3 scheduled meetings

Today I have attended 3 scheduled meetings. This included a work meeting with risk analysis in the context of HSE (Health - Safety - Environment).

Animal history workshop presentation described in ZIF-Mitteilungen

A report from the research workshop "Animal (Pre)History, Agency & Legacy" (held digitally May 10-12th), where I presented the paper "Individuality and subjectivity in animals in light of Umwelt temporality", is published in ZIF-Mitteilungen, published by the Universität Bielefeld´s Zentrum for interdisciplinary Forschung (Center for Interdisciplinary Research), no. 2/2021, p. 39-40. About my presentation it says:

Die Biosemiotik regte indes dazu an, tierische Interaktionsformen als spezifische Umweltwahrnemnung und Kommunikation zu erfassen und deren Diversität und Alterität ernst zu nehmen (Morten Tønnessen).  

2 / 4 meetings

Today I have had two scheduled meetings and two drop-in meetings. This included a steering group meeting in relation to the application for a candidate of psychology study.

4 meetings - and soon an end to hybrid teaching

Today I have attended four scheduled meetings. This included the Autumn´s second department leadership group meeting. After discussion on the meeting, I decided that the department will go back to physical teaching only starting next week, as national corona virus measures were mostly discontinued this weekend.

2 meetings

Today I have attended two scheduled meetings, plus some drop-in meetings.

#13

Today I have had an article writing day devoted mainly to revising my article with Joakim Jiri Haaland, and partly also to my upcoming Henrik Steffens conference presentation which will end up as an ethology chapter as well. I wrote some 300 words; and this is the 13th writing day so far this Autumn.

Steffens paper scheduled for oral presentation at Copenhagen conference "…just as alluring as instructive…" on October 9th

I have been scheduled to present my paper "Steffens’ ideas about organic meteorology. From the Totalorganismus to planetary health?" (read the abstract here) at the conference “…just as alluring as instructive…” Henrik Steffens’ Concept of Nature in Science, Humanities and Arts around 1800 (University of Copenhagen October 7-9th, 2021) on Saturday October 9th at 10.30-11.00.

Conference info with full program here.

#12 - "Wasted growth - case study: The American dream or nightmare?" submitted to Applied Research in Quality of Life

On Sunday September 19th I had an article writing day - the 12th so far this Autumn, with some 600 words written on my first wasted growth article, which is in the final version titled "Wasted growth - case study: The American dream or nightmare?" The article has been submitted to Applied Research in Quality of Life.

3 meetings

Today I have attended three scheduled meetings. This included contributions to local salary negotiations.

3 meetings

Today I have attended three scheduled meetings. This included a meeting on serious incidents abroad.

2 meetings and a course

Today I have attended two scheduled meetings including a work lunch, plus a leadership training course.

2 meetings

Yesterday I attended two meetings, namely the faculty leadership group meeting and this Autumn´s first department council meeting, which was the first with the newly appointed council.

Paper for the Second World Inequality Conference not accepted

I have been informed by the conference organizers that my paper submission for the Second World Inequality Conference, to be held in Paris in December, was not accepted.

2 meetings, a supervision session, and a master degree development online seminar

Today I have attended two scheduled meetings, had a ph.d. co-supervision session, and chaired an online seminar for people involved in the development of our master degree in psychology.

#11

Today I have had half an article writing day, with an author bio note written for the Bloomsbury Semiotics companion I am contributing to with the chapter "Semiotics in ethology and zoology", and some registration and PR done for our forthcoming book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism, among other things. Total number of writing days so far this Autumn is up to 11.

Book "Semiotic agency" announced online by Springer Nature; coming soon

Our book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism has now been announced online.

Reference:

Sharov, Alexei & Morten Tønnessen (in print, 2021). Semiotic Agency: Science beyond Mechanism (Biosemiotics 25). Springer Nature. DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-89484-9, ISBN 978-3-030-89483-2 (Hardcover), 978-3-030-89484-9 (ebook).

ABOUT THIS BOOK (from Springer´s presentation of the book):

This book invites readers to embark on a journey into the world of agency encompassing humans, other organisms, cells, intracellular molecular agents, colonies, populations, ecological systems, and artificial autonomous systems. We combine mechanistic and non-mechanistic approaches in the analysis of the function and evolution of organisms, their subagents, and multi-organism systems, and in this way offer a theoretical platform for integrating biosemiotics with both natural science and the humanities/social sciences. Agents are autonomous systems that incorporate knowledge on how to make sense of their environment and use it to achieve their goals. The functions of all agents are supported by mechanisms at the lowest level; however, the explanatory power of mechanistic analysis is not sufficient for complex agents. Non-mechanistic methods rely on the goal-directedness of agents whose dynamics follow self-stabilized dynamic attractors. The properties of attractors depend on stable or slowly changing factors, and such dependencies can be interpreted as sign relations if they are adaptive in nature. Agents can replace or redirect mechanisms on demand in order to preserve their functions; for performing higher-level semiotic functions, mechanisms are thus only means. We assume that mechanism and semiosis are not mutually exclusive, and that simple agents can interpret signs mechanistically. This assumption allows us to extend semiotic analysis to all agents, including ribosomes in cells, computers, and robots. This book challenges established traditions in natural science and the humanities/social sciences: semiotics no longer appears as restricted to humans and rational thinking, and biology is no longer limited to rely exclusively on mechanistic reasoning. 

Chronicle cited in Dagsavisen commentary by Chief Editor

A chronicle of mine was cited in a commentary published in Dagsavisen, written by Chief Editor Eirik Hoff Lysholm, "Stortingsvalget 2021 i verdens beste land å leve i: Vi, de priviligerte":

Jeg låner forklaringen til Morten Tønnessen, professor i filosofi og instituttleder ved Institutt for sosialfag ved Universitetet i Stavanger, fra en kronikk i Stavanger Aftenblad: «HDI-indeksen til FN, som ble lansert i 1990, er basert på tre elementer, nemlig forventet levealder, antall skoleår, og gjennomsnittlig inntekt. (…) Noen få land har lengre levealder, flere skoleår, eller høyere gjennomsnittsinntekt enn Norge, men ingen slår oss på kombinasjonen av disse indikatorene. Ikke bare topper Norge listen – vi har også en høyere HDI-verdi enn noen gang tidligere – nærmere bestemt 0,957, på en skala som går fra 0 til 1. Dermed setter vi også en ny verdensrekord. Ingen land har noensinne hatt en høyere HDI-verdi».

Three meetings

Today I have attended three meetings. This included a meeting with BUFETAT (Norway´s Agency for Children, Youth and Families), a meeting related to Cognitive lab, and a steering group meeting for establishment of a candidate of psychology study.

40% position as research assistant open

A 40% position as research assistant within welfare and economics is open at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, for a period of 2 years. The one who is employed will be collaborating with me. 

The call (in Norwegian only) is available here.

A meeting in town

Today I attended (most of) a meeting with the child protection service in the municipality of Stavanger.

Council for animal ethics meeting attended on Ås

Yesterday I attended the meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, at Norwegian Veterinary Institute´s new localities on Ås.

Book "Semiotic agency" to be published in November

The book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism, which I have co-written with Alexei Sharov, will be published in November, according to Springer. Information will soon appear online.

In Oslo

It has been quite a day. I flew for the first time in a year. The flight (Stavanger > Oslo) was three-four hours late. I had a meeting with an editor at Universitetsforlaget (Scandinavian University Press) to discuss my book project Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, and then met with a scholar with which I have common research interests. Also, it is election day in Norway.

#10,5

Today I have had half an article writing day devoted to my first wasted growth article, with some 400 words written and some consistent structure work done. Total number of writing days this Autumn is up to 10,5.

Google Scholar: 2021 year with record number of citations

According to Google Scholar (cf. my profile), my research has as of now attracted 87 citations in 2021, making 2021 a year with a record number of citations (in 2016, I had 86 citations).

This is good, though a "breakthrough" trajectory should involve a record number of citations every year, not just now and then. Altogether my research has to date attracted 584 citations.

#10

Today I have had an article writing day, the 10th this Autumn, with some work done involving my recently published article on CCS and climate justice, the book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism, and the book procject Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, and some 100 words written. 

Article on CCS and generational climate justice published

My Norwegian language journal article on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) was published this week.

Reference: 

Tønnessen, Morten (2021). Karbonfangst i lys av generasjonsrettferdighet. Norsk filosofisk tidsskrift 56(2–3): 91–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-2901-2021-02-03-04 

The article is Open Access and thus freely available for full-text reading and download.

English language summary:

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) stands out from other climate mitigation measures by involving storage of CO2 in geological formations for several thousand years. Few if any other mitigation measures raise similar questions related to the long-term impact of the measure. This accentuates the issue of intergenerational justice in relation to CCS. Reliance on CCS represents a moral hazard, since it risks delaying and undermining the needed transition to a fossil-free energy system and society. It would also be fundamentally unjust in that it would burden future generations with much of the practical responsibility for dealing with environmental problems caused by current generations. Emphasis on intergenerational justice should lead us to commit to rapid climate gas emission reductions today rather than relying on negative emissions at some point in the future. Such an assessment is in line with central contemporary climate research as well as key norms in environmental ethics. It is also in line with some of the fundamental insights of deep ecology as developed by Arne Næss.  

Keywords: Carbon capture and storage (CCS), bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), intergenerational justice, climate ethics, moral hazard, deep ecology

HSE safety inspection carried out

Yesterday I attended my first safety inspection - called "vernerunde" in Norwegian, with two colleagues who serve as "verneombud" and "varaverneombud" respectively. This entails stopping by at each office at the department to inquire about HSE matters (Health - Safety - Environment; in Norwegian called HMS, for Helse - Miljø - Sikkerhet).

3 meetings

Today I have attended three scheduled meetings. This included a course on the economic responsibilities of leaders at the university.

3 meetings including physical staff meeting

Today I have attended three scheduled meetings. This included the Autumn´s first staff meeting (and the year´s fourth), which was held physically on campus, with some 45 people present.

3 meetings

Today I have had three scheduled meetings, including my weekly meeting with the office manager.

#9

Today I have had an article writing day, the 9th this Autumn, devoted to my first wasted growth article, which is now re-named "Wasted growth - case study: The American dream or nightmare?", with some 800 words written. This makes today the most productive writing day so far this Autumn.

#8

Today I have had an article writing day, with two key texts read and some 100 words added to my wasted growth articles, plus my 2019 paper "Human development, inequality and social risks in Latin-America and the Nordic countries" re-read and submitted to the Second World Inequality Conference.

Number of writing days so far this Autumn is up to 8.

Paper submitted to Second World Inequality Conference

I have submitted my published paper "Human development, inequality and social risks in Latin-America and the Nordic countries" for consideration for an oral presentation at the Second World Inequality Conference, to be held at the Paris School of Economics December 7-8th.

3 meetings

Today I have attended three scheduled meetings, all of them one-on-one.

4 meetings

Today I have attended 4 meetings, which filled my work day from 8.45 to 15. This included a budget meeting, a work group meeting on our development of a master in psychology, and the third steering group meeting related to our development of a candidate of psychology study (profesjonsstudium).