scholarly journals Cybernetics and the Russian Intellectual Tradition

2018 ◽  
pp. 37-45
Author(s):  
T. A. Medvedeva
Keyword(s):  
Second Order ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
The West ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
The World ◽  
American Intellectual ◽  
Further Development ◽  
The Brain ◽  
The U.S

Understanding the differences between scientific approaches to cybernetics is difficult because of the very different histories and intellectual traditions in Russia and the West, i.e. the U.S. and Europe. This paper, firstly, describes the peculiarities of the Russian style of scientific thinking, considering as an example Alexander Bogdanov’s theory (tectology) in context of the Russian intellectual tradition. Secondly, the paper compares Vladimir E. Lepskiy’s and Stuart A. Umpleby’s theories of cybernetics looking at them through the prism of Russian and American intellectual traditions. Western cybernetics of the second order includes biological and social versions. It arose from “experimental epistemology.” The goal was to understand the processes of cognition on the basis of neurophysiological experiments, as a result of which cyberneticians came to the conclusion that the observer cannot be excluded from science. Biological cybernetics is concerned with how the brain creates descriptions of the world. Little attention is paid to the world since it already is included in the perceptions of the observer. Social cybernetics is concerned with how people act in the world. Theories or descriptions are thought to be less important than appropriate actions. The Russian interpretation of second-order cybernetics develops its social version. The paper concludes that the differences described demonstrate the great potential for ideas from Russian and Western scientists to enrich further development of cybernetics and science in East and West.

A4. UNRWA, IMPACT OF THE FIRST PHASE OF THE SECURITY BARRIER ON THE QALQILYA, TULKARM, AND JENIN DISTRICTS, GAZA CITY, JULY 2003 (EXCERPTS).

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-160
Keyword(s):  
Civil Engineering ◽  
West Bank ◽  
The West ◽  
Full Report ◽  
The World ◽  
Aid Coordination ◽  
President Bush ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
The U.S

The separation wall, one of the largest civil engineering projects in Israel's history, has been criticized even by the U.S. administration, with Condoleezza Rice stating at the end of June 2003 that it ““arouses our [U.S.] deep concern”” and President Bush on 25 July calling it ““a problem”” and noting that ““it is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank.”” A number of reports have already been issued concerning the wall, including reports by B'Tselem (available at www.btselem.org), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (available at www.palestinianaid.info), and the World Bank's Local Aid Coordination Committee (LACC; also available at www.palestinianaid.info). UNRWA's report focuses on the segment of the wall already completed and is based on field visits to the areas affected by the barriers, with a special emphasis on localities with registered refugees. Notes have been omitted due to space constraints. The full report is available online at www.un.org/unrwa.

Counterterrorism and the Western Response

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-75
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S ◽  
United Nation

There has been a neglect on the part of Western governments with focus on the U.S. to take seriously the internet campaign that ISIS has been waging since 2014 and the affective response that still draws citizens from across the world into their promise of a civilized, united nation for Muslims. It is possible that the West, even with a severely increased commitment to fighting the Islamic State, may be too late. This chapter will explore responses by Western governments including the United States to fight internet-enabled terrorism.

Post-Bipolar World: Peaceful Coexistence or Chaos?

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
A. Lukin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Research University ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The West ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S

The article explores characteristics of the international relations bipolar system, changes occurred after its collapse and the future of post-bipolar world, focusing on the role of non-Western actors in it. On one hand, the bipolar system provided stability of international relations, but on the other – lead to competition between the U.S. and the USSR for the influence on the third countries, which sometimes resulted in armed conflicts in the third states. The collapse of the Soviet Union convinced the West both in the universality of its development model and the necessity to spread it all over the world. Now it is clear that the “democratism” ideology failed politically and culturally. The Western model has neither become a panacea for eliminating disparities between countries on different stages of development, nor the only example of successful and strong governance. New power centers, such as Russia, China, India and Brazil, have been successfully developing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their influence has been growing along with that of the West, and even though they did not necessarily directly confront it, they never shared all its values, yet never actively imposed their positions on the rest of the world. Regional powers (Nigeria, Venezuela, etc.) are also playing a more significant role in the emerging system, although sometimes they may join the alliances with more powerful countries to achieve their goals (as Vietnam does with the U.S. in its conflict with China). Russia’s reluctance to follow the West in its development created the first serious alternative to the existing unipolar world model and its values, so naturally and widely accepted by the Western actors. Whereas China with its rapid economic development is also posing a challenge to the ideology of "democratism" proving that the economic welfare is achievable outside the Western political model. As for Russia, its role in the modern world is still not defined. The Russian Federation wants to become an independent power unit and a center of the Eurasian integration. However, it is not clear whether it has resources of all kinds to implement this idea, – moreover, its economic dependence on the West is still too strong to insist on further confrontation. Instead, Russia (as well as its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union) could use Eurasian integration platforms to act as an "ambassador" of Asia in Europe and that of Europe in Asia. Acknowledgements. The article has been supported by the grant of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University Higher School of Economics in 2016.

Brain Drain between Counterterrorism and Globalization

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-89
Author(s):  
Ali A. Mazrui
Keyword(s):  
Brain Drain ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Center ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Western World ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Trade Center ◽  
The Brain

The aftermath of September 11, 2001, may certainly be on its way toward affecting the “brain drain” from Africa. The 19 dead Arabs who were accused of having blown up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and of hijacking the fourth plane were all cases of the brain drain from their own countries in one way or another. The effect of September 11 on immigration policies in the Western world appears to be greater scrutiny and reduced Western hospitality. There was a time when high scientific and technological qualifications were regarded as attractive credentials for immigration into the West.

scholarly journals Mood Disorders and the Brain: Depression, Melancholia, and the Historiography of Psychiatry

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åsa Jansson
Keyword(s):  
Mood Disorders ◽  
World Health ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Widespread Availability ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Brain

Despite the increasingly widespread availability of psychotropics believed to restore biochemical equilibrium in the brains of persons diagnosed with mood disorders, the number of people suffering from such medical conditions appears to be increasing. According to The Royal College of Psychiatrists, ‘by 2020 it is estimated that depression will be the second most common disabling condition in the world’, a figure it derives from the World Health Organization. Depression is, it seems, rapidly becoming a global threat. In a trend that is mirrored in much of the West, the number of prescriptions dispensed for antidepressants in the UK has doubled in the last decade and is continuing to rise. The need for a critical perspective on mood disorders is growing.

scholarly journals Practices of solidarity as a subject of intellectual traditions in Russia and the west

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.13) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Vitaliy V. Kovalev ◽  
Yuriy G. Volkov ◽  
Anatoly V. Lubsky ◽  
Natalya K. Bineeva ◽  
Nona Z. Gubnelova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
The West ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Normative Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Traditions

This article attempts to make a comparative analysis of the assessment of solidarity practices in the intellectual tradition in Russia and the West. In the foreign intellectual tradition, four paradigms are highlighted in the study of solidarity practices: sociological, philosophical, ideological and religious. The Russian intellectual tradition includes religious and ideological paradigms. In the West, sociology and philosophies have played a major role in the study of solidarity practices, in which scientific knowledge or normative knowledge has been developed and used to put social reality under control. In the Russian intellectual tradition, practices of solidarity have been given a moral or axiological dimension. 

A Global Evolutionary Approach to Consciousness in Cognitive Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Irina V. Chernikova ◽  
◽  
Yuliya V. Loginovskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Nonlinear Dynamic ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Evolutionary Potential ◽  
The World ◽  
The Brain

At the present stage of consciousness research, there is an extraordinary variety of models of consciousness proposed by science and philosophy. In this regard, the construction of a typology of consciousness concepts is appropriate, as well as the dialogue of philosophy and cognitive science in the research of consciousness. The article compares the main approaches to the phenomenon of consciousness in cognitive science: neurobiological (neural network), informational (quantum informational), and nonlinear dynamic. The authors propose to include a global evolutionary approach in this typology. The global evolutionary approach is close to a nonlinear dynamic view, but the understanding of consciousness is refined by the inclusion of control parameters that exerted impact to the sociocultural stage of universal evolution. Creativity has a special role to play in this approach. The classification is based on ideas about the real evolution of consciousness and its participation in the global evolutionary process. In such a context, consciousness is understood as a complex self-developing system, but its functioning is conditioned by the cognitive activity of the brain, body, culture, and the world. The article reveals the concepts, in which the explanation of consciousness can be correlated with the global evolutionary approach. They include the emerging modern concepts of embodied cognition, the theory of spatio-temporal neuroscience by G. Nortoff, as well as the concept of consciousness by T. Metzinger. The authors generate the hypothesis about the expediency of using the methodology of the second-order observer to discuss the problem of a unified theory of consciousness. The article indicates the correlation of these theories with the global evolutionary approach, in which the functioning of consciousness is not reduced to neural network structures of the brain, but extended to a view that consciousness is a part of the world and at the same time includes it. Thus, consciousness has a creative evolutionary potential, due to which it builds holistic images and encompasses irrational, creative parameters. The authors suggest a hypothesis about the possibility to combine first-person and third-person studies of consciousness based on the methodology of the second-order observer. In this assumption, they assess consciousness performing the function of an observer on the basis of the methodology of the second-order observer (V.I. Arshinov) and the interpretation of observation as an operation that reproduces the observer (D. Becker). The observer of complexity (the observer of the second order) in this context is consciousness, or rather self-consciousness. The observer simultaneously observes and generates processes, forming a kind of an “assemblage point” of reality, in which the agent-based properties of the observer of complexity are manifested.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 247-266
Author(s):  
David J. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Indian Americans ◽  
The U.S

The epilogue narrates the developments and impact of Self-Realization Fellowship and Yogananda’s writings since his death in 1952, assessing his influence in the United States and around the world. A century after Yogananda came to the U.S. with his message of Kriya Yoga, and three quarters of a century after the Autobiography of a Yogi was released, yoga has become ubiquitous, while Hindu beliefs have become an integral part of the spiritual landscape. Yogananda ultimately succeeded in converting thousands of Americans during his lifetime. When he died in 1952, he was revered and worshipped—overwhelmingly by non-Indian Americans—as the very incarnation of deity. Since his departure, he has influenced many others around the world through his successor organization, the Self-Realization Fellowship, and other independent organizations—such as Ananda, founded by Kriyananda—that trace their lineage to him, as well through Autobiography of a Yogi and his other teachings. The Father of Yoga in the West nurtured religious offspring. Yogananda’s story is thus an indispensable element of the emergence of both contemporary yoga and modern American Hinduism

Boyer’s Recognition Project

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Fanning
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Black People ◽  
African Descent ◽  
The West ◽  
Slave Revolt ◽  
The World ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
The U.S

This chapter discusses the issues that Jean-Pierre Boyer and his supporters grappled with as they pushed for American acknowledgement of Haiti's independence. Boyer understood that recognizing his state would put the U.S. on the record as accepting a black people as equals—unacceptable for southern politicians. Indeed, to recognize Haiti as a nation would be to recognize at least some people of African descent as equals and would be proclaiming as much to the world. This is precisely why the plantation class in the South objected so strongly. As Boyer made traction toward support for opening up diplomatic ties, Haiti experienced unprecedented negative publicity, including rumors of its involvement in the infamous Vesey Conspiracy Trials in South Carolina and two other slave-revolt scandals in the West Indies.

scholarly journals Biden Administration Imposes Sanctions and Seeks to Cement Alliances to Counter China and Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-545
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Security ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Global Influence ◽  
The U.S

The Biden administration's foreign policy emphasizes repairing U.S. alliances and returning the United States to a “position of trusted leadership” to counter increasing challenges from Russia and especially China. The U.S. Interim National Security Strategic Guidance (INSSG), released in March 2021, notes that the United States must “contend with the reality that the distribution of power across the world is changing.” It highlights that China, which has “rapidly become more assertive,” is the only country “potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system,” while “Russia remains determined to enhance its global influence and play a disruptive role on the world stage.” To reaffirm established international norms, the Biden administration has acted both unilaterally and in coordination with long-standing allies to impose sanctions in response to human rights abuses, malicious cyber activity, and election influence. The administration has also taken steps to cement alliances in the Indo-Pacific and with the West.

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