Program council now featured on Wonderful World festival´s homepage

The program council for Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap is now featured on the festival´s homepage.

#34,5; contributions for CONTRADICTionary written and submitted

Today I have had half an article writing day, with 1000 words altogether written on my entries "Environmental quality" and "Pollution" for the book volume CONTRADICTionary: An Almanac of Resistance (ed. Bernd Herzogenrath), which is to be published by Open Humanities Press. As mentioned previously, this book is organised around the ca. 200 words the Trump administration is attempting to ban from science. 

This was writing day #34,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 6 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.

Update on Wonderful world festival: 4th event scheduled with John Ellis; Mars event update

On Wednesday May 28th I have been scheduled to comment on a lecture by John Ellis on "The theory of everything - the holy grail of physics?" (Teorien om alt fysikkens hellige gral?) at the Wonderful world festival, which is held in Stavannger May 28-31st.

The Mars event on May 30th now has a new poster, featuring a certain Elon Musk.

Interest signalled for being Ombudsmann for scientific integrity; deemed qualified but not chosen

Some time back, I expressed interest in being the University of Stavanger´s new Ombudsman for scientific integrity (in Norwegian: Vitenskapsombud), after professor Geir Skeie. Last week I was in for an interview. Although I was considered qualified, I was not chosen for the function.

#29

Today I have had half an article writing day, partly devoted to work on the revision of the book chapter manuscript "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered: Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", with some 100 words added to the manuscript in the process. I also accepted to contribute with two entries in a prospective special issue (journal to be agreed) titled "CONTRADICTionary: An Almanac of Resistance", which will be organised around the ca. 200 words the Trump administration is attempting to ban from science.  

So far this Spring I have had 29 writing days, including 5 article writing days.

Participating in three events during "Wonderful world" 2024 philosophy and science festival

This week the philosophy and science festival "Wonderful World" 2024 is held in Stavanger, Norway. I take part in three events:

• On Thursday 7 p.m. I serve as commentator following Einar Duenger Bøhn´s talk "Jaktens etikk og filosofi" (The ethics and philosophy of hunting) 
• On Thursday 8.30 p.m.  serve as commentator following Rupert Sheldrake´s talk "Is the universe conscious?"
• On Friday at noon I take part in the discussion panel "Panpsykisme - brobygger mellom materie og bevissthet?" (Panpsychism - building bridges between matter and consciousness?" along with Hedda Hassel Mørch and Einar Duenger Bøhn (Vegard Møller is moderator)

"Wonderful world" editorial board meeting attended

Today I have attended the first meeting - held digitally - of the editorial board for the Norwegian philosophy and science festival "Wonderful world", which will be held for the second time, in Stavanger, May 30 - June 2nd.

Wonderful world festival: Contributions during 2 events, on future humanity and free will in animals

"Wonderful world - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap" (Wonderful world - the Nordic festival for philosophy and science) has been held, for the first time, at and around Tou in Stavanger over the 4 last days (June 1st to 4th). I have been part of the editorial board (redaksjonsråd) of the festival, as the only one representing the University of Stavanger there. 

I contributed to two events over the last few days:

* On Thursday June 1st I took part in panel discussion following Anders Sandberg´s introduction to the topic "Fremtidsmennesket?" (future man?). The panel also featured Leonora Onarheim Bergsjø and Einar Duenger Bøhn. Alexandra Esdaile chaired. Some 80 people attended.

* On Saturday June 3rd I took part in a panel discussion on the topic "Har dyr fri vilje? Og derfor rettigheter?" (Do animals have free will? And therefore rights?), and also introduced the topic. The panel also featured Norun Haugen and Lars Risan (chair). Some 40 people attended.

Text on the free will of animals published in "Wonderful world" festival newspaper

A text by me titled "Har dyr fri vilje?" (Do animals have free will?) has been published in the festival newspaper of Wonderful world - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi & vitenskap (half page, on p. 21), which is to be held in Stavanger June 1-4th. The text plays up to an event that will take place on June 3rd as part of the festival.

To discuss "future humans" at Wonderful world festival

I am scheduled to take part in a panel discussion at the philosophy and science festival "Wonderful world" which is to take place in Stavanger June 1st-4th, titled "Fremtidsmennesket?" (cf. description in the festival program), along with Anders Sandberg (who also offers a brief lecture/introduction), Leonora Onarheim Bergsjø and Einar Duenger Bøhn. Hannah Winter will chair the event, which takes place June 1st at 8-9 p.m. at Scene 2, Tou (in Stavanger, Norway).

First elements of "Wonderful world" festival program released

The philosophy and science festival "Wonderful world", to be held in Stavanger June 1-4th, has released the first elements of its program. I am in the editorial board of the festival.

Appointed to the editorial board for the festival "Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap"

I have been appointed as a member of the editorial board (redaksjonsråd) for the festival "Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap" (Wonderful World - the Nordic festival for philosophy and science), which will be held for the first time June 1-4th 2023 in Stavanger, Norway.

3 meetings

Today I have attended 3 scheduled meetings. This included a meeting on the new conference Wonderful world.

Letter "The HDI´s maximum limit for income is unfounded" rejected, submitted again

My Letter "The HDI´s maximum limit for income is unfounded" was rejected by Science, I have now submitted it to Nature.

Meeting, ph.d. supervision, climate-related meeting, social dinner

Yesterday I attended two scheduled meetings, including a ph.d. supervision session. I also attended a meeting at University of Stavanger by "Klimarealistene" (literally: the climate realists), a group of scholars and others who believe there is no (or hardly any) anthropogenic climate change, focused on the launch of an allegedly scientific journal. In the evening, I attended a dinner with colleagues. - A long day.

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. 

#14

Today I have had an article writing day devoted to contributing to chapter 12 of our book Semiotic agency,  "Agentology: Crosspollination of Science and Philosophy", with some 1.200 words written.

Total number of writing days so far this Spring is up to 14.

Book proposal finished - "Semiotic Agency: Science beyond Mechanism"

Along with Alexei Sharov, I have co-authored (as second author) the book proposal "Semiotic Agency: Science beyond Mechanism" (18 pp), finished yesterday.

Manifesto article on biosemiotics and the humanities

This week I was invited, and have agreed, to contribute to a "manifesto" article work-titled "Why biosemiotics needs the humanities", along with about a dozen other biosemioticians. The article is to be submitted to Biosemiotics.

Joining Concerned Scientists Norway

I have become a member of Concerned Scientists Norway. In order to become a member one must be a "scientific employee" and support the manifesto of Concerned Scientists Norway, which is concerned with climate change and other environmental issues.

The slogan of CSN is "researchers for a sustainable development". Their manifesto stresses the importance of interdisciplinarity, and states that such a "interdisciplinary perspective, which will address the various causes of the [ecological] crisis, and seek to go to the root of the problems, will involve criticism of aspects of our economic and social system."

See also the webpage of the US' Union of Concerned Scientists.