, holding that Luigi Crispo did not have standing to seek an order of specific performance of a merger agreement against Elon Musk and entities he controlled. In SPay, Inc. v. Stack Media Inc., the Court denied a motion to dismiss a buyer's claims for breach of contract and others.

The article focuses on four case summaries, including Tesla's dilemma in entering the Indian electric car market, a financial model for a new dealership, cultural conflicts in New York City, and the competitive rivalry in the global semiconductor market. Topics discussed include market entry strategy, valuation, cultural differences, and geopolitical scenarios.

Copyright of Amazonia Investiga is the property of PRIMMATE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Are humans destined for mass redundancy? If Elon Musk is right, we may well be. Brian Runciman MBCS and ChatGPT team up to analyse the latest BCS research about AI's capabilities and find a very different story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to imagining new worlds, there is no better new world than a literally brand new one. Mars is the closest option, and humans recently directed a few sophisticated objects toward it. Billionaire Elon Musk is planning to turn it into a colony. Science fiction has imagined Mars and many other new worlds and has routinely reflected on real or impending contradictions developing on Earth. The contradictions are, in a sense, where the new worlds are imagined from, but the new worlds are often imagined as settler colonies located somewhere else. This article sketches the long-term evolution of science fiction colonialism. It surveys the ways in which science fiction has engaged with settler colonialism as a specific mode of domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

America does not tax its richest citizens, such as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, at all. This Article argues that part of the reason is the paradox that under current income tax law and theory, taxing the rich would cost resources that could be made available to benefit the not-rich. The Article explores the paradox in theory and practice, then points to ways to move beyond it. Taxing the rich will mean accepting compelling justifications for doing so other than providing resources to the not-rich. We must either pay the price or reset the terms of the debate to move society forward by breaking up large concentrations of private wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to improve the predictability power of a machine learning method by proposing a two-stage prediction method. We use Group Modeling Data Handling (GMDH)-type neural network method to eliminate the user role in feature selection. To consider recent shocks in Bitcoin market, we consider three periods, before COVID-19, after COVID-19, and after Elon Musk's tweeter activity. Using time-scale analysis, we decomposed the data into different scales. We further investigate the forecasting accuracy across different frequencies. The findings show that in shorter period the first, second and third lag of daily prices and trade volume produce valuable information to predict Bitcoin price while the seven days lag can improve the prediction power over longer period. The results indicate a better performance of the wavelet base GMDH-neural network in comparison with the standard method. This reveals the importance of trade frequencies' impact on the forecasting power of models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex ratio theory suggests why mating practices have become dysfunctional in the West and other regions. Spain, Japan, and over 20 other nations are on course to have their populations halved by 2100, dramatically aging their citizenry. Experts and opinion makers warn that a demographic collapse cannot be absorbed by our current social order; Elon Musk proclaims this to be "the biggest threat to human civilization." Statistics from the Nordic countries--the world's most gender-equal region--indicate that subjective perceptions of the sex ratio in modern environments drive singledom and low reproduction. Scandinavia has the world's highest occurrence of one-person households: 43-46%. In the past decade, the Norwegian fertility rate dropped from 2.0 to 1.5. Sex ratio studies suggest that women's perception of there being few acceptable partners activates a polygynous mindset, which in prosperous, monogamous societies drives promiscuity to the detriment of pair-bonding. More than 6 million years of hominin evolution under promiscuous, polygynous, and monogamous regimes shaped mate preferences that evoke different cultural and behavioral responses as environments change. The Church's imposition of lifelong monogamy contributed to the emergence of the modern world, but if this world's gender-equal societies no longer motivate reproduction, being more open to polygyny could be worth considering as a means for increasing fertility. This article makes this case by exploring hominin mating from our last common ancestor with chimpanzees--through the genus Homo's forager and agricultural periods--to modern Scandinavians. In the past millennium, mating practices have coevolved with the emergence of modernity, necessitating frequent cultural updates. An evolutionary analysis of Nordic works of literature illuminates the ways in which ideological narratives influence reproductive norms. The insights gleaned are considered in the context of people's perceived sex ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter, one of the most important social media platforms, has been in the headlines regularly since its acquisition by Elon Musk in October 2022. This acquisition has had a strong impact on the employees, functionality, and discourse on Twitter. So far, however, there has been no analysis that examines the perception of the acquisition by the users on the platform itself. For this purpose, in this paper, we use georeferenced Tweets from the US and classify them using a polarity-based sentiment analysis. We find that the number of Tweets about Twitter and Elon Musk has increased significantly, as have negative sentiments on the subject. Using a spatial hot spot analysis, we find distinct centres of discourse, but no clear evidence of their significant change over time. On the West Coast, however, we suspect the first signs of polarisation, which could be an important indication for the future development of discourse on Twitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space has long cultivated the human imagination. For eons, man has looked to it for guidance and inspiration. The earliest seafarers relied on the stars to navigate the Earth’s oceans; the faithful of many a religion beseeched the heavens for guidance; and the philosopher, the artist, the writer, and the poet looked to the endless sky for inspiration. As early as the 1800, that fascination had morphed into something deeper and fantastical at the time. The idea of man embarking boldly into space, a devout confidence that our destiny as species was no longer exclusively tied to the Earth. The rapid development of spaceflight technology during the space race between the U.S. and U.S.S.R in the Cold War era made such earlier fantastical propositions now a plausible, if still distant reality. The national governments of states around the world scrambled to formulate new laws, regulations, and international treaties to deal with the rapidly changing reality of spaceflight. These laws and treaties, products of their time, acknowledged the possible assistance of non-state actors, but never truly accounted for the possibility of a mostly or wholly civilian space market; a market that has rapidly begun to grow and expand as state actors, like NASA, have started withdrawing from direct activity and ceding exclusive control of the field. The void left by this withdraw has created a “Gold Rush”- like market, and billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have rushed in to capitalize on the opportunities now open those with the capital and means to take advantage of them. These investors (and prospective ones), however, are not only contemplating just trips into space. They are looking farfurther, to the possible mining of resource-rich and plentiful space bodies, and even the colonization of other celestial bodies. The law, domestically and internationally, and whether it be treaty or regulatory, lags far behind in this field, and is woefully obsolete or even simply absent. This note examines the most important historical and current treaty and regulatory efforts in the field across several key areas of concern (including: health & safety, environment, property rights & wealth inequality, and international competition and government cooperation) and provides possible solutions to these concerns and a way forward that will allow mankind to continue to embark on its new destiny amongst the stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tertium Linguistic Journal / Pólrocznik Jezykoznawczy Tertium is the property of Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the most prominent intellectual attempts to grapple with human extinction in recent decades is existential risk studies. For its proponents, like Nick Bostrom and Toby Ord, there is a one-in-six chance that humanity will go extinct in the next century, whether from an asteroid hit, nuclear Armageddon or misaligned artificial intelligence. The field has powerful supporters, with Silicon Valley billionaires like Elon Musk and Jaan Tallinn donating large sums to institutions researching existential risk. In this article, I consider the ideological function of the imaginaries of catastrophe proposed by existential risk studies. To this end, the article begins by examining the distinctive mode of politics, termed extinctiopolitics, elaborated by Bostrom and Ord. Via a critical comparison with the concept of biopolitics, I suggest that extinctiopolitics aims to optimise the future life of humanity through the prediction and prevention of risks that threaten its annihilation. Borrowing the Freudian notion of screen memory, I then argue that extinctiopolitics both acknowledges and represses the ecocidal tendencies of contemporary capitalism. The image of the collective death of the species evokes a range of disastrous events in the present, especially the climate crisis, but in such a way that their social conditions are obscured. By way of conclusion, I briefly reflect on how science fiction texts use the image of human extinction to unpick the ideological manoeuvres of extinctiopolitics and restage the real contradictions of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the early 2020s fostering an array of intensified climate-driven catastrophes, a key question is how humanity will respond to its impending transgressions of climatic and ecosystemic tipping points. In this light, this article explores how some of the world's richest entrepreneurs and companies resort to desperate science fiction, that is, to increasingly drastic techno-optimistic ventures. More precisely, the article zooms in on plans put forward and financially supported by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Google in order to show how these ventures manifest as (1) fanciful plans of leaving Earth and settling on other planets, (2) major geoengineering schemes in which the Earth System becomes the object of terraforming and (3) attempts to manipulate human behaviour via big data. Furthermore, the article argues that these three forms of desperate science fiction are deeply problematic, because they siphon attention away from important democratic conversations about which degrowth-models societies across the planet should pursue and seek to develop. To change this, the article argues, we need to see the three forms of desperate science fiction advanced by Musk, Bezos, Gates and Google for what they are: deceptive attempts to preserve a deeply unjust and destructive economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been over four decades since organic semiconducting materials were said to revolutionize the way we interact with electronics. As many had started to argue that organic semiconductors are a dying field of research, we have recently seen a rebirth and a major push towards adaptive on-body computing using organic materials. Whether assisted by the publicity of neuroprosthetics through technological giants (e.g., Elon Musk) or sparked by software capabilities to handle larger datasets than before, we are witnessing a surge in the design and fabrication of organic electronics that can learn and adapt at the physiological interface. Organic materials, especially conjugated polymers, are envisioned to play a key role in the next generation of healthcare devices and smart prosthetics. This prospective is a forward-looking journey for materials makers aiming to (i) uncover generational shortcomings of conjugated polymers, (ii) highlight how fundamental chemistry remains a vital tool for designing novel materials, and (iii) outline key material considerations for realizing electronics that can adapt to physiological environments. The goal is to provide an application-guided overview of design principles that must be considered towards next generation organic semiconductors for adaptive electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current state of capitalist digital telepathies, or what I will call telepathy 3.0, presents a serious threat to the prospects of human freedom (Žižek 2020). Notably, the capitalist race to develop telepathics by Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook/Meta, Elon Musk's Neuralink and others represents an intensification of surveillance capitalism (Zuboff 2019: 206). Through an examination of tech-sector marketing literature and industry critics this article examines contemporary development of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), Neural Interfaces (NIs) and intensified social networks, revealing the expansion of surveillance capitalism and its shift into neurocapitalist telepathics. Is there an alternative to the corporate dystopia promised by telepathy 3.0? This article argues for a more soulful and speculative form of telepathics in fields including art, philosophy, design, architecture, engineering, cybernetics and even psychology. This tradition of prophetic art and human compassion must be nurtured in the face of massive corporate-led investments in predictive technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disclosure requirements in business contracts of mergers and acquisition remain somewhat nebulous with attendant post-contract quagmire and disputes between buyers and sellers. This paper aims to initiate a conceptual discussion on disclosure and diligence in acquisition contract with a slant on the Musk-Twitter acquisition and to propose a framework for achieving conflict-free acquisition. The paper draws insight from extant theorisation of disclosures in mergers, acquisitions, and risk sharing. Approach: The paper is conceptual and applies a critical discussion of current professional and scholarly literature toward a conceptual framework. Findings: based on the review of professional and scholarly papers, the paper finds apparent ambiguity regarding disclosure requirements during contract of acquisition. It also finds new clarity bourgeoning with newly decided business acquisition cases and new research regarding contestations that emerge after signing acquisition contracts. Furthermore, there is a paucity of a scholarly framework to proffer a guide to the seller and buyer toward reducing grey issues and attendant conflicts. Implications: the findings offer professional and academic implications regarding the need for caution, information, and advice in acquisition contracts. The paper is also significant for business schools as it provides a current teaching case on the dilemma in mergers and acquisition contracts. Furthermore, this paper initiates a new research agenda for further researchers to extend the discussion on acquisition contracts by top investors. Value: Using the most current case, the paper contributes to the field of merger and acquisition contracts by proposing a framework to reduce conflict and risks in corporate acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the development of Starship spacecraft by private rocket company SpaceX. Topics discussed include the plan of U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ames Research Center planetary scientist Jennifer Heldmann to use Starship to probe lunar ice, the failure of NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission, and the objectives of SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk in developing Starship.

Starlink, the satellite Internet constellation of Elon Musk's SpaceX, faced signal jamming recently near conflict areas of Ukraine, amid the ongoing invasion by Russia, drawing global attention to space law. It has been argued that necessary legislations have to address the contours of cyber defense in the area of space law. This includes testing the validity of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, 2001, against the Outer Space Treaty, 1967, if damages are caused to satellites from the geographical confines of earth through cyberwarfare. This paper seeks to address this issue with specific cases from the past. Further, it endeavors to understand the interface between space law and cyberlaw in the context of cyberwarfare. The paper highlights the gray areas in cyberwarfare dispute resolution and analyzes them where legislation is lacking or insufficient in its scope and applicability. The paper also touches on laws regarding exploration of outer space for mineral and other resources of economic importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tweets seem to impact diverse assets, especially during stressful periods. However, their interrelations during stressful events may change. Cryptos are apparently more sensitive to the sentiment spread by tweets. Therefore, a construct could be formed to study such complex interrelation during stressful events. This study found an interesting outcome while investigating three major asset classes (namely, Equity, Gold and Bond) alongside negative sentiment (derived from tweets of Elon Musk) and Dogecoin (an emerging asset class) from 1 June 2015 to 20 February 2022. Negative sentiment emerged as the significant risk transmitter, while Gold emerged as the significant net recipient of shocks (risk). Interestingly, Dogecoin was found to be less impacted and not impactful (not transmitting shock and receiving tiny shocks) at the same time. In fact, the interconnectedness between negative sentiment (percolated through Twitter) and Dogecoin prices was found to be rather feeble. Further, the study showed that the COVID-19 breakout and Brexit referendum in 2016 were less stressful events compared to the Greek debt crisis back in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cet article1 étudie la manière dont un marché se structure autour de Hyperloop, le train à hyper grande vitesse, proposé en 2013 par Elon Musk. Les auteurs montrent que Hyperloop porte la mythologie, au sens barthien, de la possibilité pour l'humain de maîtriser le temps et l'espace. Ils lient sémiologie et matérialité, et montrent que le sens est construit au travers des textes et du récit, dont la spécificité peut influencer la structure des marchés et ce qui y circule. Ils développent le concept de matérialité ambiguë: une dichotomie entre la matérialité d'un objet technologique et ses marchés, permise par la nature mythologique de l'objet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]