Slava Gerovitch
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Mathematics, Department Member
American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mechanisms of thinking and behaviour. Their generalizations, however, were based on culturally conditioned cases. The examples that American and... more
American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mechanisms of thinking and behaviour. Their generalizations, however, were based on culturally conditioned cases. The examples that American and Soviet scientists had at their disposal, were, in fact, culturally specific patterns of social organization and decision-making. When trying to grasp universality, AI models manifested just the opposite: the specificity of cultural patterns.
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В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры, физические препятствия, политическое и административное давление и концептуальные ограничения, с которыми столкнулась советская математика... more
В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры, физические препятствия, политическое и административное давление и концептуальные ограничения, с которыми столкнулась советская математика с 1950-х по 1980-е годы. Многие талантливые математики попадали в категорию этнически или политически нежелательных и сталкивались с дискриминацией при поступлении в вуз, приеме на работу, организации поездок на зарубежные конференции и т. д. В ответ математическое сообщество сумело создать параллельную социальную инфраструктуру,
обеспечивавшую приток талантов, поддержку и мотивацию для исследователей, исключенных из официальных структур. Эта инфраструктура включала сеть бесплатных кружков для школьников, заочную математическую школу, олимпиады и специализированные матшколы, бесплатные вечерние курсы для тех, кого дискриминировали при приеме в ведущие университеты, математические отделы в прикладных институтах и сеть открытых исследовательских семинаров.
Возникло сообщество, для которого математика стала образом жизни, где работа и досуг сливались воедино, а занятия наукой перенеслись из огражденных запретами
официальных учреждений в семейные пространства квартиры или дачи. В неформальном сообществе советских математиков действовала своеобразная «моральная экономия»,
которая опиралась на сети дружеских связей и практику взаимных бесплатных одолжений. Всевозможные внешние ограничения способствовали сближению, тесной взаимопомощи и дружескому общению в среде математиков. Этос «параллельного мира»
советской математики, отсеченного от элитных привилегий, культивировал благородный отказ от карьеры, материального вознаграждения и официального признания ради высших идеалов математической истины. Такой образ жизни, противостоящий отчуждающей бюрократической атмосфере официальных институтов, его участники зачастую воспринимали как «математический рай».
обеспечивавшую приток талантов, поддержку и мотивацию для исследователей, исключенных из официальных структур. Эта инфраструктура включала сеть бесплатных кружков для школьников, заочную математическую школу, олимпиады и специализированные матшколы, бесплатные вечерние курсы для тех, кого дискриминировали при приеме в ведущие университеты, математические отделы в прикладных институтах и сеть открытых исследовательских семинаров.
Возникло сообщество, для которого математика стала образом жизни, где работа и досуг сливались воедино, а занятия наукой перенеслись из огражденных запретами
официальных учреждений в семейные пространства квартиры или дачи. В неформальном сообществе советских математиков действовала своеобразная «моральная экономия»,
которая опиралась на сети дружеских связей и практику взаимных бесплатных одолжений. Всевозможные внешние ограничения способствовали сближению, тесной взаимопомощи и дружескому общению в среде математиков. Этос «параллельного мира»
советской математики, отсеченного от элитных привилегий, культивировал благородный отказ от карьеры, материального вознаграждения и официального признания ради высших идеалов математической истины. Такой образ жизни, противостоящий отчуждающей бюрократической атмосфере официальных институтов, его участники зачастую воспринимали как «математический рай».
Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather than human operation or control. Automation does not simply transfer human functions to machines, but involves a deep reorganization of the work... more
Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather than human operation or control. Automation does not simply transfer human functions to machines, but involves a deep reorganization of the work process, during which both the human and the machine functions are redefined. Early automation relied on mechanical and electromechanical control devices; during the last 40 years, however, the computer gradually became the leading vehicle of automation. Modern ...
The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the purpose of educating a cohort of intellectuals who would harness the power of math and science in the service of communism. The math schools,... more
The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the purpose of educating a cohort of intellectuals who would harness the power of math and science in the service of communism. The math schools, however, were plagued by the tension between the goal of selecting and nurturing the top talent and the demand to discipline that talent in order to make it suitable for subsequent service to the state. Resulting from a combination of government programs and private and group initiatives “from below” and intertwined with science fiction of the Strugatsky brothers, the history of specialized schools reflects a complex interplay of diverse agencies and interests, which subtly undermined the state goal of raising loyal Soviet intelligentsia.
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BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917. Eduard I Kolchinsky, Slava Gerovitch ISIS-Intl Review Devoted... more
BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917. Eduard I Kolchinsky, Slava Gerovitch ISIS-Intl Review Devoted to the History of the Science and its Cult Influence 94:11, 125-125, Philadelphia [etc]: Publication and Editorial Office, Dept. of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania [etc.], 2003.
In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth College that in 1956 founded Artificial Intelligence (AI), John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, wrote that “every... more
In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth College that in 1956 founded Artificial Intelligence (AI), John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, wrote that “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”(Norman, 2005, p. 710). Decades later, the aspirations of AI remained the same—to grasp the universal principles of thought in order to implement them in a ...
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ABSTRACT Soviet science in the post-WWII period was torn between two contradictory directives: to 'overtake and surpass' Western science, especially in defence-related fields; and to 'criticize and destroy'... more
ABSTRACT Soviet science in the post-WWII period was torn between two contradictory directives: to 'overtake and surpass' Western science, especially in defence-related fields; and to 'criticize and destroy' Western scholarship for its alleged ideological flaws. In response to this dilemma. Soviet scientists developed two opposite discursive strategies. While some scholars 'ideologized' science, translating scientific theories into a value-laden political language, others tried to 'de-ideologize' it by drawing a sharp line between ideology and the supposedly value-neutral, 'objective' content of science. This paper examines how early Soviet computing was shaped by the interplay of military and ideological forces, and affected by the attempts to 'de-ideologize' computers. The paper also suggests some important similarities in the impact of the Cold War on science and technology in the Soviet Union and the United States.
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Israel Gelfand’s weekly seminar at Moscow State University, which ran continuously from 1943 to 1989, has gained a legendary status in the Russian mathematics community. It evokes a mixture of admiration and revulsion. Did the style of... more
Israel Gelfand’s weekly seminar at Moscow State University, which ran continuously from 1943 to 1989, has gained a legendary status in the Russian mathematics community. It evokes a mixture of admiration and revulsion. Did the style of the seminar merely reflect the eccentric personality of its leader, or did it indicate some broader cultural patterns? Did the seminar thrive despite its offensive style, or was the style part of the enigma? How does today’s perspective of the memoirists differ from the contemporary perceptions of the seminar? To start answering these questions, we will place the Gelfand seminar in the social context of postwar Soviet mathematics.
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From the start, the Soviet human space program had an identity crisis. Were cosmonauts heroic pilots steering their craft through the dangers of space, or were they mere passengers riding safely aboard fully automated machines? Tensions... more
From the start, the Soviet human space program had an identity crisis. Were cosmonauts heroic pilots steering their craft through the dangers of space, or were they mere passengers riding safely aboard fully automated machines? Tensions between Soviet cosmonauts and space engineers were reflected not only in the internal development of the space program but also in Soviet propaganda that wavered between praising daring heroes and flawless technologies. Soviet Space Mythologies explores the history of the Soviet human space program within a political and cultural context, giving particular attention to the two professional groups—space engineers and cosmonauts—who secretly built and publicly represented the program. Drawing on recent scholarship on memory and identity formation, this book shows how both the myths of Soviet official history and privately circulating counter-myths have served as instruments of collective memory and professional identity. These practices shaped the evolving cultural image of the space age in popular Soviet imagination. Soviet Space Mythologies provides a valuable resource for scholars and students of space history, history of technology, and Soviet (and post-Soviet) history.
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Despite the wealth of information and archival material that has become available in the years following the fall of the USSR, the history of the Soviet space program has been dominated by the accounts of a select few, such as the recent... more
Despite the wealth of information and archival material that has become available in the years following the fall of the USSR, the history of the Soviet space program has been dominated by the accounts of a select few, such as the recent four-volume English translation of Russian rocket designer Boris Chertok. In this remarkable oral history, author and interviewer Slava Gerovitch helps to enrich and complicate space historiography by presenting interviews with the men and women who witnessed Soviet space efforts firsthand, from the cosmonauts themselves to the military officials who directed the program to the engineers who made real the grand ambitions of the USSR. Rather than comprising a monolithic "master narrative," these fascinating and varied accounts bring to light the often divergent perspectives, experiences, and institutional cultures that defined the Soviet space program.
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This publication was made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Carnegie Corporation of New... more
This publication was made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Carnegie Corporation of New York or the Officers and Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Zwei Lager, eine Welt. Dies war die historische Konstellation des Kalten Kriegs. West und Ost, kapitalistische und kommunistische Ordnung standen einander seit den späten 1940er Jahren in phasenweise erbitterter Systemkonkurrenz... more
Zwei Lager, eine Welt. Dies war die historische Konstellation des Kalten Kriegs. West und Ost, kapitalistische und kommunistische Ordnung standen einander seit den späten 1940er Jahren in phasenweise erbitterter Systemkonkurrenz gegenüber. Und trieben so die Globalisierung voran. Der Rüstungswettlauf zwischen der USA und der Sowjetunion führte dazu, dass Washington und Moskau sich in den 1960er Jahren die wechselseitige Vernichtung durch einen atomaren Zweitschlag „garantierten“. Gleichzeitig schärfte die Fähigkeit zur umfassenden Vernichtung nach der Kuba-Krise 1962 das Bewusstsein für die globale Verantwortung. Der Wettlauf ins All, bei dem es nicht nur um militärische Vorteile, sondern auch um naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Prestigegewinn und politisches Legitimationskapital ging, veränderte den Blick auf die Welt: Die aus dem All aufgenommenen Bilder der Erde waren ein erster Aufruf zum globalen Denken. Wie nahe Hybris und Demut, politisch-militärische Konfrontation und das Wissen um die Notwendigkeit von Kooperation beieinander lagen, zeigt das sowjetische Plakat mit dem riesenhaften Jurij Gagarin auf der Titelseite dieses Bands. Die Sowjetunion hat den ersten Menschen ins Weltall geschossen, der neue Weltenherrscher ist der Sowjetmensch. Das Original ziert der Jurij Gagarin zugeschriebene Satz: „Als ich die Erde in meinem Raumschiff umkreiste, sah ich, wie schön unser Planet ist. Lasst uns diese Schönheit erhalten und vermehren, statt sie zu zerstören.“ Raum für Kooperation boten vor allem die anderthalb Jahrzehnte der Entspannung, bis Ende der 1970er Jahre. In diese Zeit fällt die Entdeckung des menschengemachten Klimawandels und die in Ost und West vorgetragene Forderung nach einer globalen Umweltpolitik. Die gemeinsame Forschung zur Bewältigung der ökologischen Probleme, die sich auf beiden Seiten des Eisernen Vorhangs angehäuft hatten, steht auch an den Anfängen jener Technik, die zum Symbol der Globalisierung schlechthin geworden ist: des Internets. Die ersten transnationalen Datennetze von 1977 dienten dem Austausch wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse. Doch man mache sich keine falschen Vorstellungen: Im Jahrzehnt der Entspannung ging der Systemwettbewerb weiter. Und er wurde ungeachtet des geteilten Bewusstseins für die Grenzen des Wachstums auf dem Feld des Massenkonsums ausgetragen. Die Individualmotorisierung etwa, die in den meisten osteuropäischen Staaten in diesen Jahren mit Hilfe westlicher Lizenzproduktionen begann, ahmte das kapitalistische Modell nach. Konsumistische und kommunistische Heilsversprechung lagen nicht mehr weit auseinander. Dass sich die Konvergenz der Lebensstile nicht Bahn brechen konnte, lag vor allem an der ökonomischen Schwäche des Ostens. Die ideologischen Widersprüche des Ost-West-Konflikts sind mit dem Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus obsolet geworden. Die Technikeuphorie hat ihren Zenit überschritten, die Naturwissenschaft ist weitgehend aus dem Korsett der politischen Instrumentalisierung befreit worden. Die Folgen des wachstumssüchtigen Gesellschaftsmodells sind jedoch in Ost und West, lokal und global zu spüren. Eine verantwortungsvolle ökologische Weltpolitik steht noch aus.