Alexander Sergeev

The Russian Academy of Sciences issued a memorandum “On the pseudoscience of astrology.” In dark times, even stating obvious things becomes a struggle for normality and resistance to chaos. We did a kind of backstage, telling some interesting facts about the preparation of the memorandum and the work of the Commission.
Despite its reputation as a scientific and technological superpower, the Soviet Union missed every phase of the 20th century’s information technology revolution. The first episode was a ten-year delay in the conceptual cybernetic revolution. It did not prevent the creation of the first Soviet computers, but led to a lag in subsequent stages.
Scientists were shocked by a talk at a theological conference by Alexander Kudryavtsev, director of the Institute of General Genetics, in which he actually renounced the science he was supposed to be engaged in. «I will give my vision of the world,» the speaker begins and utters a manifesto of religious fundamentalism that leads to militarism.
Artificial Intelligence is preparing to supplant copyright. It radically changes the notion of «copy» underlying copyright protection. In fact, the «copy» is hardly distinguishable from the new «original». Will the copyright, born in the age of steam engines, withstand?