Mario RadovanUniversity of Rijeka · Department of Informatics
Mario Radovan
Professor
Retired - I read and write about the wondrous and awesome phenomena of consciousness and tranzitoriness (ephemerality).
About
53
Publications
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140
Citations
Introduction
I read and write about Social anthropology, Communication, Philosophy of technology, and about issues related to the wonder of Life & Death. I have digital books on the Amazon/Kindle about these topics; parts of those books are on the RG. I used to teach Computer networks and other computer science courses at the University of Rijeka; I retired, but I teach part-time at the University of Pula (which is close to the place I live).
Additional affiliations
December 1983 - December 2019
Publications
Publications (53)
Philosophy does not say in a clear way what reality is. We claim that reality has three ontological dimensions: physical, mental, and abstract. All that people can perceive, feel or imagine can be divided into three ontological classes. Mountains, rivers, plants and human bodies belong into the class of physical entities (C1). Feelings and thoughts...
Humankind has achieved great things in the sphere of scientific knowledge and technological power; but have people and humanity become better than they were in past ages, and in what sense? Are we better informed, more ethical and happier than people used to be in past ages? Do we live our ephemeral lives in a better and more beautiful way than peo...
This article aims to describe essential features of communication. It is part of a project "In the shadow of time", which comprises several topics, including knowledge, time, transitoriness and others.
U ovoj skripti dopunjavamo i proširujemo prikaz računalnih mreža koji je iznijet u skripti "Računalne mreže". Računalnu mrežu definira se kao sustav od sedam slojeva (OSI model) ili od četiri sloja (model TCP/IP). Opisi računalnih mreža obično se oblikuju prema modelu od pet slojeva. Odozdo prema gore, ti slojevi nazivaju se: fizički sloj, sloj vez...
Računalne mreže su složeni tehnološki i organizacijski sustavi koji obuhvaćaju ogroman broj elemenata. Informacijski sadržaji prolaze na svom putu kroz mnogo procesa, da bi na računalu primatelja bila proizvedena kopija sadržaja kojeg je pošiljatelj poslao primatelju. U prvom poglavlju, "Mrežni sustavi: pojmovi i načela", opisani su osnovni element...
The first part of the book speaks about existence, consciousness and time. The sense of limitation and ephemerality is the main force which moves and shapes human feelings, thoughts and behaviour. In the second part, we speak about religious narratives which show people the ways that transcend time and suffering, and lead to eternal bliss. We put f...
The paper deals with the issues of causality, determinism and free will. We argue that reality is causally determined, and that in such reality, freedom can exist; moreover, causal determination is a necessary condition for a discourse about freedom. The essential questions in this regard are what is a person (an "I") and what is free will; these q...
The first chapters of the book deal with standard issues related to knowledge. We introduce a three-dimension ontological framework which offers a suitable conceptual framework for a discourse about physical, mental and abstract entities and dimensions of reality. Next chapters deal with the issue of computation; we argue that the concept of artifi...
This book is a collection of reflections on technology, knowledge and human inclinations and behaviour. Technological means give people a great operative power, but technology shapes people in its own image. We speak of the relationships between the natural and the artificial, of ecology, genetics and functional ("artificial") intelligence.
The sec...
These reflections speak about various facets of contemporary world and life, which have been increasingly shaped by technological means. A discourse about technology is a discourse about people and their inclinations and behaviour. Technological means have facilitated the improvement of people's lives and a widening of their horizons; but those mea...
This is a notice about my papers (preprints) and my book, related to my project "On Life and Death".
The book explores the perennial issue of the meaning of life and of a meaningful way of living. It seems that people have lost the hope that life has any meaning, and they may be right; but since we have been born, we should be curious enough to explore the wondrous and awesome phenomena of existence, life, and death.
The book first presents pheno...
This is the first section of a larger text "On Life and Death" on which I work. The text explores the perennial issue of the meaning of life and of a meaningful way of living. It seems that people have lost the hope that life has any meaning, and they may be right; but since we have been born, we should be curious enough to explore the wondrous and...
It is not known how something so wondrous as consciousness and mental states emerges from a physical entity, such as brain. Science may one day explain how the "ghost" (consciousness) is produced by the "machine" (brain). But we do not know how such an explanation may look like, because science speaks in objective ("third-person") way, while consci...
The paper dills with the issue of the meaning of life and the meaningful life.
This is the third (and last) part of my text "On Life and Death". This part deals with issues of death and immortality, and with the optimistic and pessimistic view of human life.
This is the second of the three parts of the essay "On Life and Death". This part deals with the religious and secular approach to the issue of the meaning of life and of the meaningful life.
Discourse about qualities and values has not been precise enough, and it often looks incoherent. I tried to define or describe here basic concepts and entities that belong to the space of discourse about qualities and values. This text is intended to become part of a larger text, on which I work.
Knjiga sadrži tekstove koji su nastali u dugom razdoblju. Ti tekstovi napisani su u različitim oblicima: kao dijalozi, razmišljanja, i poezija u prozi; govori se u prvom i u trećem licu. Tekstovi su podijeljeni u kraća poglavlja, prema temama o kojima govore; a govore o mnogim stvarima koje život donosi i odnosi.
Govori se o vremenu i prolaznosti,...
People are finite beings with infinite aspirations, which makes them inherently unhappy; the book explores narratives and behaviours by which people have tried to respond to their situation. The book begins with the issue of human nature, about which many things have been said. People have created many narratives, by means of which they have tried...
Science and technology give people great operative power, but they entangle them into a stringent network of demands and coercions. Powerful means have allowed people to do many excellent things, but those means have facilitated the creation of an increasingly totalitarian world adorned with empty slogans. The book speaks about the natural world an...
Time has been called one of the last great mysteries that human mind has not managed to resolve. This book argues that time is not so mysterious as it may seem. Time is an abstract entity, created by the human mind, by means of which people express their experience and understanding of the changing reality in which they live and die. Time is not an...
Ova knjiga je "filozofska bajka" u kojoj se govori o "samotnosti, ljubavi i smrti", kako je glasio podnaslov njenog prvog izdanja. Priča tvori jednu cjelinu, ali poglavlja govore o različitim temama i nastoje govoriti različitim stilom. U knjizi se promišljaju razna naučavanja (filozofska, religijska), koja su ovdje više parafrazirana nego izložena...
Communication is an essential feature of existence: to be means to communicate, and to communicate means to be. This book is a collection of reflections on the media discourse and manipulation, on the market democracy and the business paradigm of life, on surveillance and similar issues.
The media discourse and products of the information industry...
The paper puts forward an ontological framework in which time can be described and discussed in a proper way. We argue that change is an essential feature of reality and of the human perception of that reality. Time is an abstract entity created by the human mind, on the basis of the experience of change. Physical reality is a process of becoming a...
The paper puts forward a conceptual framework in which the phenomenon of time can be presented and discussed in a proper way. We argue that change is ontologically and epistemologically a more basic phenomenon than time. Time is an abstract entity created by the human mind on the basis of the experience of change. Physical reality is a process of c...
These are Contents, Preface, and Chapters 3 and 6 of the book, published in digital form on Amazon/Kindle
Information technology has facilitated the creation of a virtual reality which differs from the reality in which we live. We preach sublime ideals, but our public discourse is reduced to manipulation. We extol freedom and democracy, but we live in a world of fears. We praise truth, but we preach and believe what serves our interests. Information te...
Evolution creates structures of increasing order and power; in this process the stronger prevail over the weaker and carry the evolution further. Technology is an artificial creation that often threatens life and evolution conceived of as natural phenomena; but technology also supports life and it works together with evolution. However, there are c...
Information technology has facilitated the creation of a virtual reality which differs from the reality in which we live. We preach sublime ideals, but our public discourse is reduced to manipulation. We extol freedom and democracy, but we live in a world of fears. We praise truth, but we preach and believe what serves our interests. Information te...
Time is one of those issues about which many thinkers and scientists tried to pronounce their finest thoughts, but the discourse about time has remained vague and often inconsistent. In this paper we tried to set a conceptual framework in which the issue of time can be addressed in a proper way. We argue that time is an abstract entity created by t...
This is a book of reflections on the mystery of existence and terror of transitoriness. From the inanimate matter, life and consciousness emerged, but they have been accompanied by limitations and death. People have struggled against the monster of death by means of immortal gods, soul and self. The book gives critical outlines of some western and...
Time is one of those issues about which many thinkers and scientists have tried to pronounce their finest thoughts, but the discourse about time has remained vague and often inconsistent. In this paper we put forward a conceptual framework inside which the issue of time should be addressed and solved. We argue that time is an abstract entity create...
Information and communication technology (ICT) has changed the lives of people at the operative level; it is less clear in what ways and to what extent it has changed the way people feel and develop as human beings. We create excellent means, but are we feeling better and getting better, and by what criteria should we evaluate our progress? Operati...
The common discourse about the flow of time is wrong; the sophisticated discourse about the relativity of time is also wrong, but for different reasons. Time does not flow because it does not exist in the objective sense, as an ingredient of the physical reality. The physical reality constantly changes its manifest shapes: things are becoming and v...
The paper deals with the issues of data gathering, surveillance and intense use of targeted messages in contemporary living space shaped by technology and by the capitalist view of the world. Those who possess a relevant knowledge about others, possess a power over them, and they can use and abuse this power in various ways. Intense data gathering,...
We address the issues of public discourse, alienation, destructiveness, creativity and morality, considered in the context of the opportunities and limitations that information technology brings about. We put forward ten theses which can be conceived of as the co-ordinates of a referential system that should allow us to speak more precisely about t...
The paper puts forward an outline of the basic structural features of the current global society and considers the roles of techno-economy, knowledge and education in this society. We address the issue of the higher education in the technological age and discuss the way the higher education should be conceived of and reshaped to become able to resp...
Discussions about the possibilities and limitations of the various approaches to the development of intelligent systems are too often based on vague concepts and assumptions. Intelligence is usually considered only in terms of behaviour; we point out that no behaviour can be considered "really intelligent" independently of its motivations. In this...
This is a revised text of the paper published long ago; the text is reshaped, some things are added and some are left out. The paper puts forward a collection of features of contemporary world and life, and seeks optimal responses to the challenges this world brings about. We speak about noise and about the procedural nature of the life in technolo...
The paper deals with the issue of the higher education in the technological age and discusses the way the higher education should be conceived of to become able to respond to the challenges the current global society faces. We argue that the university should aim towards a new social role the global society urgently needs: it should become the spac...
The paper puts forward an outline of the basic structural features of the current global society and considers the roles of technoeconomy, mass communication, knowledge, and higher education in this society. We address the issue of the impact of techno-economy on the very idea of knowledge, as well as the issue of the impact of information technolo...
The paper deals with the basic features of the life-space created by the contemporary information industry, and with the dominant attitudes towards the opportunities and limitations information technology offers and imposes. We consider the problem of information glut, the quality of public discourse, the question of privacy and technological alien...
The paper deals with the basic features of the contemporary life-space which has been created and shaped by information industry. On the basis of various analyses and positions put forward in published matters, and on the basis of the results of a survey we carried out, we devised twelve theses which address the most relevant features of the contem...
Discussions about the achievements and limitations of the various approaches to the development of intelligent systems can have an essential impact on empirically based research, and with that also on the future development of computer technologies. However, such discussions are often based on vague concepts and assumptions. In this context, we cla...
Theoretical discussions about the possibilities and limitations of Artificial Intelligence could have a major impact on the future development of computer technologies. However, such discussions are often based on vague concepts and assumptions. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the appropriate presentation of knowledge and problems co...
Philosophical discussions about the aims, possibilities and limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can shed light on the plausibility of different approaches to cognition and computation, and with that, they can have great impact on the future development of computer technologies. However, we argue that such discussions are often based on the...
An analysis of attitudes and approaches to the development of intelligent systems is given, arguing that (1) the classical and connectionist approaches can be conceived of as two levels of description of the same phenomenon, facing the same essential problems; (2) the language of science is inherently limited, and existing cognitive models cannot i...
Technology is an artificial creation that often threatens life and evolution conceived of as natural phenomena; but technology also support life and it can help evolution by means of genetic engineering. However, there are claims that information technology will do much more than that, and bring about an entirely new epoch of evolution. Technology...
Questions
Questions (57)
A peach tree in the old vineyard;
a rat on the green branch –
gnawed peaches.
(Taura, 2024)
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I cleaned a peach in an abandoned vineyard; the peach produced nice fruits this summer. The summer was very hot; there are plenty of rats in the fields, and they did not have water; hence, they ate unriped peaches; only stones remained on the branches. This looked ugly indeed; inspired by thih strange image, I became master Taura and wrote this quasi-poem.
I read one more learned paper about free will, but I do still not know what this magic concept means.
1. “I” am a structure of forces: of biological needs, fears and desires.
2. “I” am surrounded by countless forces of the outer world.
3. All that happens and what “I” do, is the outcome of the struggle of these forces: of those that constitute “me” and of those around “me”.
4. Forces are neither free nor non-free: they are what they are: forces.
5. “I” am not only an observer of what happens to “me”: “I” am a set of forces that act.
6. “Responsibility” means that society punishes some behaviours, with the aim to deter people from such behaviour; society rewards some kinds of behaviour, with the aim to encourage people to behave in that way.
7. Everything functions well (normally), without the mystical concepts of free will.
8. In sum, I do not understand what free will might mean. If a behaviour is caused by some forces, then it is not free. If a behaviour has not been caused by any force (need, fear, desire) then it is a random act, not free. Free from what?
