PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Societal collapse is underway and museums can be unlikely heroes, suggests expert

A hard-hitting appraisal of the role museums can play in the face of looming societal collapse is available today

2023-09-18
(Press-News.org) Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat presents evidence and theories around collapse and extinction, while locating the responsibility of museums in our changing world  

Stressors like climate trauma, corporate deceit and political incompetence signal the threat of societal collapse, a new book asserts.

This claim lays the foundation for exploring arguments of ‘collapsology’ in new work by Robert R. Janes Ph.D., Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat. The book also contends with the unique role that can be played by museums during a mounting climate crisis.

“Social ecology is an integral and moral dimension of the collapse and the crisis we face – that social and environmental issues are intertwined, and both must be considered simultaneously,” Dr Janes, a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, explains.

“Our collective failure to honor this relationship lies at the core of our failure as species. It befits all museums, irrespective of their disciplinary focus and loyalties, to bridge the divide between nature and culture in all that they do.”

The brink of collapse

Janes identifies six categories in which a number of key societal threats fall under, ranging from civilizational overshoot to ecomodernism.

The era of modernity, along with technological and industrial advancements, has also ushered in unsustainable economic growth, violence and warfare, dispossession and genocide. These interplay with other stressors like political incompetence and corporate deceit, as governments worldwide plan to produce more coal, gas and oil by 2030 than is allowable.

Janes, who is the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the journal Museum Management and Curatorship, examines these threats individually and in tandem as he calls attention to ‘the madness of humanity.’

He questions: “Recognizing what we know about civilizational overshoot, ecological overshoot, climate trauma, political and corporate deceit and ecomodernism, is this not madness?

“Madness that we in the Western world are failing to react with intelligence, courage, and dispatch to confront what is now being called an existential threat to our species, not to mention all we have created throughout prehistoric, oral, and written history.”

Finding refuge in the museum

Museums, understood as keepers of bygone eras and bastions of preservation, occupy a unique space within society with untapped potential.

Janes suggests that their role remains largely unexplored: “Museums have a much more enduring role to play in society by clearly demonstrating that no one group or ideology possesses the sole truth about how society should conduct itself.”

“A competent museum is testimony to the fact that a healthy society is a multitude of competing interests, aspirations, plans, and proposals that cannot be ignored in favor of economic utility.”

Janes also argues that there are ethical obligations that museums are especially well-placed to embody and pursue. These include being open to influence and impact outside the museum, being responsive to citizens’ interests and concerns, and being fully transparent in fulfilling these first two expectation.

The author explains: “Museums have the opportunity and obligation to provide the means of intellectual self-defense with which to both resist the status quo and question the way in which society is governed.”

An urgent appeal for our shared futures

Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat unflinchingly examines the possibilities of societal collapse, resulting global scenarios and hopes for an evolving community-centered practice.

Concisely breaking down concepts and theories, Janes intentionally conducts this conversation beyond the field of museum and heritage practitioners, underscoring the necessity of a collaborative global response to the key threats he outlines.

Although he paints a grim picture, Janes – also the founder of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice – insists that hope is still central to the quest for solutions: “In thinking about the uncertain future of museums in a world beset by unprecedented challenges, it is clear that hope is an essential ingredient in any successful outcome for museums, yet it is insufficient on its own.”

Janes invites his readers – whether museum practitioners or not – to contend with the threats facing us as a global community and consider the roles we can occupy in the face of the indicators of collapse.

He says: “There is no question that we are living through the intensification of global climate trauma, casting the shadow of collapse. The underlying premise of this book is that each of us has something valuable to offer. There is no correct approach. We cannot stop global warming, but we can confront the threat of collapse.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Transfer of ageing: New drug class prevents key ageing mechanism in organ transplants

2023-09-18
(18 September 2023, Athens, Greece) A novel study has shown that Senolytics, a new class of drugs, have the potential to prevent the transfer of senescence*, a key mechanism of ageing, and the associated physical and cognitive impairments in recipients of older donor organs. 1 The pioneering research, presented today at the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress 2023, opens promising avenues for expanding the organ donor pool and enhancing patient outcomes. By transplanting older donor organs into younger ...

Ultrasound scans by doctors in emergency departments to diagnose deep vein thrombosis halve patients’ stay and may help to reduce over-crowding

2023-09-18
Barcelona, Spain: If doctors in hospital emergency departments are trained to carry out ultrasound on patients with suspected deep vein thrombosis (DVT), they can nearly halve the time the patients spend in these departments.   Dr Ossi Hannula, an emergency medicine specialist at the Wellbeing Services County of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland, who presented the findings at the European Emergency Medicine Congress today (Monday), said his findings could help to reduce overcrowding in emergency departments ...

Brain-altering parasite turns ants into zombies at dawn and dusk

Brain-altering parasite turns ants into zombies at dawn and dusk
2023-09-17
Imagine coming-to, jaws gripping the top of a swaying blade of grass, unaware of how you got there. That's the reality for ants infected with the lancet liver fluke, a tiny parasitic flatworm. Liver flukes have a complicated, almost insanely conceived life cycle, which begins with the hijacking of the ant’s brain. The unsuspecting ant climbs up and clamps its powerful jaws onto the top of a blade of grass, making it more likely to be eaten by grazers such as cattle and deer. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Plant ...

Neonatal kidney transplantation offers new hope in the organ shortage crisis, study shows

2023-09-17
(17 September 2023, Athens, Greece) New research, presented today at the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress 2023, demonstrates that neonatal* kidney transplantation can offer a ‘game-changing’ solution to the pressing organ shortage crisis. 1 To assess the feasibility of neonatal organ donation, researchers analysed neonatal mortality in the United States and the long-term development of these kidneys after transplantation as well as the ethical and social considerations surrounding the procedure. 1 The study revealed that out of the 21,000 infants who lost their lives ...

Islet transplantation boosts long-term survival in kidney transplant recipients with type 1 diabetes

2023-09-17
(17 September 2023, Athens, Greece) Islet transplantation significantly reduces the risk of transplantation failure and enhances life expectancy in individuals with type 1 diabetes who undergo kidney transplantation, a new study has revealed. 1 This breakthrough research, presented today at the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress 2023, compared the long-term outcomes of patients with type 1 diabetes who underwent kidney transplantation and received an islet transplantation*, with patients who underwent kidney transplantation and then managed their diabetes with insulin ...

Breakthrough model utilizes movie-watching FMRI and eye-tracking to predict cognitive scores

Breakthrough model utilizes movie-watching FMRI and eye-tracking to predict cognitive scores
2023-09-16
In a recent article published in Volume 3 of the journal Psychoradiology, researchers from Northwestern Polytechnical University have unveiled the groundbreaking "Attention-CensNet" (A-CensNet), a fusion model that predicts cognitive scores by amalgamating movie-watching functional magnetic resonance imaging (mfMRI) and eye-tracking data. In this model, participants serve as nodes, mfMRI data are translated into node features, and eye-tracking details forge the connections between participants, creating graph edges. By employing ...

New perspectives on MAFLD

2023-09-16
Fatty liver disease is a condition characterised by a build-up of fat in the liver and is the most common chronic liver disease that affects over one billion people. Over time, this can lead to complications including cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer, and heart health issues. The disease is now known as metabolic (dysfunction) associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). This is because the disease is now understood to be linked to metabolic factors, such as obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes. MAFLD is a multisystem disorder with a heterogeneous disease course and outcomes. This means that it can affect multiple organs, and the course of the disease can vary from person ...

Brain inspires more robust AI

Brain inspires more robust AI
2023-09-16
Most artificially intelligent systems are based on neural networks, algorithms inspired by biological neurons found in the brain. These networks can consist of multiple layers, with inputs coming in one side and outputs going out of the other. The outputs can be used to make automatic decisions, for example, in driverless cars. Attacks to mislead a neural network can involve exploiting vulnerabilities in the input layers, but typically only the initial input layer is considered when engineering a defense. For the first time, researchers augmented a neural network’s inner layers with a process involving random noise to improve its resilience. Artificial intelligence (AI) ...

Syphilis transmission networks and antimicrobial resistance in England uncovered using genomics

2023-09-16
Scientists have used genomics to reveal distinct sexual networks for syphilis transmission, defined geographically or by sexual preference, among a background of wider circulation in England. They also show a presence of drug resistance in the majority of cases. By grouping closely related strains of the bacterium that causes syphilis – Treponema pallidum –, researchers demonstrate how a large number of cases are linked together. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)* sequenced ...

MSU, FRIB developing artificial intelligence tools to enhance discovery, technology and training

2023-09-15
Images Highlights: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, or DOE-SC, is investing in machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to accelerate the speed of research and development in nuclear science. Michigan State University researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, are leading five of these new grant projects.   These projects aim to enhance the breadth of FRIB’s activities, covering nuclear physics experiments and theory, as well as particle accelerator operations.   FRIB is a DOE-SC user facility, meaning that these advances will serve ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

ATN biomarker dataset now available on the EPND Hub – advancing research into Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Frequent large-scale wildfires are turning forests from carbon sinks into super‑emitters

In vitro cancer model reveals how tumor cells access the bloodstream

Fine-tuning osteoclast development: a targeted approach to bone disease

New insights into migraine-related light sensitivity

Positive mindset about ageing in over-60s linked to better recovery after a fall

The Lancet: Additional imaging techniques detect early stage cancers missed by mammograms in women with dense breasts, finds trial

Antidepressant withdrawal symptoms more common among long-term users

Illinois study: Novel AI methodology improves gully erosion prediction and interpretation

Urban areas have higher rates of high-dose opioid prescriptions

Lotions, perfumes curb potentially harmful effects of human oxidation field, study finds

Are groovy brains more efficient?

Scientists discover class of crystals with properties that may prove revolutionary

Good news for people with migraine who take drugs before or during pregnancy

Vitamin D supplements show signs of protection against biological aging

SwRI fabricates bed-netting prototypes to target malaria-causing parasites

Can social and economic welfare policies influence depression risk?

Fuel breaks for forest fires could be more effective in reducing potential risks and impacts if planned using a new optimization approach, which accounts for uncertain wildfire behavior in fire-prone

Positive expressive writing consistently improves wellbeing, but not all techniques are created equal

Digital mental health tools need human touch - study

Climate change has affected wine regions worldwide, but with uneven impacts

When lightning strikes: Gamma-ray burst unleashed by lightning collision

Shrinking Nemo: Clownfish survive heatwaves by shrinking

Penn engineers discover a new class of materials that passively harvest water from air

‘Fast-fail’ AI blood test could steer patients with pancreatic cancer away from ineffective therapies

Plant cell sculptors

Scientists reveal how deep-earth carbon movements shape continents and diamonds

Viral mouth-taping trend ‘sus’ says Canadian sleep expert

Global virus network statement in support of the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Accord

Dana-Farber genomic score predicts progression to multiple myeloma

[Press-News.org] Societal collapse is underway and museums can be unlikely heroes, suggests expert
A hard-hitting appraisal of the role museums can play in the face of looming societal collapse is available today