The end of February. It’s been so long, but so little at the same time. I’ve been full of emotions and completely empty on the inside. How is it possible to combine? I feel the same way about this course. On the one hand, we’ve got so many theories, concepts, ideas such as anthropocene, AI, rhizomes, panopticon and entropy. But on the other hand, it’s not something totally new to me, since most of this I study at school and university before. 

Even if I didn’t study something before, somehow I knew about it without proper perception. So, it’s good to stop for a second and remind yourself what kind of world we live in. Chaotic in its system and systemic in its chaos, deeply connected and not less independent.

Honestly, I came to this class because I have a similar course at my home university, it’s called «Psychology of mass communication and conflictology»  — no doubt about differences since the «Systems Theory, Psychology & Social Media» course is way more extensive based on the title. Anyway, I have no regrets about attending this course. It was quite different from other courses in a way of having conversation activities at the end of the class and writing our blog posts.     

The funny thing is that when I was a kid I had problems with keeping a personal diary. I didn’t have enough stamina to keep writing. Here I have a great motivation to do that. And it’s also good for a listener like me to reflect. Having conversation within yourself and expressing your thoughts and emotions outloud are completely different procedures. This is how you get to know yourself better. Also, processing new information in this way will help you to easily remember it. Sometimes I get really surprised by myself like «wait for a second, is this what I’m thinking of, is this what came out of my mind?!». So, even though I like to find confirmation of my thoughts in poems, books and movies as a recipient, at times you can be that source of original and not very original ideas.
Throughout the whole semester with each class I found references to literature: ring composition, synecdoche, metaphors and many others. Maybe it’s because of my small literature background, but I did notice some real analogy. Even now I have started the title with some lines from a poem by a russian poet: «Being face to face, you couldn’t see the face! The whole is seen, but only from a distance». Eventually, I changed my mind about putting it, but mentally I still attached to this poem. These lines refer to the idea that something unknown to us seems gigantic and mysterious, and when we begin to learn and understand it, we realize that it wasn’t that big and complicated. Just like with this course, in the first place, all those ideas seemed big and difficult to process, but once you come a little closer and start exploring those topics they turn from a frightening lion into a cute little cat. For sure, this is not the only way to interpret these lines nor the right way, because in literature you don’t have such antagonism as well as in life.

In my blog posts I’ve tried to keep distance between my personal feelings and controversial topics that we discussed, but because we never truly deep dive into a particular topic it was hard to reflect with a full understanding of concepts and knowledge of terminology. That’s why I frequently refer to my own personal experience. For example, AI is such a wide and polemical research area to talk about, so I have to stick with one idea out of many. In my other class «Literacy in Digital Media and Information» we had to write an essay about the problem of AI bias, in other words we had direction where to go. With our classes I felt more freedom in thinking, but freedom is terrifying (sorry for existentialism).

It is probably impossible to talk about this particular course in isolation from the whole erasmus experience. Actually, before my departure to Athens I was thinking that it’s all about education, that I won’t have any free time outside of university, but it turned out completely opposite. I’ve never had so much free time in my life, so I got into a state of prostration for a while at the very beginning. Anyway, it wasn’t that hard cause killing time is one of my specialities. Maybe I should have been more prepared in terms of reading some articles about greek education culture and about Greece in general. I guess you can say that I got here by accident, because my roommate convinced me to apply for an exchange program since I had a high score. So, I’ve tried on the off chance and ended up here without strong desire. But, anyway, I have no regrets about this experience.

Different people from different countries with different backgrounds met at the same spot. Are we that different from each other? Or are we similar in those differences? We’ve got look-alike bodies with the same set of chromosomes, we breathe the same air and sleep at night, but something makes us different. It’s not only about our different mother tongues and culture, but the shadowy details on the middle ground, which cause our individuality. With the help of comparison between each other we not only enrich our worldview, but also get to know ourselves. As Socrates said: «know thyself» — this is what we all did here during our study period.

What I’m trying to say is that we are all independent in our codependency. Of course, we are all humans with strong personalities, but it would be impossible outside of society, community to identify ourselves. Independency frees us from isolation and loneliness, because we are responsible for others with whom we communicate.

When I think about freedom and existentialism in general, I think of the anime series “Evangelion” (sorry I’m a nerd). At the end of the series they (characters) wanted to bring one project to life. The project is to transform humanity into a single whole with a single consciousness, substance and soul. The idea was that such unity would fill the missing part of each person to save them from suffering. It also refers to the philosophical anthropology of A. Gehlen (sorry I’m nerd #2), when he calls man an “insufficient being” in contrast to animals. Otherwise by communicating, we can help each other become who we will eventually become. Especially being in a different environment (like in Athens), when everyone was on their own. Such conditions triggered this process of filling the missing part of ourselves.

As I said, we exist in quite a smart system. Don’t be ashamed to feel like a part in the machine of society. Sometimes it’s not that bad to become a normal cog in society and that doesn’t make you less precious than anyone else, cause everyone matters and has value.

Everything has an end so as do my woozy thoughts in this last blog post (luckily). I want to apologize in advance for my dizzy and chaotic reflection. It took me two days to write it, so I  might be distracted and not very consistent at times. I’m glad I took this course and very thankful for many things. 

Soon, I’ll be home. Currently, I don’t know which place I should consider my home. Most likely, home isn’t the place, it’s people (sorry, that’s quite vulgar thought), so I’m going back to my people probably.             

I’m pretty sure this experience would feel like an illusion when I go back to my country. I’m still too young to lose anything. The stuff I have can’t be lost. And nothing belongs to me in this life yet. Those thoughts were visualized and confirmed while I was here in Athens. At least, I loved living in that illusion.

See you someday, somewhere, somehow (^-^*)/

When I was a freshman I got introduced to the Panopticum concept, when I was a sophomore we met again and now this is our third date. But you know what, I’ve never been afraid of these horrifying ideas.

From the tower, a guard can see every cell and inmate but the inmates can’t see into the tower. Prisoners will never know whether or not they are being watched. This idea refers to our daily life. We spread our personal information without even knowing. But it seems to me that this is something we should be able to cooperate with. In many cases, it is even convenient when social networks adapt to our preferences and give you the content that you will be interested in. When we make purchases, algorithms help each product to find its buyer.

Our digital footprint is so noticeable that the concept of digital immortality is already becoming a reality and that’s not that bad. It may seem to someone like an attempt at privacy and identity theft, but on the other hand, a user and a device only adapt to each other for the sake of a bright common future.

Honestly, I’ve forgot to reflect on our previous class, but I’m trying to convience myself it’s never to late. So, here I am. My memories are insufficient cause it’s been a while (feels like forever), anyway I’ll do my best to awake the forgotten.

Whenever I look at this picture it reminds me of my time, when I was working as a counselor at a children’s camp.

We have such a tradition at the end of the camp shift – the children and I sit in one circle, where we take turns handing a ball of red thread to the person we want to thank, express our respect to him or for any other reason. Thus, all the people in the circle will be tied by the thread of fate.

My quote: According to an ancient belief, people who are connected to each other have an invisible red thread on their wrists that binds them together. It connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of the era, place or circumstances. And when the desired meeting takes place, there is a feeling that the parts of the whole have finally found unity. The thread can stretch or shrink, but it does not break – that’s what I was telling my kids.

I think this point also relevant to the topic “Rhizomes” in the sense that we all connected, whether it’s not very obvious sometimes. These rhizomes can provide mutual help, when someone in danger and they can also cause harm by stelling resources from nearby trees for example. This phenomenon happens at all levels: biological, philosophical and social.

My knowledge of artificial intelligence is mostly based on sci-fi movies and books. When I was younger, I really liked Alex Garland’s film “Ex Machina”, in which you can get a desperate and terrifying look at the coexistence of AI and humans – no spoilers. Nowadays, we shouldn’t move any further because a future in which artificial intelligence will look like us and think the same way as we do is pretty unrealistic due to the level of technology. If you forget about any sci-fi tropes, then AI is quiet useful in modern society.

So, how does it work? The development of artificial intelligence expands the acceptable possibilities. It imitates human behavior in order to do different tasks and it can also evolve by collecting data. AI has many incarnations such as chatbots, recommendation systems, smart assistance and others, but, the thing is, all of them are dedicated to serving the people. In the first place, it sounds very convenient and progressive. Anyway, AI has its weaknesses – one of them is strong dependence on a human. For example, in recent years, the media’s attention to the phenomenon called AI bias has noticeably intensified. In other words, this problem comes from human bias.

Currently, AI is at the stage of child’s development, when he is dependent on his parents. They provide his life, teach him new things and he can only do some simple tasks that come from his parents. It remains only to wait for AI to grow up and hope that he will take only the best from his parents.

Lately, I started referring myself to Charlie Kaufman’s novel, but not because of the plot, but because of the title of the book – “Antkind” or rather, because of the translation into russian, it sounds like “Муравечество” which combines words man and ants (ant-man-kind). Ants are one of the most socially developed insects. Colonies function as a single organism, each member of which works for the benefit of the collective. And it seems that the human community has similarities with them. Or most likely the ant system is similar to Plato’s ideal state, where everyone should do their own thing for the benefit of the whole society.

Both of these complex systems consist of many components interacting with each other. Complex systems may self-organize to produce some patterns without any scripts. Therefore, complexity cannot be identified as good or bad, since it is the main characteristic of the system. The complexity of the organization contributes to its evolution. This can simply be traced by looking at the chronology of humanity.

Also, it is necessary to mention such a vital characteristic of the system as homeostasis. If you think about it, this function is extremely fascinating. When the equilibrium is disturbed, the system tries to eliminate this problem. All living things seek for balance. Maybe life is the pursuit of balance?

If humanity had a chance to start all over again, I don’t think that now we would live in a completely different world from the existing one. Most likely, we would have gone through all those stages of human development, would have lived through all the same historical events. It’s not that I’m a fan of fatalism but the fact is that there is no better or worse scenario. Speaking in the context of anthropocene, a human may not always have been aware of the harmful consequences of his activities, but it cannot be denied that somewhere in the back of his mind he knew what it could lead to. It’s not even that people are selfish and try to find benefits only for themselves without paying attention to the people around them and nature. They just couldn’t do anything else, that’s all.

In fact, we will never be able to become independent of nature, because we are just a part of it. We pollute the oceans, cut down forests, deplete natural resources – all these actions can be classified as selfharm. By harming nature, we are harming ourselves. This is the cycle of life or circle of life if you’re a fan of Lion King. The world community will not be able to take radical measures to maintain the environment until everyone realizes how much they are codependent with nature and its benefits. Unfortunately, the scenarios are more than obvious and unexpected plot twists should not be expected.

Autonomy through interdependence – what sort of nonsense is this you may think. Not a while ago, I was talking with my friend about loneliness. My idea was that, because we are on our own, we could be together. Because we can identify ourselves from others, we have an opportunity to be together with someone else. If humanity were one whole, which possessed a single consciousness, a single matter and a single soul, we couldn’t be truly together as a system. I immediately recall the philosophical anthropology of A. Gehlen, where he calls man an “insufficient being” in contrast to animals. That’s why we’re trying to be a part of the system to fill in the missing part of each person and save him from suffering.

In such a pseudo-philosophical reflection, I found parallels with the theory of systems and collections. Each person is a psychological system that, whether he wants it or not, is part of other systems: the state, the university, the football team or maybe even the book lovers’ club. That’s how society works. Nobody wants to be alone. It’s quite hard to understand what comes first: is that a system helps us to be autonomous or we, as independent creatures, can create a full system. Perhaps a person is a collection of everything he’s read and seen, but anyway, without such a collection, it’s impossible to work as a system.

I want to apologize for my chaotic thinking. The topic is quite extensive for comprehension, so pieces of different ideas on this topic are scattered in front of you.

The first thing that we had to do was to describe our emotions. How am I feeling? I’m not sure yet. It feels like I’m having the whole emotional spectrum, but at the same time, I feel empty and have nothing on my mind. I see people, things but I don’t perceive them. Maybe that’s just the adaptation process. Who knows? It was nice to stop for a second and try to figure out how we all felt at that exact moment.

The next thing was even more emotionally confusing. I guess that’s the wrong word, but anyway. When we were looking at the map I relaized how far I was from my hometown. The lonely point in the middle of nowhere. Even though I don’t live there anymore, I’ll always consider that town as my home. The further I get away from my home, the stronger my connection with it becomes, paradoxical as it may sound. But then we started sharing our stories with each other. From a distance, people look like abstract as some objects in space, and the idea that each person has his own life and his own story is overwhelming to take in.

This class isn’t much about system theory or theory in general. It’s about communication with each other through personal experience, which i like, because there is no other course where this could be possible.

What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?

― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

The first meeting started with some lyrical digression. That what i was thinking of, but in the end, the puzzles formed into a full-fledged picture and all the abstract intro began to make sense. Not only we as humans have an unbreakable connection with each other like trees with their root system. But the title of the course refers us to this thought: Systems Theory, Psychology & Social Media  — three limitless topics to dive into. At first impression it seems like a completely different studies but, the thing is, that we have no right to discuss each of them as independent. It always about connection, context and dialogue.

Honestly, i’d like to think about myself as indepedendent individual with strong reflections on life. But if you pull out of us everything you’ve read, viewed and seen, there won’t be much left of us. This is how society works. I hope that the knowledge we get from this course will become a significant part of the puzzle of what we call personality. To be surronded by people with different backgrounds helps us to complete ourselves. Besides, the idea about blogging is also very in the context of connection. We as individuals are sharing our reflections with others to get the feedback and create a space for communication.

So, get in loser, we’re going explore some serious materials here.