Tektology Special Interest Group (SIG) Report

Cybernetics Society: SIG Report, July 2021

The main activity this year has been supporting the On-line Symposium “The Legacy of Alexander Bogdanov – From Rediscovery to Full Recovery”, hosted on 3 June, 2021 by the Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull. Our thanks go to Orsan Senalp, who was the person that made this happen. We see this as a turning point: despite a certain prominence in Russia and elsewhere in the first quarter of the twentieth century, Alexander Bogdanov did not fit in with any of the dominant voices emerging from the Russian revolution and was soon neglected. Then in the final quarter of that century, a number of scholars started to revive interest in his work. Now in the twenty first century his work is being considered useful from a number of perspectives. Orsan was able to assemble participants from these different periods, and from across the world. A big thank you to all the participants who helped make the event such a success.

The mini-symposium took place in conjunction with the Centre for Systems Studies Annual Mike Jackson Lecture which featured the physicist Carlo Rovelli, whose work in theoretical physics has led him to appreciate Bogdanov’s work around Tektology. For more information see: https://execeducation.hull.ac.uk/the-centre-for-systems-studies-annual-mike-jackson-lecture/

For full programme please see https://execeducation.hull.ac.uk/the-centre-for-systems-studies-annual-mike-jackson-lecture/cssmini- symposium-program/

The presentations will be made available online later this year. The Financial University of Moscow were also collaborators with this seminar and we intend to participate further with them in future work developing an understanding of Bogdanov and Tektology, his universal science of organisation.

We are just setting up the CybSoc Tektology SIG WhatsApp group. If you would like to join, please connect to me on the members portal or send your telephone number to fabian.tompset at  tektology.org.

Fabian Tompsett