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"Smith, Steven D."
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The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity
This book considers how the modern concept of
\"conscience\" turns the historic commitment on its head, in a way
that underlies the decadence of modern society.
Steven D. Smith's books are always anticipated with great
interest by scholars, jurists, and citizens who see his work on
foundational questions surrounding law and religion as shaping the
debate in profound ways. Now, in The Disintegrating Conscience
and the Decline of Modernity , Smith takes as his starting
point Jacques Barzun's provocative assertion that \"the modern era\"
is coming to an end. Smith considers the question of decline by
focusing on a single theme-conscience-that has been central to much
of what has happened in Western politics, law, and religion over
the past half-millennium. Rather than attempting to follow that
theme step-by-step through five hundred years, the book adopts an
episodic and dramatic approach by focusing on three main figures
and particularly portentous episodes: first, Thomas More's
execution for his conscientious refusal to take an oath mandated by
Henry VIII; second, James Madison's contribution to Virginia law in
removing the proposed requirement of religious toleration in favor
of freedom of conscience; and, third, William Brennan's pledge to
separate his religious faith from his performance as a Supreme
Court justice. These three episodes, Smith suggests, reflect in
microcosm decisive turning points at which Western civilization
changed from what it had been in premodern times to what it is
today. A commitment to conscience, Smith argues, has been a central
and in some ways defining feature of modern Western civilization,
and yet in a crucial sense conscience in the time of Brennan and
today has come to mean almost the opposite of what it meant to
Thomas More. By scrutinizing these men and episodes, the book seeks
to illuminate subtle but transformative changes in the commitment
to conscience-changes that helped to bring Thomas More's world to
an end and that may also be contributing to the disintegration of
(per Barzun) \"the modern era.\"
eBook
X-Men: Legion : Shadow King rising
David Haller is no ordinary mutant. Son of Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, David's incredible mental powers fractured his mind and now, each of his personalities controls a different ability! And they're not all friendly, as Xavier and the New Mutants find out the hard way! But as Legion struggles to control the chaos in his head, he attracts the attention of one of Xavier's oldest and most malevolent foes: Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King, who's secretly been stalking and manipulating the X-Men and their allies. When the Shadow King sinks his hooks deep into David's mind, will two teams of X-Men be enough to defeat him -- or will David be the key to the villain's ultimate victory? Includes the Muir Island Saga storyline.
BOOK
The Genetic Basis for Bacterial Mercury Methylation
Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin produced in natural environments from inorganic mercury by anaerobic bacteria. However, until now the genes and proteins involved have remained unidentified. Here, we report a two-gene cluster, hgcA and hgcB, required for mercury methylation by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA. In either bacterium, deletion of hgcA, hgcB, or both genes abolishes mercury methylation. The genes encode a putative corrinoid protein, HgcA, and a 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxin, HgcB, consistent with roles as a methyl carrier and an electron donor required for corrinoid cofactor reduction, respectively. Among bacteria and archaea with sequenced genomes, gene orthologs are present in confirmed methylators but absent in nonmethylators, suggesting a common mercury methylation pathway in all methylating bacteria and archaea sequenced to date.
Journal Article
Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law
Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law
discusses legal, political, and cultural difficulties that arise
from the crisis of authority in the modern world.
Is there any connection linking some of the maladies of modern
life-\"cancel culture,\" the climate of mendacity in public and
academic life, fierce conflicts over the Constitution, disputes
over presidential authority? Fictions, Lies, and the Authority
of Law argues that these diverse problems are all a
consequence of what Hannah Arendt described as the disappearance of
authority in the modern world. In this perceptive study, Steven D.
Smith offers a diagnosis explaining how authority today is based in
pervasive fictions and how this situation can amount to, as Arendt
put it, \"the loss of the groundwork of the world.\"
Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law considers a
variety of problems posed by the paradoxical ubiquity and absence
of authority in the modern world. Some of these problems are
jurisprudential or philosophical in character; others are more
practical and lawyerly-problems of presidential powers and
statutory and constitutional interpretation; still others might be
called existential. Smith's use of fictions as his purchase for
thinking about authority has the potential to bring together the
descriptive and the normative and to think about authority as a
useful hypothesis that helps us to make sense of the empirical
world. This strikingly original book shows that theoretical issues
of authority have important practical implications for the kinds of
everyday issues confronted by judges, lawyers, and other members of
society. The book is aimed at scholars and students of law,
political science, and philosophy, but many of the topics it
addresses will be of interest to politically engaged citizens.
eBook
Spillover Effects in Subjective Performance Evaluation: Bias and the Asymmetric Influence of Controllability
We examine how subjective performance evaluations are influenced by the level and controllability of an accompanying measure of a separate performance dimension. In our experiment, supervisors evaluate the office administration performance of a hypothetical subordinate. We find that supervisors' subjective evaluations are directionally influenced by an accompanying objective measure of sales performance, even after excluding participants who perceive informativeness across measures. Consistent with concerns for fairness and motivation, we also find an asymmetric uncontrollability effect—supervisors' evaluations are higher when an uncontrollable factor decreases the subordinate's sales (i.e., they compensate for bad luck), but are not lower when the uncontrollable factor increases the subordinate's sales (i.e., they do not punish for good luck). This evidence suggests that supervisors use discretion provided to evaluate performance on one task to adjust for perceived deficiencies in the evaluation of performance on other tasks. Our study integrates theories of cognitive bias and motivation, highlighting the need to consider the potentially interactive effects of different performance measures in multi-task settings.
Journal Article
Rapid and Repetitive Inactivation of SARS‐CoV‐2 and Human Coronavirus on Self‐Disinfecting Anionic Polymers
While the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic affirms an urgent global need for effective vaccines as second and third infection waves are spreading worldwide and generating new mutant virus strains, it has also revealed the importance of mitigating the transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 through the introduction of restrictive social practices. Here, it is demonstrated that an architecturally‐ and chemically‐diverse family of nanostructured anionic polymers yield a rapid and continuous disinfecting alternative to inactivate coronaviruses and prevent their transmission from contact with contaminated surfaces. Operating on a dramatic pH‐drop mechanism along the polymer/pathogen interface, polymers of this archetype inactivate the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, as well as a human coronavirus surrogate (HCoV‐229E), to the minimum detection limit within minutes. Application of these anionic polymers to frequently touched surfaces in medical, educational, and public‐transportation facilities, or personal protection equipment, can provide rapid and repetitive protection without detrimental health or environmental complications. In the presence of water, the low pH that develops on nanostructured anionic block polymers prepared as stand‐alone films or surface coatings successfully inactivates pathogenic coronaviruses such as SARS‐CoV‐2 by at least 99.9% in just a few minutes. This class of sulfonated materials serves as a new and expedient route to combat the transmission of disease.
Journal Article
Connecting network properties of rapidly disseminating epizoonotics
BACKGROUND: To effectively control the geographical dissemination of infectious diseases, their properties need to be determined. To test that rapid microbial dispersal requires not only susceptible hosts but also a pre-existing, connecting network, we explored constructs meant to reveal the network properties associated with disease spread, which included the road structure. METHODS: Using geo-temporal data collected from epizoonotics in which all hosts were susceptible (mammals infected by Foot-and-mouth disease virus, Uruguay, 2001; birds infected by Avian Influenza virus H5N1, Nigeria, 2006), two models were compared: 1) ‘connectivity’, a model that integrated bio-physical concepts (the agent’s transmission cycle, road topology) into indicators designed to measure networks (‘nodes’ or infected sites with short- and long-range links), and 2) ‘contacts’, which focused on infected individuals but did not assess connectivity. RESULTS: The connectivity model showed five network properties: 1) spatial aggregation of cases (disease clusters), 2) links among similar ‘nodes’ (assortativity), 3) simultaneous activation of similar nodes (synchronicity), 4) disease flows moving from highly to poorly connected nodes (directionality), and 5) a few nodes accounting for most cases (a ‘‘20:800 pattern). In both epizoonotics, 1) not all primary cases were connected but at least one primary case was connected, 2) highly connected, small areas (nodes) accounted for most cases, 3) several classes of nodes were distinguished, and 4) the contact model, which assumed all primary cases were identical, captured half the number of cases identified by the connectivity model. When assessed together, the synchronicity and directionality properties explained when and where an infectious disease spreads. CONCLUSIONS: Geo-temporal constructs of Network Theory’s nodes and links were retrospectively validated in rapidly disseminating infectious diseases. They distinguished classes of cases, nodes, and networks, generating information usable to revise theory and optimize control measures. Prospective studies that consider pre-outbreak predictors, such as connecting networks, are recommended.
Journal Article
Price Transparency and Patient Engagement: Social Messaging Matters
To examine the effects of price transparency and prosocial messaging on price-protected consumers' health care choices as a potential cost-saving strategy to manage rising US health care expenditures.
Cross-sectional study. Participants were recruited to complete a basic questionnaire via Amazon's Mechanical Turk program. Participants' selections were subsequently collected and analyzed.
Participants (N = 567) selected a sleep study provider from 5 options, with manipulations including financial responsibility, provision of price information, and a prosocial message encouraging high-value options.
Price transparency increased the selection of lower-cost options among participants who were solely responsible for paying for their own health care expenses. For participants whose insurance paid for health care expenses, both price transparency and prosocial messaging were necessary to choose lower-cost options.
The study highlights the importance of considering both financial and social factors in patient engagement initiatives, suggesting that a combination of price transparency and prosocial messaging can influence health care choices and potentially contribute to cost-saving strategies in the US health care system.
Journal Article
The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
Familiar accounts of religious freedom in the United States often tell a story of visionary founders who broke from the centuries-old patterns of Christendom to establish a political arrangement committed to secular and religiously neutral government. These novel commitments were supposedly embodied in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. But this story is largely a fairytale, Steven D. Smith says in this incisive examination of a much-mythologized subject. He makes the case that the American achievement was not a rejection of Christian commitments but a retrieval of classic Christian ideals of freedom of the church and freedom of conscience.
Smith maintains that the distinctive American contribution to religious freedom was not in the First Amendment, which was intended merely to preserve the political status quo in matters of religion. What was important was the commitment to open contestation between secularist and providentialist understandings of the nation which evolved over the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, far from vindicating constitutional principles, as conventional wisdom suggests, the Supreme Court imposed secular neutrality, which effectively repudiated this commitment to open contestation. Rather than upholding what was distinctively American and constitutional, these decisions subverted it. The negative consequences are visible today in the incoherence of religion clause jurisprudence and the intense culture wars in American politics.
eBook