June 2023 — Т-инвариант / T-invariant

Mutiny P.S.: nobody is ready to defend the existing political order

Has Yevgeny Prigozhin’s march on Moscow broken the «negative equilibrium» Russia has been stuck in for the last twenty years? Vladimir Gelman, political scientist, professor at the University of Helsinki, and author of the book on «bad governance» in contemporary Russia, analyzes the consequences of the failed mutiny and possible alternative scenarios.

«Are there now enough Curies, Bohrs, and Rutherfords to help scientists from these three countries?» Natalia Berloff on the new symbolism of the Gamow Prize

In 2023, the Georgy Gamow Prize will again be awarded to two scientists. The organizer, the Russian-American Association of Scientists (RASA), announced the start of the collection of nominations. This year, the Gamov Prize committee was chaired by Cambridge (UK) professor Natalia Berloff.

Mikhail Sokolov: «The prism through which people now look at Russia is war»

Sociologist of Science Mikhail Sokolov gives a prediction for T-invariant. What kind of historical experiment is being conducted on scientists left behind in Russia, and why a scandal will erupt when GPT-chat starts re-checking textbooks in Russian.

Fear and trembling: Why do AI leaders frighten humanity?

Artificial Intelligence development leaders compare AI to a pandemic and nuclear war. Are they genuinely wrong, or do they benefit?

Donation to «extremists» or «state treason»: FSB long «led» a major academic leader to arrest

Sergey Abramov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been under house arrest for two months now. He is accused of "financing an extremist organization." Details of the criminal case remain unpublished, but T-Invariant found out that Abramov had previously been investigated under the article of law on "state treason," and the scientist had a security clearance for state secrets.

Chronicles of persecution of scientists

Mikhail Belousov

Date of incident: 06/02/2023
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: St. Petersburg State University

Summary: The management of St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) dismissed Mikhail Belousov, associate professor at the Institute of History, for distributing materials “discrediting the conduct of a special military operation by the armed forces of the Russian Federation and insulting the memory of those killed in the line of military duty.” The decision was justified by the fact that criticism of the war “violates the moral traditions of the university and generally accepted ethical standards.”

Sources: Mediazona, Fontanka