Dr Serhii Zhabin

Project: Artificial Intelligence and the Search for Immortality. A history of the imagined worlds of the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics (1950-80s)

This project examines the research on Artificial Intelligence conducted by Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov at the Kiyv Institute of Cybernetics. The focus of this project lies on Glushkov's aspiration to reach a "digital immortality" and the cultural background of this undertaking. Based on the unique sources from the private archive of Glushkov as well as a considerable number of the interviews with his relatives, colleagues, and students, this project explores the concepts of intelligence, creativity, and personality developed or adopted by Glushkov's team as well as their practical application in the field of computer sciences.

The project contains two parts: The first one deals with the technical aspects of this topic. The second one explores the organization of public outreach for the ideas of Glushkov and his colleagues. Building on the existing historiography and, at the same time, contrasting it, this project makes the quest for immortality the framework for exploring the history of Ukrainian computer sciences and thus opens a new perspective on both the history of cybernetics and on that of the intersections between scientific and popular discourses in Ukraine during the second half of the 20th century.

Publications

(English publications - Full list of publications available for download below)

1 Zhabin, S.O., Vasilyev, G.S., Kazmina, O.P., Sosnov, O.S., Biletsky, O.O: "Professional and Social Problems of Young Researchers and Lecturers Based on the Opinion Poll Results (the case study of NTUU Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute)", in Science and Innovation, 13 (2017), pp. 19-36.

2 Zhabin, S.: "Making forecast dynamic: the Soviet project OGAS", in ICON The annual journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, 25/1 (2020), pp. 78-95.

3 Glushkova, V., Zhabin, S., Korobkova, T.: "Computer "MIR" is a Prototype of Modern Personal Computer", in IEEE EUROCON 2021 - 19th International Conference on Smart Technologies, 15 (2021), pp. 587-592.

4 Shkoda, T., Makhsma, M., Zhabin, S.: "Developing Social Responsibility Among Young Ukrainian Scientists in the Context of the New Socio-Economic Reality", in Education of Economists and Managers, 65/3 (2022), pp. 31-48.