Analysis of the concepts of transhumanism and posthumanism through the prism of the immortalist vector of Russian cosmism

The relevance of the research topic is due to interest in the phenomenon of Russian cosmism, which, on the one hand, is actualized with a new stage of space exploration, on the other hand, requires philosophical understanding against the background of the spread of “noospheric thinking”, both in its scientific and natural format, and in its religious-philosophical and gnostic-esoteric. Such close attention to the phenomenon of Russian cosmism is associated with the tendency to search for the origins of the concepts of trans- and posthumanism in the philosophy and scientific ideas of Russian cosmists – mystics, scientists, artists and philosophers. In particular, their search is due to the anticipation of the views of transhumanists – in the ideas of immortalism, the “improvement” of man, the “fusion” of man and the cosmos, overcoming physicality in the works of Russian cosmists. The purpose of the study is to identify the origins of transhumanism and posthumanism as concepts in their essential connection with the ideas of the philosophy of cosmism. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the confirmation of the thesis of discursivity, in its “vertical dimension” as metaphysically saturated and characteristic of Russian cosmism, but not such for trans- and posthumanism, with their “horizontal”, postmodern dimension. As a result, it has been proved that the fundamental question underlying the differences between cosmism, trans- and posthumanism is hidden in the depth of the essential ontological and existential foundations of human existence. The authors consider the existential basis of death to be the basic existential basis, which is clearly traced in immortalism as immanently inherent in both cosmism and trans- and posthumanism.\ud The practical significance of the study lies in the disclosure of the specifics of Russian cosmism, its role and significance in philosophical thinking, the establishment of a correlation between the ideas of cosmist philosophers and modern transhumanist projects. The theoretical basis of the study, along with the works of Russian scientists, philosophers (both thinkers of the late XIX – early XX centuries, and modern ones), were publications and works of foreign authors, which consider the provisions on the origins of modern trans- and posthumanism in Russian cosmism, as well as philosophical concepts of the posthuman (Manzocco R., 2017; Braidotti R., 2021; Ferrando, F., 2021; Elchaninoff M., 2022 et al.). The study of the topic of the origins of trans- and posthumanism, in our opinion, is productive precisely in the aspect of the philosophy of Russian cosmism, as evidenced, for example, by modern works of authors – Suslov A.V. (2021), Yudina B.G. (2018), Elchaninoff M. (2022) and others

Human, Posthuman and Culture in the Digital Society

The purpose of this research was to outline the perspectives of the human and posthuman in the culture of the ‘digital society'. The research used dialectical, typological and comparative methods, as well as methods of formalization, modeling and ascent from the abstract to the concrete. It was noted that the prospects for the development of ‘human' were determined in the modern European classical thought, the culmination of which was the concept of unlimited improvement of his nature on the basis of reason, developed during the Enlightenment. In non-classical thought, this idea was questioned, which ultimately led to the denial of the prospects for the development of the human himself. It is shown that the formation of an ‘information society' and a ‘digital society' make it possible to increase the efficiency and productivity of labor, and improve the technical and technological components of the development of society, but do not guarantee the smooth development of its humanitarian component, i.e., the whole person. It is emphasized that the progress of the human presupposes the development of his nature, i.e., a certain totality of natural and socio-cultural constituents of his being, the main of which is the ability to carry out expedient activities to meet needs and realize interests, and also be aware of this process. The loss of this orientation as a result of disharmony in the development of material and spiritual production can lead to the leveling of the main goal of mankind — the achievement of the ideal of a ‘whole person'. The domination of the culture of the ‘partial man' creates the basis for the formation of the ‘posthuman' — a hypothetical prototype of the future intelligent being, which, as a result of the introduction of advanced technologies — informatics, biotechnology, medicine, etc. — lost his human appearance, because he abandoned his nature. This process can lead to the gradual extinction of the Homo sapiens species, replacing it with a new species, Post-Homo sapiens. Keywords: human, posthuman, culture, information society, digital society, digital econom

Rotational Temperature Meaasurements of N/2-Molecules Reflected from a Wall

The interaction of N/2-molecules with high kinetic energy colliding with a solid hot wall is investigated by the electron beam fluorescence technique. It allows to measure the population of rotational levels of the molecules, which is necessary to define the rotational temperatures of the incoming (undisturbed) and the reflected molecules (coming back from the wall). Using pure N/2 or a NO/N/2 mixtures provides flow velocities up to 1500 m/s in a supersonic free jet expansion; seeding with light gas like He accelerates the flowing molecules up to 3100 m/s. The experimental results show a strong influence of the kinetic energy of the incoming flow, a minor influence of the wall temperature and the material, and an influence of the Knudsen number except for free molecular conditions

Formation and dynamics of nano-particles in a stratified spherical glow discharge

The formation of clouds of dust nano-particles in a spherical dc glow discharge in ethanol was observed. Nano-particles were formed in a process of coagulation of ethanol dissociation products in a plasma of gas discharge. During the process the particles were captured into clouds in the electric potential wells of the strong striations of a spherical discharge. Periodically, the cloud of nano-particles experienced some sudden instability (explosion), and started to move to the cathode at high velocity. It was proved that the velocity of the particle clouds was an exponentially decaying function of time as in the case of dissipative dust solitary waves

Is the Critical Reynolds Number Universal?

The laminar-turbulent transition in the circular pipe flow has been tested experimentally. The critical Reynolds numbers for the flows of different gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, N2, CO2, SF6) and liquids (H2O, D2O, C2H5OH) have been compared. The difference up to 40% was observed. The possible reasons of non-universality of critical Reynolds number are discussed. The conclusion is the statistical approach is needed to penetrate into the nature of observed phenomenon.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure