Russian Science: Discussion Thread

"We were bent under the West." Russian university teachers sound the alarm, 26.07.2021.

MOSCOW, July 26 - RIA Novosti. "Publish or die" - this is how the West is ironic about the fact that the effectiveness of teachers at research universities is determined by the number of their publications in scientific journals. In recent years, this has been actively implemented in Russia as well. Now, only those professors and associate professors who made their way into the top English-language publications are in good standing, while the rest have to work under the threat of dismissal. How, in pursuit of ratings and funding, the country's leading universities curry favor with private foreign magazines - in the material of RIA Novosti.

Image is everything, science is nothing

"In Soviet times, scientific research in higher education was a secondary task. The teacher was required first of all to teach students. If he wanted to defend a thesis and become a professor, then, of course, he was engaged in science, published articles," says sociologist Denis Podvoisky.

In Western universities, on the contrary, scientific activity is considered the main one. In the second half of the 20th century, bibliometrics were introduced there - calculating the effectiveness of a scientist based on the number of publications and references to them from other scientific articles.

"In the 2000s, bibliometrics penetrated to us. Higher education institutions began to allocate more money, university management, which distributes funds and does not really understand how real research is conducted, began to focus on it. For teachers, it all turned out to be a terrible headache," the expert continues. ...

We needed articles in serious scientific journals included in the international databases Web of Science and Scopus. The first belongs to the commercial company Clarivate Analytics (a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters), the second to Elsevier. They index titles of journals, articles and abstracts in English, bibliography.

Based on these data, ratings of successful journals and authors are made.

The most famous rating is from the Web of Science. Scopus-based rating - SCImago Journal & Country Rank. The more articles from the journal are cited, that is, the higher the impact factor, the more significant the journal is in the eyes of the scientific community.

"The rating of educational institutions, membership in dissertation councils, grants - everything is tied to the indicators of Web of Science and Scopus. In many universities, publications in these databases are required," explains Vardan Baghdasaryan, professor at the Department of Public Policy at the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University.

Provides indicators to the faculty.

"Teaching positions are elective," adds Podvoisky. "Applicants submit documents, the personnel commission holds a competition. Previously, the contract was signed for five years. Now it is very rare, mainly for a year or two. The number of publications is stipulated in the contract. If there are no articles, may not be re-elected".

To someone else's tune

Evgenia teaches the humanities at one of the Moscow universities. Asks not to give the name and place of work. Afraid of losing his place. The fact is that until recently she did not have a single publication in a foreign scientific journal. And this is the reason for the termination of the contract.

“It seems that we are trying to copy the American system of teacher segregation, where there are permanent positions - tenure, only a few get them, and different temporary positions. But in Russia, unlike the United States , this market is not so developed. difficult. Combining is also problematic, "says Evgenia.

According to her, the university approves the internal "white" and "black" lists of journals every year, break them into quartiles (rank them). The more top magazine the publication is, the more valuable it is.

An article requires research, and this is time and resources at the expense of teaching. Further, the text must be translated into English and sent to the journal. There you can wait in line for years. But the main problem is different.

"There are a number of areas, articles on which in Western journals will not be accepted, because they are not interested. For example, methodology, some specific Russian issues. Obviously, nothing will be published on Crimea," says Evgenia.

Now she has published an article in the magazine from the second quartile, the contract was extended, but only for a year. Moreover, the teaching load was increased by one and a half times with the same payment. Evgenia thinks this is abnormal. “I would like to be guided not by quartiles, but to explore what is interesting to me and my colleagues,” she notes.

Minorities and discrimination

In Russia have their own scientific journals evaluation system. The oldest is the list of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK), which awards the academic degrees of candidate and doctor of sciences. In the mid-2000s, the Russian Science Citation Index, based on the Scientific Electronic Library, appeared. All domestic scientific publications upload there entire articles or abstracts.

“We once raised the question of why publications should be tied to the Web of Science and Scopus, and not to the Higher Attestation Commission,” says Sergey Voronin , professor, head of the department of general history at RUDN University , adviser to the head of the LDPR faction in the State Duma.

According to him, not all scientific disciplines are suitable for Western publications. For those who are in the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, it is easier. It is very difficult for the humanities.

"An example from my sphere of oriental studies. We sent an article to Western magazines about the Libyan jamahiriya as a form of democracy on the African continent. We were told that it was not interesting. Colleagues tried to publish a work on Iran . Refusal: not relevant. The history of medieval Russia also does not bother the Anglo-Saxon community." , - Professor Voronin lists.

“Therefore, we have to change our shoes, write, for example, about minorities, discrimination,” explains Anna Kuleshova, chair of the Council on the Ethics of Scientific Publications of the Association of Science Editors and Publishers.

"There are areas of research that exist almost exclusively in native languages. They may be completely unknown outside the country or region of origin. It is unrealistic to break through with them into journals with a high impact factor," emphasizes Denis Podvoisky.

"Tighten the nuts"

In order to satisfy the demand for articles in Western magazines, intermediary firms have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, offering translation and design services or even promising a turnkey publication.

Intermediaries ask for $ 1,500 to $ 3,000. "And we need several articles. The country has been under sanctions since 2014, but we are feeding them," Voronin said indignantly. This system is "an instrument of pressure on the teaching community."

Some universities are trying to compensate for the costs with large bonuses - up to one hundred thousand. But not everyone is so scrupulous.

“Employees are trying to buy ready-made scientific articles, attributing authorship, plagiarize (including translated), steal texts from students or force them to donate authorship. authorship ", - specifies Anna Kuleshova.

Denis Podvoisky calls it "a demonstration of pseudo-efficiency", Sergei Voronin - "profanation." And both experts note that the requirements for teachers are only growing.

"We started small, there is a publication - additional payment, then they included a fixed number of articles in the contract, now there are no publications - we will not re-elect," says Professor Voronin.

"At the moment I am in the middle of a four-year contract, this is the maximum term in my university. By the end, the conditions will be much tougher," Podvoisky is sure.

Ivan Rudov, Director of the Library and Publishing Complex of the Siberian Federal University (the university is a member of Project 5-100) comments :

“Siberian Federal University has an effective contract, the first indicator of which is publications in high-ranking journals, and only those that are indexed in Web of Science and Scopus are taken into account. The advantages of such a system are obvious. First of all, it helps to raise the standard of living of a scientist. Many universities do not have a transparent mechanism for reimbursing costs if there is a fee for the article, which, for example, is typical for open access journals.In our case, an effective contract is one way to compensate for these costs.

Disadvantages are associated with increased unfair activity related to publications. There are predatory journals, but if they get into the indexing databases, then not for long. There is no need to talk about the quality of such publications.

In addition, do not forget that the Web of Science and Scopus databases are oriented towards the Western market, with their own specifics in terms of language and style. With these methods of stimulation, we become dependent on Western publishers, and sometimes our scientists are forced to play by their rules.

How adequate is this criterion for evaluating a scientist? If there are many publications in the first and second quartiles - yes, we can say that he really studies current problems and he has a serious level of research. If there is a bias in the direction of publications with low rates, it is worth understanding more carefully.

It is important to note that it is a big mistake to evaluate only by publications and quartiles. An integrated approach is needed. Perhaps the scientist has a low publication activity, but he patents a lot or conducts serious scientific and educational work. So here, as elsewhere, it would be incorrect to cut everyone with the same size".

Break the system

Experts interviewed by RIA Novosti believe that it is time to change the tendency, and radically.

"The solution may be to create two tracks - teaching and research. Those who are not able to publish publications, for example, teachers of physical education, a foreign language, go to the first track," says Evgenia. This has been discussed in recent years, but it has not come to practice.

Sergei Voronin believes that it is necessary to completely abandon the orientation towards the West. "We have been raising this topic since 2014, we were supported by Vladimir Zhirinovsky . We need to create our own database on the CIS , BRICS , so that scientists from Eastern Europe and other countries aspire here ," the adviser insists.

"The very idea of ​​rating by publications in a particular database is questionable. A scientist should be assessed according to the functions that he performs," ​​says Vardan Baghdasaryan. In his opinion, new ideas that do not fit into the original paradigm cannot be published in journals with a high impact factor. They will make their way, but years later. Around scientific publishing houses there is a large feeding trough, many intermediaries. Not to mention the fact that this is the basis for the priority of Western science over Russian.

In November last year, State Duma deputy Sergei Kalashnikov sent a request to the Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev to speak out on this issue. According to him, he received a prompt reply: "Representatives of the government and the Russian Academy of Sciences approached me , they did the appropriate work. The only organization that opposed was the Higher School of Economics . The rest supported the idea of ​​reviving and strengthening the role of the Russian certification system."

It is curious that the whole world also calls for the abandonment of formal indicators in assessing the work of researchers. In 2017, the French Academy of Sciences, the German Leopoldine Academy and the Royal Scientific Society of London issued a joint statement expressing concern about the overuse of bibliometrics. In 2015, Nature published the Leiden Manifesto, one of which reads: "Protect the priority of research relevant to your region."

https://ria.ru/20210726/professora-1742352028.html

Are American universities overrated and overhyped? How good are Russian universities?

https://matadornetwork.com/life/us-colleges-are-overrated-overpriced/

https://www.quora.com/Are-American-universities-over-hyped

North Pole platform is due to be accepted on July 1, 2022

The platform will be used for long-term experiments, data processing on the spot and for transmitting results to the mainland

https://tass.com/economy/1335813

Progress of the laser fusion facility in Russia.

Congratulations to the State University of Nizhny Novgorod on their win in the IBM ICPC global programming contest that pits 3,000 university teams from around the world against each other.

Since 2004, Russian Universities have won first place 12 times. Winners have included Saint Petersburg ITMO (7), Saint Petersburg State University (2), MGU (2), Saratov State University (1), and State University of Nizhny Novgorod (1).

Cumulative wins for the more advanced West's elite universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, ect.......ZERO

Kiko wrote:"We were bent under the West." Russian university teachers sound the alarm, 26.07.2021.

MOSCOW, July 26 - RIA Novosti. "Publish or die" - this is how the West is ironic about the fact that the effectiveness of teachers at research universities is determined by the number of their publications in scientific journals. In recent years, this has been actively implemented in Russia as well. Now, only those professors and associate professors who made their way into the top English-language publications are in good standing, while the rest have to work under the threat of dismissal. How, in pursuit of ratings and funding, the country's leading universities curry favor with private foreign magazines - in the material of RIA Novosti.

This is insane. Western scientific journals are not God chosen venues for the publication of peer reviewed literature. I have published
numerous peer reviewed articles (no details will be provided since I do not want to be doxxed) and know how peer review works. It is
not some noble assurance of scientific integrity. It involves trying to please in many cases clowns who understand less about your
research than you do and try to force you to make endless revisions that are nothing but falsely motivated nitpicking. You literally
have to teach these reviewer clowns the science. This is not about the clarity of the prose and presentation. I know for a fact
that western reviewers are going to be hostile to Russian research, a priori. I was sitting beside one "big name" who was selecting
talks and posters submitted for a conference. He was chucking them in the bin without even bothering to apply a fair selection.
I was not on the selection committee so could not fix this.

It is true that some science coming out of Russia is dubious, but that is true for the precious west as well. The difference is that the
west thinks it is the center of creation so any science that it is not familiar with or that does not toe the established western science
dogma is naturally verboten. Politics corrupts science around the world as well.

flamming_python wrote:It's all about the world rankings basically. The more peer-reviewed studies you publish, the more foreign faculty, the more foreign students, the higher the faculty-student ratio, the more top companies you partner up with for employing graduates, etc... the better place you occupy as a higher education institute

And that means more prestige, more applicants, being able to charge higher fees and pick and choose the best prospective students.

It's not surprising that Russian universities are all drifting in this direction.
Essentially higher education is being converted into yet another capitalist enterprise, with everything maximally streamlined. Not necessarily indicative of actual academic quality however.

Agreed.

The issue now is that universities are fighting for grants for R&D from big businesses. The ones who can be considered more prestigious, will get such contracts. This shouldn't be the case. There should be an open and transparent database that connects universities and businesses for research and development and regardless of prestigious, should be based upon contracts and if it will get done or not.

Most research paper coming from US and China is mostly garbage anyway. I don't know full well but I've read that way more than half will never amount to anything. The rest is just waste of time and money chasing after a magazine's review.....

Huawei has been acquiring elite Russian IT talent for years, now they’ve hired one of the stars of Russia’s 2021 International Collegiate Programming Contest gold medal team

Sujoy wrote:Huawei has been acquiring elite Russian IT talent for years, now they’ve hired one of the stars of Russia’s 2021 International Collegiate Programming Contest gold medal team

https://twitter.com/Chinatech_kl/status/1480096728913440768?s=20

Good thing russia is keeping its best material sceince, nuclear, mechanical and aerospace engineers in russia. IT is globalized and overrated. Its not the be all end all of scientific and technological progress unlike what soylent sipping redditors would like you to believe.

Russian scientists to study Arctic biodiversity during biggest Arctic expedition

Norilsk Nickel’s Vice President on ecology and industrial safety Stanislav Seleznev told the news conference the upcoming studies would be unprecedented in scale

NOVOSIBIRSK, February 14. /TASS/. Scientists from four institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch with the support from the Norilsk Nickel Company in 2022 will conduct for the first time since the 1990s large-scale complex biodiversity studies in the territories, where the company works on the Kola Peninsula, in the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk Region and in the Trans-Baikal Region, the project’s leader, the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals’ Director Viktor Glupov said at a TASS press center.

"Ecology is the science, which studies relations in communities and biodiversity - the community’s criterion. The higher is the biodiversity, the more stable is the ecosystem. In fact, it is the life index," the scientist said. "We were happy to accept Nornickel’s invitation to conduct basic biodiversity studies. It is a unique expedition; nothing of the kind has been organized since the Soviet Union’s collapse."

Norilsk Nickel’s Vice President on ecology and industrial safety Stanislav Seleznev told the news conference the upcoming studies would be unprecedented in scale. They will be organized in the Norilsk Industrial District, in the Trans-Baikal Region, on the Kola Peninsula and in the Northern Sea Route.

"In addition to the traditional initiatives to support nature reserves and fish production, Nornickel will gradually structure a complex management system in the sphere of biodiversity in compliance with leading international standards, will organize programs to maintain and monitor the biodiversity," he said. "I am confident - these studies will make a major input in the country’s scientific development and will form the basis of the corporate system to manage impacts on the biodiversity."

According to the company’s representative, the expedition is unique in terms of its complex approaches - complex studies of the mentioned territories were organized last time in the early 1990s, but even they could not cover the planned share of the Russian Arctic’s ecosystems. The studies, focusing on the basic biodiversity, will continue throughout 2022. They will feature between 30 and 60 zoologists, ichthyologists, hydro-biologists, soil scientists and botanists, representing the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, the Institute of Biophysics at the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center, the Central Siberian Botanical Garden, as well as the Institute of Soil Sciences and Agriculture, and international and local experts.

In 2020, the Siberian Branch for the first time in recent years sent to the Taimyr Peninsula at the invitation of Nornickel a big scientific expedition to conduct large-scale studies of the territory and to assess the impact on the environment from the fuel spill near Norilsk. The project was dubbed the Great Norilsk Expedition.

https://tass.com/economy/1403037

The Russian government allocates 5 billion rubles for developments in the field of thermonuclear energy


The authorities of the Russian Federation have decided on additional funding for research in the field of atomic energy applications. The Russian government allocates 5 billion rubles for developments in the field of thermonuclear energy and plasma technologies.

This was reported by the government press service.

The authorities of the Russian Federation are interested in the development, development and practical use of controlled thermonuclear fusion technologies.

The mentioned funds will be taken from the reserve government fund. The corresponding order number 426-p dated March 5 was signed by the head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers Mikhail Mishustin.



Most of the allocated funds - three billion rubles - will be sent to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. The remaining two billion will be divided equally between the state corporation Rosatom and the research center Kurchatov Institute.

The head of the government of the Russian Federation noted that the practical application of controlled thermonuclear fusion technology by Russian specialists would provide the country with an inexhaustible source of reliable and environmentally friendly energy, which one can only dream of.

The Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers believes that research in this area will contribute to the development of not only energy, but also materials science and other industries.

In the spring of 2021, Mishustin was present at the launch of the T-15MD tokamak fusion facility. It is intended for conducting experiments in the field of nuclear energy.

https://en.topwar.ru/193200-na-razrabotki-v-sfere-termojadernoj-jenergetiki-rossijskoe-pravitelstvo-vydeljaet-5-milliardov-rublej.html

Greatest Eurasia Solar Telescope Construction Begins in Russia, by Egor Shapovalov for Sputnikglobe. com. 08.06.2023.

With the first stone laid in the foundation of the future telescope, experts anticipate this marvel of scientific engineering to be the most complex and expensive instrument within the National Heliogeophysical Complex. The project's cost is estimated to be around 36 billion rubles, and the telescope should be fully operational by 2030.

In what is a groundbreaking development, construction has begun on the largest solar telescope in Eurasia, situated near the breathtaking Lake Baikal in the Republic of Buryatia, close to the border of Mongolia. The Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is spearheading this ambitious project, which forms a crucial part of the National Heliogeophysical Complex in Russia.

"The design of the telescope was completed last year... This year we plan only to prepare the construction site. At the beginning of next year, subcontractor organizations will be engaged for certain types of work," Sergey Olemskoy, the first deputy director of the ISTP, told Russian news agency.

The state-of-the-art telescope is designed to unlock the mysteries of the Sun's magnetic fields and solar activity cycle. Researchers aim to study the Sun's photosphere in unprecedented detail, enabling an in-depth analysis of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other solar phenomena. This invaluable instrument is poised to address both fundamental and practical scientific questions.

The telescope's optical scheme boasts 13 mirrors, with the primary mirror boasting a massive 3-meter diameter and constructed from a special glass-ceramic material called astrositall. This innovative design, comprising a tower, technological equipment building, laboratory, and administrative buildings, will reach a towering height of 42 metres and weigh a staggering 120 tonnes.

Dmitry Kolobov, head of the laboratory of experimental solar physics and astrophysical instrumentation, expressed excitement about the selected location near Lake Baikal, citing the unique astroclimate created by the mountains and the lake. This choice promises approximately 10% effective observing time per year, essential for studying the Sun's corona.

The significance of the Sun's study stems from its profound impact on spacecraft, near-Earth space, above-ground infrastructure, and human health. As communication and navigation satellites multiply with the country's development, predicting and understanding solar influences becomes imperative to ensure safety.

"We have to forecast it. And not only to enrich the knowledge around our luminary, but most importantly to make our lives safe," said Gennady Krasnikov, President of the Russian Academy of Science.

With the construction of the solar telescope underway, scientists are excited to unveil the secrets of the Sun, a venture that will deepen our understanding of the universe while ensuring the safety and advancement of technology here on Earth.

The National Heliogeophysical Complex is a mega-science project with a goal to achieve groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs. It encompasses a range of facilities spread across the Irkutsk Region and Buryatia.

By 2030, the complex will comprise a multi-wavelength radioheliograph, a radar system, a mesostratospheric lidar, and a heating stand, all of which are essential for studying near space, the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and Earth's upper atmosphere.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230806/greatest-eurasia-solar-telescope-construction-begins-in-russia-1112429061.html

What ever happened to the Ayaks waverider program that Russia inherited from the USSR? Did it just go out like that? It was the most advanced program known to the aerospace community. I know when the USSR dissolved, some idiots decided to defect to the US with secrets about it leading to them assisting NASA and Boeing in making the American copy of that. ANSER (Some American company) assembled a team to evaluate and develop American versions of Ayaks technologies within the HRST program. Thanks to some one from some Leninetz Company in St Petersburg selling off this research to Americans. Mind you the US was already doing Hypersonics at the time but nothing like the Ayaks which was a Waverider..The US platforms X51 and X43 stayed around Mach 5-10 and were liquid fuel rocket powered. The Ayaks had a rocket too but it relied on aerodynamics and plasma dynamics to reach Mach 20. It was theorized by some Soviet scientist in the 1970s and was gonna be used for inserting stuff into orbit with much less energy.. As well as extremely fast manuvering missiles flying upto 80km above the Earth..

What happened to this program? I know the Avanguard exists now but its a glide vehicle and doesnt manipulate Plasma with Magnetohydrodynamics to surf on it. Anybody knows the Ayaks future?

Russian science must become sovereign, by Dmitry Vinnik for VZGLYAD. 02.03.2024.

Speculation on the thesis about the international nature of science is used to assert cosmopolitanism and pacifism. Accusations of cosmopolitanism usually cause homeric laughter among liberals, as some kind o

f anachronism - for them cosmopolitanism is a matter of course.

For many, words about the need to sovereignize science cause an immediate reaction of rejection. “Science has always been, is and will be international” - this can be heard very often. Opponents counter sovereignty with the thesis about the “fundamentally international nature of science.” They remind us of the exceptional importance of “scientific mobility”, collaboration, free exchange of ideas, corporate solidarity of the “republic of scientists”, etc. At the same time, supporters of sovereignization are credited with the intention to abolish and ban all this. There is a predominance of cosmopolitanism over patriotism. It is especially pronounced among representatives of social sciences. In my opinion, today these are the majority.

Where does this cosmopolitanism come from? There are, of course, speculative philosophers and cultural scientists who like to argue that science itself is historically a phenomenon of Western culture, therefore Western-centrism for a scientist is completely organic and justified - it should not be otherwise! Let's not waste time sorting through this nonsense. One of the reasons is obvious and understandable - at one time the West actually took over our social sciences and subordinated them to its interests. Many physicists, chemists and other “natural scientists” retained greater financial independence, were involved in the work of the military-industrial complex and, thus, maintained a deep connection with our state. They also came under Western influence, but not on such a scale, so today we are most likely not talking about them. However, speculation on the thesis about international nature is characteristic of science as a type of activity; this thesis has become so boring even to patriots that few people find it annoying. This phenomenon has deep historical roots.

On the one hand, the academic community is a surviving relic of the medieval Western European university corporation with its own rules and a certain autonomy, which even included its own university court. The first function of universities was to award academic degrees, which gave the right to teach wherever the power of the Pontiff or the Holy Roman Empire extended. This means that within the Catholic world, academics enjoyed a clear supranational status.

On the other hand, in many countries, including Russia, modern science is organized into national academies of sciences. These institutions are a legacy of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. State academies include foreign members, but primarily they are aimed at developing science in their countries; the interests of the state play a dominant role in this process. Employees of such academies are actually civil servants with all the ensuing consequences - the need to swear an oath of allegiance to the state or monarch.

At the beginning of this century, liberal reformers, appealing to the American experience, decided to strengthen university science and downgrade the status of the State Academy of Sciences (RAS) to a “club of scientists” and take away property. This succeeded to a large extent. The other day, the President of Russia, in a conversation with the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was surprised that the Russian Academy of Sciences was excommunicated from the examination of textbooks. Critics rightly said that science in Russia was initially state-owned, not university-based, so its move to universities would be disastrous. If we look historically, the strengthening of university science rather strengthens the medieval cosmopolitan spirit - despite the fact that academic democracy has been severely trampled in recent years. Instead of faculties there are now “institutes”, and instead of deans there are directors. What is the difference? The dean is chosen by the academic council, and the director is appointed by the rector, who was previously also elected, but is now appointed by the ministry. But the customer of this intervention in medieval corporate democracy is primarily not the state, but transnational corporations that seek to adapt universities to their needs. For this reason, they introduce their forms of management, their crazy business newspeak, forms of rating and control.

Let us assume that the thesis about the international nature of science is true. What follows from these words? Or let us formulate the question differently: which of them should follow and which should not?

In fact, the statement about the international character of science is very empty in the sense that nothing special follows from it in comparison with other branches. There are a great variety of activities that involve intense international cooperation, mobility and esprit de corps. The first thing that comes to mind is military affairs. In fact, armed struggle usually has a cross-border nature. Therefore, why is military affairs not international in its essence? The military constantly exchanges experience, studies in other countries, has its own diplomatic representatives, its own intelligence and entire departments for international military cooperation. Does it follow from this that military education must obey certain international norms? Nothing like that - we teach as we want, in accordance with our traditions and needs. Perhaps this argument, beloved by liberals, gives the military a moral right not to respect their state; claim that they owe him nothing; refuse to maintain secrecy in order to maintain international professional solidarity and “transparency in the exchange of advanced ideas and technologies”? Does this allow them to disobey orders by insisting on the primacy of international law? There is nothing like it.

Meanwhile, for many domestic humanitarians, such behavior is simply par for the course, despite the fact that they, like the military, are supported by the state. In this environment you can often hear the crazy maxim that a Russian intellectual is simply obliged to always be against his state. These people arrogantly imagine themselves as Socrates, who, like gadflies, sting society in vulnerable places for the sake of the public good. But Socrates was not at all a principled opponent of his Athens; moreover, he fought and was known for his courage and perseverance. In fact, the affirmation of such a provocative attitude is a form of justification for one’s fundamental Russophobic position.

It is important to say that the intelligentsia as a class in our society has virtually disappeared, massively betraying their country and themselves in the most vile sense of the word. The reasons for this unique phenomenon in human history have yet to be thoroughly investigated. There remain people of intellectual labor, humanists, who have been trained beyond recognition by the West by means of applied academic zoopsychology, known as behaviorism. They were trained with grants and collective ostracism. There have been fewer grants lately, but there has been more ostracism, thanks to the growing liberal Red Guards. But instead of grants, by this time domestic sources of funding were found, including budget ones. It turns out that Russia gives them gingerbread, they formally report to Russia, too, but for some reason it is the overseas masters who demand meaningful reports. It was precisely to improve this form of substantive control that pro-Western scientometrics was introduced. The consequence of this is that it is extremely difficult for a patriotic humanist to publish in high-ranking scientific journals, most of which are controlled by the West. And if suddenly, God forbid, the state form corresponds to the pro-state content, then the liberal Red Guards will rush in and pour in on the first day! They will bully, ostracize, boycott and “cancel”.

From the lips of eminent philosophers one can hear the thesis about the “sovereignty” of philosophy as a type of activity, about actual autonomy from the state - philosophers themselves formulate state tasks for themselves, carry them out themselves and control the results themselves. This state of affairs is considered the only correct one and is a source of special pride. The interests of the state, on the basis of which the state task is written, are formulated by the philosophers themselves, very often to the extent of their Westernism.

A different situation, when interests are set by the authorities from the outside, is interpreted by scientists as offensive, as a violation of academic freedom, as a manifestation of totalitarian ideological control. However, this does not at all apply to the performance of work in the interests of other Western states and globalist structures.

Speculation on the thesis about the international nature of science is used to assert cosmopolitanism and pacifism. Accusations of cosmopolitanism usually cause homeric laughter among liberals, as some kind of anachronism - for them cosmopolitanism is a matter of course.

Probably, a person has the right to be a cosmopolitan by conviction, to consider his specific citizenship as a misunderstanding. “The way the world works is that it’s easier to have some citizenship.” But it is hardly fair for such a citizen, through a misunderstanding, to allow him to brag about this publicly and at the same time live at state expense.

Pacifism is also not a particularly popular concept now; usually pacifists prefer to talk about adherence to the “ethics of non-violence”, and in every possible way stigmatize their colleagues who support the SVO and any defense of the interests of the Fatherland with arms in hand. In their opinion, a Russian intellectual, and especially a philosopher, is simply obliged to be against war in any of its manifestations. A Russian philosopher in war evokes in them a mixture of amazement and disgust. In their opinion, as one moves up the academic ladder, the degree of pacifist holiness should only increase - doctors of sciences who supported the SVO should simply be deprived of their degrees as unfit for the profession. In my opinion, modern pacifism is simply a suicidal ideology, the fruit of crazy psychosocial experiments of hippie times, moralizing extremism, which can still be tolerated in individual individuals, but which as a public position is absolutely impossible for a person who serves our huge state and receives a salary from it.

Also, speculation about the international nature of science is used as an argument against strengthening measures to protect information in the interests of state security. Some simply propose abolishing all secrecy in favor of “the free exchange of ideas and the celebration of the spirit of transparency.” Candidate Boris Nadezhdin proposes something similar in his election program: “The development of military technologies and innovations should benefit the country’s economy and be integrated into the civilian sector, and not hide under a secret stamp.”

All this is the result of what I call the academic union. This union was imposed on us by the West after 1991, just as some Orthodox Christians were converted to Catholicism, allowing them to preserve the Byzantine rite. Our science was starved of food, on the one hand, and supported by the West through the grant system, on the other. Salaries were kept by Uniates within the country deliberately at a miserable level, even when the state had money. The Patriotic Party in the academic environment was morally suppressed and almost ceased to be replenished with young people. Despite all the academic freedoms, declared and even actual, the system of belief control in this environment worked and still works damn effectively.

In Russia, doing science is traditionally a sovereign matter, so it should be treated with all the seriousness of the state. State scientists must swear allegiance to the state or leave budget universities and research institutes - it should not be otherwise.

https://vz.ru/opinions/2024/2/3/1251696.html