We perceive the same events differently and build slightly different world models, which in turn influence our perception.
Leo Tolstoy Ecologist Dwayne Moore wrote in his article “The Principle Applied to Ecological Risk Assessments of Multiple Stressors”, published in 2001: “Successful ecological risk assessments are all alike; every unsuccessful ecological risk assessment fails in its own way. Tolstoy posited a similar analogy in his novel Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every […]
When I was a student in Moscow, with my friends, we often listen music in the Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory or in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The advantage of the first one was an occasional chance to slip past the ticket booth, pretending to be a student of the conservatory (all student IDs looked […]
Americans and Russians are very similar - much more similar than any other two nations I was able to observe. Why? After living in the USSR and then in the US for a long time, I see a few reasons for that.
We associate the art of classical antiquity with white marble. The word “classical” itself implies it. “Classical” means harmony of human body, profound meaning, respectful time distance and grand echo in the unbreakable silence of the museum, doesn’t it? A glimpse of white tunic in the midst of the colorful Mediterranean crowd or a white […]
Civilization and its development depend on the availability of the resources and the skills to utilize them. The Middle East and Europe had in this respect a definite advantage.
It is almost 12,000 years old. Those who visited the site reported unforgettable experience. When I look at the images, curved on the pillars, I cannot avoid the feeling that it was done by a very talented contemporary artist. Not that I have superiority complex over ancient civilizations. Far from it. I think the humanity […]
Emotions help, but should not control us. Recently, we have adjusted our understanding of the role of our emotions and the extent to which we can consider ourselves to be rational beings in certain circumstances
“I lived in a country where dying was taught to us from childhood. We were taught death. We were told that human beings exist in order to give everything they have, to burn out, to sacrifice themselves. We were taught to love people with weapons. Had I grown up in a different country, I couldn’t […]
What the word “contradictions” is associated with? Something negative, correct? Oxford Thesaurus lists the following synonyms for contradiction: conflict, clash, disagreement, opposition, inconsistency, mismatch, and variance. It used to have a negative connotation for me too. But later it evolved due to my activity as a scientist. In the science, as you know, a contradiction […]
The dream, that you are behind the train and cannot catch up with it, familiar to many. In Russia, which has a huge territory, the railroad is the main mode of transportation. A trip can take any time from a few hours to several days. One becomes well acquainted with the fellow-passengers, especially in the […]