Search

Where sporting games may be said to epitomize our species' unique agential capacity for playful movement, sports played in nature differ from their equivalent played indoors in that they envelop the human agent within the living physical environment from which our agency originates. In this paper, we draw attention to how sporting sites differ according to origin by pursuing a biosemiotic line of reasoning. Here, the story of a meaningful human life begins with the eukaryotic cell, even though the human subject itself arises much later. As such, the story of nature in relation to our agency, here, in sports, changes too. We present key concepts from biosemiotics, including its continuum life-as-semiotic-agency view, Umwelt, metasemiosis, and semiotic scaffolding to advance our argument that naturogenic sporting sites provide continuity to the macro processes that have generated our semiotic ability to play. Meanwhile, secluded anthropogenic environments constitute yet another discontinuity for the modern sportsperson where the moving body steps into an anthroposemiotic loop and its restricted signscapes from centralized agency. We conclude on the primacy of naturogenic sporting sites as they preserve the quality and complexity of animal ludens' constitutive relations and therefrom semiotic freedom, on which current and future gameplaying depends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eduard Suess's invention of the word 'biosphere' sparked a trend of coining sphere-words, which has since evolved into something of a craze. Some of these words, such as atmosphere and hydrosphere, are simply name tags for their respective Earth spheres. Others, such as geosphere, are also used mainly as names but they carry more than one meaning. However, many sphere-words, including pedosphere, biosphere, ecosphere, anthroposphere, sociosphere, and technosphere, are far more than just names, bearing as they do, weighty conceptual connotations that fuel considerable debate. At a time when Earth and life scientists are attempting to understand the workings of the planet as a whole by modelling the interaction of its component spheres, and when they are collaborating with sociologists, anthropologists, and members of other human sciences to tackle current environmental challenges, it seems an opportune moment to probe the origin and meaning of words for the Earth spheres they investigate. To be sure, Earth System modelling is helping understand changes resulting from the interaction of all the Earth's spheres, including the anthroposphere, over various time and space scales, while multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research is helping to address such global problems as sustainable development, climate change, water supply, and biodiversity loss. An awareness of the origin, development, and disputed meanings of many sphere-words that these approaches employ should prove salutary for their multifarious practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the consideration of the phenomenon of scientific and technical space, which is relevant for the modern civilization, striving to «go too far». The work uses a structuralist methodology that allows us to identify semantic layers in a single, but multifaceted process of space exploration. The physical (objectivist) approach to the study of space is supported by the transcendental (gnoseological) idea of the conditions for comprehension of space, which forms a fairly coherent natural-technical picture in which man and the things of the world are in diverse and familiar connections. The work makes a metaphysical calculation of resources / modes that support the spatial-technical picture of the world and concludes: based on the presented conditions-foundations, it is impossible to explain the development of space. The main hypothesis is that space is tied not only to materiality in any of its variations, but also to the transcendental world. The idea of the transcendental version of space can be traced in the ancient teachings of Plato, Aristotle, who bring the divine and the ideal accompanying it to a separate area. The blindness of modern scientific and technical civilization manifests itself in fundamental materialism and the postulation of the split of the world into the area of the sensory and the supersensory. Moreover, the supersensory, the ideal is given the position of a «conflict of interpretations», «antinomies of reason», while the sensory, the practical has a reliable status of verifiability and is associated with the truth. If «time» in the tradition of the European mentality is rooted in the idea of eternity, then «space» rests on itself, is explained through itself. However, it is noticeable that the creative initiative of people to arrange the world, captures not only material environments, but also an ever-expanding virtual area, which indicates that humanity is spatially in a rugged terrain of sensory and fantasy environments. Space is increasingly dematerialized, thinning. Since the fact of scientific creativity is considered indisputable, the idea arises that the expansion of space spreads towards the intelligible spheres of being.

The “essence” of the technosphere is no longer human or inhuman, because it is not a thinking machine or an instrument for other purposes. After all, the “essence” of artificial intelligence is that it is a thing, rather than an object that thinks and moves. It tends to be an autopoietic machine of cognitive calculation/planning/construction of events that do not exist in reality. Therefore, the onto-logic of the technosphere is pure digital constructivism. The technosphere becomes consequently a synthesis of metaphysics and cybernetics in post- and trans-humanism. This synthesis presupposes a transition, or becoming (devenir), into the post-biological or post-human condition that we call singularity. Autopoiesis is thus the last fundamental word or concept of metaphysics at its realized end. I attempt to offer a discussion of this problem, taking into account the question whether “contemporaneity” under the rule of the technosphere can be thought from the horizon of the figure of Übermensch, which, incidentally, with homo kybernetes, loses its “ontological” meaning.

One of the remaining issues regarding the Anthropocene is the lack of stratigraphic evidence indicating when the cumulative human pressure from the early Holocene began to fundamentally change the Earth system. Herein, we compile anthropogenic fingerprints from various high-precision-dated proxy records for 137 global sites to determine the age of the unprecedented surge in these records over the last 7700 y. The cumulative number of fingerprints revealed an unprecedented surge in diverse anthropogenic fingerprints starting in 1952 ± 3 CE, corresponding to the onset of the Great Acceleration. Notably, the period from 1953 to 1958 CE saw a nearly simultaneous surge in fingerprints across all regions, including Antarctica, the Arctic, East Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. This synchronous upsurge reflects the moment when human impacts led to rapid transformations in various natural processes and cycles, with humans becoming a geological force capable of inscribing abundant and diverse anthropogenic fingerprints in global strata. Following this global fingerprint explosion, profound planetary-scale changes, including deviations from the established natural climatic conditions, begin. This unprecedented surge in anthropogenic signals worldwide suggests that human influences started to match many natural forces controlling the processes and cycles and overwhelm some of the functioning of the Earth system around 1952. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technosphere consists of material stocks accumulated by human activities, which can include processing residue, such as slag. Various smelting processes generate slag, and some valuable elements are concentrated in this by-product. In this review, the extraction of critical and strategic metals from non-ferrous slags is discussed. Critical and strategic metals are materials that are vital for the nation's economy and defence, as well as its industries, and have common features, such as expected shortfalls, increasing demand, and few substitutions. There are several definitions, methods, and classifications of critical and strategic elements by different organisations. In this study, reports from seven institutions around the world are summarised, and a list of recommended critical and strategic metals is presented. Non-ferrous slags contain a considerable amount of critical and strategic elements, and research on technology and process development using both pyro- and hydrometallurgical methods is very attractive. When it comes to the extraction of values from slag and the development of technology, it is not only important to consider the economic aspect but also to ensure the processes are low in emissions and energy consumption but high in efficiency and recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Guillermo de Ockham is the property of Revista Cientifica Guillermo de Ockham, Universidad de San Buenaventura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

After consideration of some basic principles of raw material consumption we conclude that — with the exception of the nutrients nitrogen, phosphate and potassium — humankind does not need raw materials as such, but only the intrinsic function they can provide. For fulfilling these functions we have at our disposal three resources: the geosphere, the technosphere, and the most important resource of all, human creativity. Human ingenuity and curiosity by its very nature strives to find an answer to the fundamental question of supply and demand, that is, whether adequate availability can be secured in the light of expected consumption growth. Commonly, intensity of use factors (IOU) — unit raw material related to unit gross national product (GDP) — are used for this purpose. This approach has been criticized because of other influences on raw material consumption. In this article, world-wide statistics are used to deal with the objections and to see if growth rates have already peaked and whether the ratio of primary to secondary production follows a positive trend. The commodities investigated are aluminum/bauxite, copper, zinc, nickel, steel, and platinum. As far as growth rates are concerned we are beyond the point of inflexion in aluminum, copper, zinc, and nickel. For steel, the answer is uncertain. In terms of relative share of secondary use of raw materials, all commodities show a positive trend towards a better circular, self-sustaining economy, with aluminum and zinc more pronounced in this regard than others, like copper or steel. Finally, it can be definitely affirmed that we are not running out of resource possibilities, not even for copper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functions that determine physicochemical and biological processes that contribute to the development of soil formation and elements of the Land Registry are considered. Modern trends in soil development are characterized by intensification of use and reduction of their functioning areas. The mechanism of formation of objects of anthropogenic soil formation and elements of the Land Cadastre has been studied in the Terek–Kuma Lowland, which is one of the main regions of the Caspian Lowland, which is prone to desertification and aridization. The hierarchical system of objects of the Land Cadastre according to the scale of the functions performed is differentiated at the level of gradations of global, federal, and constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities. The analysis of the elements of the Land Cadastre and their role in a multi-sectoral plan was carried out using the ecological–biosphere concept of soil formation, the fundamental basis of which boils down to the differentiation of objects into two groups: the sphere of objects of human economic activities, as a result of which land biomass is created and oxygen is produced using carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and the sphere of industries, housing construction, and transport communications, which consume biogenic energy and organic matter. In addition to the selected groups, the sphere of geological deposits is included. The technogenic cover, consisting of elements simultaneously performing the functions of cadastral registration and processes of anthropogenic soil formation, has been determined starting from detailed survey scales (1 : 100 and 1 : 1000). The cadastral burden at the most highly detailed scales of research creates a minimal burden. At the first stage of cadastral registration, the assessment is carried out covering individual areas and fields of crop rotation and the elements of the minimum size used when performing field work. At the second stage, larger objects are allocated as production units (crop rotation lands, team plots, and pasture rotation fields). The variety of objects of the Land Cadastre and their combination with the technosphere create a special structure of categories of biotic and abiotic natures that are ubiquitous on the earth's surface. The emergence of a land cadastre and its assessment are determined by the production functions necessary to create favorable conditions for obtaining economic products. Cadastral objects act here as a factor of anthropogenic soil formation. Their influence is manifested in changes in soil properties: the temperature of the surface layers of the earth, the content of humus, the dry residue of easily soluble salts, volumetric weight, and water permeability. The cadastral content of the technogenic soil cover resulting from the influence of the anthropogenic factor is in a state of dynamic development due to two factors: the market economy and the direction of the arid type of soil formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civilizational development entails the formation of a contradiction between the technosphere and the biosphere, with the consequences of greenhouse effects; it is carried out within the framework of technological structures independent of socio-economic formations. Governing bodies and activities that provide significant growth (or control planetary environmental safety) are key factors, as are technological innovations, with industry and consumption playing a key role in the spread of a new technological order. The technosphere, as the main product of civilizational development, has gone through a number of pre-industrial and at least five industrial technological modes and will most likely move into the sixth (post-industrial) technological mode. The main causes of greenhouse gases are gas emissions, methane, and ozone. The rise in the 20th century of the temperature on the surface of the planet is a result of a reaction to anthropogenic emissions of gases, including accidental oxides, tropospheric ozone and its "expectations", halogenated hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technosphere consists of material stocks accumulated by human activities, which can include processing residue, such as slag. Various smelting processes generate slag, and some valuable elements are concentrated in this by-product. In this review, the extraction of critical and strategic metals from non-ferrous slags is discussed. Critical and strategic metals are materials that are vital for the nation’s economy and defence, as well as its industries, and have common features, such as expected shortfalls, increasing demand, and few substitutions. There are several definitions, methods, and classifications of critical and strategic elements by different organisations. In this study, reports from seven institutions around the world are summarised, and a list of recommended critical and strategic metals is presented. Non-ferrous slags contain a considerable amount of critical and strategic elements, and research on technology and process development using both pyro- and hydrometallurgical methods is very attractive. When it comes to the extraction of values from slag and the development of technology, it is not only important to consider the economic aspect but also to ensure the processes are low in emissions and energy consumption but high in efficiency and recycling.

Information transmission via communication between agents is ubiquitous on Earth, and is a vital facet of living systems. In this paper, we aim to quantify this rate of information transmission associated with Earth's biosphere and technosphere (i.e., a measure of global information flow) by means of a heuristic order-of-magnitude model. By adopting ostensibly conservative values for the salient parameters, we estimate that the global information transmission rate for the biosphere might be ∼ 10 24 bits/s, and that it may perhaps exceed the corresponding rate for the current technosphere by ∼9 orders of magnitude. However, under the equivocal assumption of sustained exponential growth, we find that information transmission in the technosphere can potentially surpass that of the biosphere ∼90 years in the future, reflecting its increasing dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global technological environment, which mediates the interaction of mankind with the biosphere, carries technogenic and environmental hazards and serious anthropological and social risks. Today there is a tendency in which every improvement of the technogenic system ultimately increases its negative impact on nature on the principle of negative feedback. In such a situation, an objective assessment of the technosphere’s characteristics is necessary for timely harmonization in the relationship “Human – Natural Environment”. The purpose of the article is to conceptualize ideas about the technogenic path of human development and to introduce the concept of “ecological technosphere” as a new stage of coevolutionary relations between nature and technogenic civilization. The research is carried out within the framework of the concept of post-classical science, a structural and functional approach, postphenomenology, actor-network theory. In the article, based on the concepts of “technique”, “technology”, “technocenosis”, “technological environment”, an ontological analysis of the concept of “technosphere” is proposed, its essential characteristics and risky scenarios of development are highlighted. The article was carried out within the framework of the project “Socio-ecological monitoring of the technical environment of the region: a socio-cultural approach” (RFBR Grant 20-311-90060 Graduate students)

The internal contradictions that affect the interaction of the techno- and biosphere during the intensification of subsoil development are considered. The necessity of timely ecologization of the technological paradigm of the development of subsoil use as one of the main elements of the technosphere and a natural transition to a new technological order corresponding to the characteristics of a post-industrial society has been substantiated. The causes of the modern systemic ecological crisis associated with the antagonistic form of interaction between man and nature have been indicated. This crisis can be overcome through the gradual ecologization of the technological paradigm in general and subsoil use in particular. The massive use of naturelike technologies contributes to the modernization of the technological order. It is this form of revolutionary transformation that opens the way for establishing coevolutionary interaction of systemic antagonists—man and the living nature of the Earth—based on the principles of parallel nondestructive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Postscriptum Polonistyczne is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Human activity has an ever-increasing impact on the environment. In order to understand all processes and interactions behind this change, one has to analyze the environmental impact. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are one way to achieve this, which, however, are time-consuming and often associated with high costs, as well as the requirement of specialized knowledge and software. This paper introduces a model, which allows an initial assessment. The model enables a more pragmatic way and may be considered as a first step in order to implement ecological sustainability considerations into companies. Based on a real-world problem, namely the disposal of foundry dust, the model is explained in a vivid manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Further development of the history of science and technology requires the solution of a number of methodological problems. The article considers the object and subject of the history of science and technology, its place in the system of sciences. Today, more and more people are turning to the factors that determine the interaction of the society with the environment (productive forces of the society), to study which in the historical aspect and called a special scientific discipline - the history of science and technology. The society as an object of knowledge is a biological organism of the highest level of organization of “cells” - individuals. It exists and develops in the environment due to its own entropy. The society organizes this removal through a specialized subsystem formed on the basis of technical devices – “technosphere”. The success of such a process is ensured (through the information field) by another subsystem - the “noosphere”. These subsystems include both ideal and material objects. The composition and development of the technosphere and noosphere are considered in the article. It is shown that the functioning of the technosphere is based on its interaction with the noosphere, which provides information about the environment and controls the effectiveness of interaction with it. It is formed by combining the mental structures of individuals through sign systems. The production process that ensures the functioning of the society begins with the noosphere, which through individual consciousness controls the actions of each individual, who through the means of production (technosphere) interacts with the natural environment. However, the gradual development of productive forces leads at some point to the fact that the information needed by the individual to perform all necessary actions for the benefit of the society, ceases to fit in his individual consciousness. As a result, there is a new social phenomenon - the social division of labor. On the one hand, there is a division of technological operations between different performers (technological division of labor), and on the other - the selection of individuals who coordinate the efforts of performers and receive impetus to work not directly from public consciousness, but through these persons (social division of labor). As a result, there are special relationships between individuals and their groups (production relations), and thus begins the class period of human existence. And it will continue until the development of productive forces leads to the full transfer of all technological functions to technical systems, which due to the direct interaction of the noosphere and technosphere will put an end to the social division of labor. However, the development of productive forces is also accompanied by the acceleration of entropy in the environment of mankind - the geobiosphere of the planet Earth, which is gradually making it less and less suitable for life. The cardinal solution to the problem is the prospect of humanity entering infinite space.

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales is the property of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Solar parks are currently considered a new source of energy generation and one of the methods for reducing the usage of fossil fuels. The studies related to the influence of solar parks on vegetation structure are not yet sufficient. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the structure of vegetation biodiversity within a solar park. The vegetation assessment took place in the solar park, located in the cadastral territory of Tišnov (Czech Republic). A total of 85 taxa of vascular plants were found. The vegetation of the solar park is species-rich and significantly fragmented. Perennial grasses and perennial dicots dominate between the panels, whereas annual grasses and annual dicots have more coverage under the photovoltaic (PV) panels. The influence of the solar park microclimate is seen in a higher representation of species with the indication of characteristics mid-continental, and species with the indication of characteristics mid-ocean are more represented among within the PV panels. The vegetation of the solar park is noteworthy from the perspective of biological importance in the agricultural landscape and has a substantial potential to perform ecosystem functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of NbS bridges between researchers and practitioners who search for innovative solutions to a wide range of societal problems and challenges, mostly related to ecological issues. Our conceptual paper aims at grounding the concept in theorizing NbS as a variant of ‘co-evolutionary technology’ CET, informed by ecological and institutional economics, and contextualized in recent Anthropocene research. This results in a new definition of NbS. NbS mediate between technosphere and biosphere evolution. We formulate four principles of CET, with the pivot of CET meeting both human needs and enhancing biospheric evolutionary potential, which feeds back on CET in co-creative design. The paper introduces core theoretical concepts, such as distributed agency and affordances, and proceeds in detailing CET along the standard tripartite view of technology, that is, design, production and use. We conclude in arguing that CET are inherently ethical since their design requires equal recognition of various human and non-human actors, both in terms of functions and ways of world-making.

Civilizational development entails the formation of a contradiction between the technosphere and the biosphere, with the consequences of greenhouse effects; it is carried out within the framework of technological structures independent of socio-economic formations. Governing bodies and activities that provide significant growth (or control planetary environmental safety) are key factors, as are technological innovations, with industry and consumption playing a key role in the spread of a new technological order. The technosphere, as the main product of civilizational development, has gone through a number of pre-industrial and at least five industrial technological modes and will most likely move into the sixth (post-industrial) technological mode. The main causes of greenhouse gases are gas emissions, methane, and ozone. The rise in the 20th century of the temperature on the surface of the planet is a result of a reaction to anthropogenic emissions of gases, including accidental oxides, tropospheric ozone and its “expectations”, halogenated hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, etc.

The purpose of the work is to study the complex essence of higher education as an integral part of the anthroposphere (technosphere); to define the main fundamental tasks of innovative academic (university) entrepreneurship; to study the main types of innovations initiated by academic capitalism in the higher education system, which can lead to innovative changes and its classification; to determine the main objects of innovation activity in the field of higher education and science and expedient directions of further innovative development of higher education in Ukraine; to study the types of innovations in the higher education system. Innovative transformations in the sphere of higher education and science are considered by the authors as objectively conditioned transformational changes caused by the environment of academic capitalism. The core of the study is academic or university entrepreneurship based on the market relations spread by academic capitalism in the sphere of scientific and educational activities of universities, research institutes and other institutions and organizations of this field. An important basis of scientific work is the application to national conditions of the Triple helix model of innovation of N. Etzkowitz on the innovative development of society. Scientific novelty consists of the following: the world experience of innovative transformations in the sphere of higher education and science occurring under conditions of academic capitalism is studied; theoretical data for new approaches in understanding of innovative transformations in the sphere of higher education and science which are economic categories and occur under market laws are formulated and offered; new approaches for further innovative reformation of higher education and science under conditions of academic capitalism are offered. A new scientific term of “innovatics of higher education” has been put into circulation. Provisions on the uniqueness of the essence of higher education, the main fundamental tasks of innovative academic (university) entrepreneurship, the types of innovations initiated by academic capitalism in higher education that can lead to innovative changes, and their classification of both theoretical and practical importance for the development of domestic science and higher education are proposed. The main objects of innovative activity in the sphere of higher education and science, the corresponding directions of further innovative development of higher education in Ukraine, as well as the types of innovations in higher education that can lead to innovative changes are also defined.

The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. The main objective purpose of the technosphere is to promote the effective rendering of society-generated entropy outwards; it defines the features of the technosphere as a sociohistorical phenomenon. The analogues of such material formations take place also in wildlife (from the spider-web to the beaver dam) but are very few and arise from the implementation of instinctive programs of the species. In a person's consciousness, such programmes are not given by “nature”, they are formed on the basis of “desobjectivation” of technical objects available in society. In the process of “desobjectivation” the essence, the “logic of the subject” becomes the achievement of a person and due to his abilities is filled with new meaning. As a result, the technology is a materially ideal phenomenon: on the one hand, it is a set of technical objects and on the other hand – technical thinking of a person, the highest manifestation of which is technical sciences nowadays. Properly technical objects are created by society to meet the individual and social needs of a person. These are primarily consumption items; due to their manmade nature, the question of production means development arises, which over time becomes increasingly important, especially by virtue of their significant impact on social relations (which in time also require certain technical devices for their implementation). The complex of these devices forms the techno sphere of society as a compound integrity. Not only groups of different in application technical objects become the constituent parts of the technosphere, but also their conglomerates designed to perform certain functions, which, similar to the biological branch, were called techno enosis; in the latter at the account of a peculiar “competition”, the development of these components in particular and the technosphere integrally takes place. However, despite consistency, the technosphere is a subsystem of a society, therefore, there is no perspective of creating certain laws of its development and an appropriate coherent periodization. For this reason, the scientific periodization of the development of technology as such is connected with the purpose of the given research and is defined by it.

P. Crutzen and E. Stoermer’s concept that humanity has entered a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene, in which the human species has become the leading geological force, is the subject of multidisciplinary scientific research. The debate on the Age of Man reconnects the sphere of facts and the normative sphere, while still continuing the eco-developmental concept oriented towards the search for new socio-economic solutions. One of the assumptions of the naturalistic narrative of the Anthropocene is the conviction that human action has the greatest impact on the environment and we are responsible for its condition. Often compared in literature to other great revolutions in science – Copernicus‘ and Darwin‘s theory – the paradigm shift in thinking in the Anthropocene forces us to rethink the key concepts of classical philosophy: human, nature, responsibility. The article presents an outline of the ethical debate on responsibility in the Anthropocene, considering its collective and individual aspects, and introduces a new concept of co-existence, which integrates ecosystems with the technosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution on the subject of craft (Werken) explores which kind of education children and young people need in an era of incomprehensible expansion of technology. While boundaries between humans and technology are and have been apparent, technology is more and more becoming a sphere lacking clear-cut boundaries. If one imagines the world in Cartesian terms, res extensa and res cogitans are affected; man and technology become more and more entangled in each other. The attempted response to the necessary educational effort in this paper has five considerations. Firstly, we track down the concept of reality. Secondly, we point out the creative urge which is unique to the human species. Thirdly, we are going to talk about the experience of reliability in a seemingly contingent, chaotic and complex world as a way of giving meaning. Fourthly, we will talk about our reality in the technosphere. And fifthly, we aim to show that it is up to the human being to live in harmony with the world he or she has created. Finally, it will be discussed what can be derived from this by speaking about craft as actual education and in which way this could relate to general technical education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the problem of formation of social and humanitarian competen[1]cies in Russian engineering education. The author shows how different views on the relationship between man and machine, as well as between society and the technosphere, were translated into various public initiatives and analyzes the impact of these initiatives on the evolution of approaches to engineering education. Special attention is paid to the promotion of the ideology of design think[1]ing and the movement for the humanitarization of engineering education. Both gained a consider[1]able popularity in the last quarter of the twentieth century. However, in modern conditions, the relationship between technological progress and the development of human society is taking on new forms that require new answers. There are also new risks – in particular, the risk of complete de[1]humanization of technological progress and the unclear prospect of the formation of a so-called post-human civilization. Social assessment of technology and the development of value-based tech[1]nologies are possible answers. They have received a very significant support in the United States and Western Europe. In particular, several European conferences on this topic have already been held within the EU (the latest one took place in Bratislava in 2019). However, due to some features of the Russian intellectual tradition, as well as the pronounced techno-optimism of mass consciousness, the Russian academic environment has not yet shown sufficient interest to implant these approaches in technical education. The possibility of managing the current technological progress on the basis of a dialogue with civil society, which is popular in the European Union, is also not considered in Russian intellectual environments. At the same time, the leading technical universities in Russia are gradually developing a network of enthusiasts who are studying the European practice of social assessment of technology and its adaptation to Russian conditions. Such adapted practices may become the con[1]ceptual guidelines for Russian engineering education.