My blog

Hello everyone! This seems to be my last reflection here…

Well, here comes the moment when the Erasmus semester ends, which means that the courses and studies end. These six months have passed very quickly, we can even say that they have passed at the speed of light. However, despite how quickly this time has passed, I remember every day of my Erasmus and every lesson on the subject “System theory, psychology and social media”.

I remember the day when I first came to this subject. Why did I choose him? I answered this question in my first reflection. I think it would be appropriate to answer this question in my last reflection, when I have already completed this course and received not only certain knowledge, but also a lot of experience. So, why did I decide to study the subject “System theory, psychology and social media”? I believe that in life you don’t need to focus on one thing, you need to develop in different directions. Psychology and systems theory are exactly what makes you think about things that you won’t think about in your daily life. I think it’s useful sometimes to think and think in an extraordinary way. Another reason for choosing this subject was that my friend, who was at her Erasmus semester last year, strongly advised me to choose this subject. And she was right, the unusual way in which the teacher presented complex, theoretical material sometimes amazed me, because it was all clear and understandable. I really liked the teacher’s approach to this subject and the attitude towards students. We worked a lot in groups, where we first shared our opinions, then presented the opinion of our partner, after that we presented the opinion of the whole group, which was compiled from the thoughts of each member of this group. It’s amazing! I went to every class with great pleasure and always waited for Thursday day to come. I can say for sure, it was the best subject of all that I chose this semester. And if someone ever asks my advice on choosing subjects at this university, I will undoubtedly put this subject on my top list.

I also wrote that it is very important at the very first lesson to find a connection and approach to each other. I think that we coped with it perfectly, because we were like one system, the elements of which harmoniously interacted with each other. What have we learned in these six months? We analyzed the difference between such concepts as a system and a collection. The main differences are that in the system all the elements are interconnected with each other and if you remove certain elements from this system, it will no longer work or it will be a completely different system. That is, we can say that the elements in the system play an important role, without them the existence of the system is impossible. A collection is a set of elements that can be easily excluded and nothing will happen. For example, the system is a variety of household appliances. Take for example a toaster, if you pull one significant detail out of it, then it will no longer perform its function. Another example is a plate of fruit is a collection, since if you take one fruit from there, it will still remain a plate of fruit. We also studied such a concept as a self-organized system. This is a system that can exist and work without a specific leader, for example, without a group leader. I remember being shocked by the video about ants that they have a collective mind, they are like a computer program, they can perform tasks without any leader. So, they could build rafts from each other and travel along rivers. It’s amazing! Also, have we discussed different types of causality and how it can influence on different situations. It is worth noting that it depends on the type of causality whether we can predict the outcome of events or not. During the lesson, we watched a lot of video examples that prove this. Indeed, some of them move randomly and cannot be predicted at all, some, for example, linear ones or classical pendulum can be predicted. However, if we consider the double pendulum, it is already impossible to predict anything. It is interesting how the slightest changes affect the outcome of events. We also reflected on the impact of artificial intelligence on the future life of a human being and much more. I can say that artificial intelligence affects our lives. At the same time, its development does not stand still, new programs appear that reduce human participation in any processes. On the one hand, these changes and the advancement of artificial intelligence make life much easier. On the other hand, due to the development of new technologies, human work decreases, some professions become completely unclaimed, since this work can already be performed by a computer program. During this time, we have studied another interesting term, such as rhizome. It was hard for me to understand at first, but working in a band changed everything. I realized that this term means connections, that we are all connected to each other. On the one hand, we may be different in appearance, from different countries, and so on, but on the other hand, we all have a family, dreams, interests that are just the same. This phenomenon can also be observed in biology. There are trees that seem to be an independent plant, but it is all one tree because it is connected by roots underground. Mushrooms can also be given in this example.

For me, it was very interesting to think about ordinary things on this subject, but at the same time, if you think about them, it seems so amazing. For example, at one of the classes we opened a map of the world and each person of the group wrote an extraordinary description of the city from which he came, and then this city was displayed on the general map. It’s just amazing that we all come from completely different corners of the earth, completely different, but at the same time we sit in the same room and study very interesting material. It’s exciting! During the discussion with the guys, we realized that almost everyone felt warm memories, happiness and even a little longing for their city. In addition to describing cities, we inserted photos. Many guys inserted photos that they made themselves, there was something so warm about it, different from just photos on the Internet. When I wrote comments on the descriptions of cities, I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in this city and based on this I wrote my comment. 

I think we had a very effective approach to studying the material, because I felt pleasure communicating with the guys and the teacher on various topics. Now that I realize that the Erasmus semester is ending and we all have to go home, I feel sad. But on the other hand, I am insanely grateful to everything I have studied, to every person I have met and to every situation that has happened to me, because it has all brought me life experience.

Also, in my first reflection, I wrote that time here is filled with a huge number of emotions and impressions that are even difficult to describe in words. Every day I met a lot of interesting people, traveled, got incomparable experience in various fields, all this thanks to Erasmus. In the first week here, I didn’t believe that everything could be the same as I usually saw in movies, and I asked if every day here would be so filled with impressions. My answer now is yes. I had a great time, found friends from different parts of the world, got the experience of living in another country, a huge practice of a foreign language and much more. I would also like to thank the guys and the teacher for this wonderful time together. I have gained a lot of knowledge and incomparable experience communicating with you. I would like to say thanks for Erasmus and for all this.

Everything is still ahead!

At the last lesson, each of us thought about this subject in an unusual way. In front of us were cards from a board game with various pictures. Initially, we had to choose the drawing that attracts us the most. I thought for a very long time about which card to choose, but in the end I chose. This drawing showed a boy and a dog driving in a car and looking at each other. Most likely I chose this card because of the beautiful combination of colors on it. There was a sunset painted there, which means the colors were soft and warm. Another reason for choosing this picture was that it reminds me of my semester of Erasmus, because I spent it traveling with my friends in Greece and other countries of the European Union.
After we selected the pictures, we needed to identify the connection of this picture with the subject being studied. I believe that the picture I chose is related to the subject by the fact that it depicts a connection between a boy and a dog. This can be seen as the fact that we are all different, but at the same time we are connected to each other. Also, this picture evokes warm feelings and memories in me, these are the memories I have when I think about this subject, since each lesson was held in a calm and friendly atmosphere, we exchanged our thoughts, reflected on various problems and worked as a team. I love it!

Today in class we talked about rhizome. At the very beginning of the lesson, I was confused because of the topic of the lesson, because we started the discussion from a biological point of view. All this time I have been trying to link this term with psychology and society, but I have not succeeded. Even on my phone, I wrote in my notes that I did not understand the meaning of today’s lesson. Here’s what I wrote:

“Today we moved more to biological terms. We discussed such term as rhizome. It was new term for me in English language, still I’m not sure that understand it correctly. We discussed that everything is connected, there are lots of tiles of classification. Today we discussed more that one where everything connected to each other. I feel myself glad that I’m here and trying to understand psychological terms and later somehow to use it my life. I would like to ask how this biological term connected to psychology?”

After we started discussing with the guys in groups, we were able to make this connection. Again, I want to note that working in groups greatly improves the learning process, as you exchange opinions, look at the problem from different points of view, and so on. During our discussion, we decided that all people are as different as they are similar. If you look from the point of view that we are different, yes it is, we are all from different countries, we have different opinions on different issues, different points of view, different behavior and character. What can be the same in us? The fact that we all live about the same, get an education, find a job, friends, communicate, and so on. It is likely that in another country there is a girl with the same interests as me, who may even look about the same. Today, when the system of social networks and the Internet as a whole is well developed, this is most clearly noticeable.

We also discussed such a biological concept as the botanical rhizome. This means that some types of trees have common roots, that is, they can be seen as if they are different trees, but in fact they are one underground. Mushrooms are also an example of this phenomenon.

At the end of the lesson, everyone managed to prove it through creativity. Each group drew its own drawing, which showed how all people are connected to each other, and also displayed rhizome.

This lesson was different, not like the previous ones. What was its difference? In this lesson, we talked about our cities. The task sounded like we should describe our hometown in a non-standard way. That is, we should not have described the year of foundation, the average population and other factors.

I believe that it is this description of the city that allows you to feel the very essence of the city, its soul, and to get to know the city from a completely different side. Coming up with a description for your city was not difficult at all, since many warm memories are associated with it. During the discussion with the guys, we realized that almost everyone felt warm memories, happiness and even a little longing for their city. In addition to describing cities, we inserted photos. Many guys inserted photos that they made themselves, there was something so warm about it, different from just photos on the Internet. When I wrote comments on the descriptions of cities, I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in this city and based on this I wrote my comment. Reading the description of different cities, I thought about what it would be like to live in this city. What is it like to live in the capital of the country and what is it like to live in a small town in a forest near a lake. Maybe in a city near the sea or in a town in Siberia.

The most inspiring thing for me was to look at the map of the world, with cities marked on it. The realization that you are now sitting in a room with guys who have come here from completely different parts of the world is very inspiring.

In today’s lesson, we discussed artificial intelligence. What is artificial intelligence today and what role does it play in modern society? The definition I found defines Artificial Intelligence as the ability of a computer to learn, make decisions and perform actions inherent in human intelligence. In addition, AI is a science at the intersection of mathematics, biology, psychology, cybernetics and a bunch of other things.

It is very difficult to imagine modern life without various devices that make human life much easier. Artificial intelligence has become such an integral part of our lives that people don’t even think about it.

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence affects our lives. At the same time, its development does not stand still, new programs appear that reduce human participation in any processes. On the one hand, these changes and the advancement of artificial intelligence make life much easier. On the other hand, due to the development of new technologies, human work decreases, some professions become completely unclaimed, since this work can already be performed by a computer program.

I believe that the development of artificial intelligence is more a plus than a minus. Because it gives a breakthrough in science, especially in medicine. After all, it is thanks to artificial intelligence that many diseases have become curable, the average life expectancy has been extended and much more.

During the class, I was thinking about one question. Is it possible that in the future artificial intelligence will become so developed that humanity will have no professions and no work to do?

In the last lesson we discussed complexity and different types of causality. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher suggested that we write our opinion about the complexity, describe what complexity is in our opinion. All the guys in our group had different thoughts, but globally they combined into one big, group thought. In this lesson, I noticed an interesting point that everyone looks at a certain task from different angles. Returning to the question “what is complexity?” I believe that complexity can be both a good phenomenon and a bad one. Complexity make the society moves forward. It causes the technical progress. I believe that it is good thing when it became a reason to move you forward. But at the moment when complexity happens it is bad for you, because you can be nervous and stressed, because you don’t know what to do right now and how to manage with this difficult situation.

After that we discussed different types of causality and how it can influence on different situations. It is worth noting that it depends on the type of causality whether we can predict the outcome of events or not. During the lesson, we watched a lot of video examples that prove this. Indeed, some of them move randomly and cannot be predicted at all, some, for example, linear ones or classical pendulum can be predicted. However, if we consider the double pendulum, it is already impossible to predict anything. It is interesting how the slightest changes affect the outcome of events.

At the end of the class we have discussed positive and negative feedback loops. Initially, from a theoretical point of view, it was difficult for me to understand, then when they began to consider examples and consider graphs, it became more understandable. The most memorable example is with a flock of sheep, when one sheep should be scared and run, the whole herd will run after it.

This lesson we talked about emergence and about self organised systems. So, it was quite useful and informative for me. At the beginning of the lesson, we mentioned such a term as reductionism. For me, this term was new, since I did not know its meaning. As far as I understood reductionism is when certain complex phenomena can simply be explained with the help of laws and phenomena. I want to note that it is group work and the exchange of thoughts that makes it much easier to understand complex terms and phenomena. Therefore, I am very glad that we work in groups and discuss together.

In the second part of the lesson we discussed such term as self-organization. Before this class I knew about self organised systems and how they can work without for example group leader. Nevertheless I was shocked when saw the video about ant. The main point in this video is that ant can build a plot and travel by it in the river. It is so amazing and difficult to understand how they can do it without leader. It looks like a computer program where every ant know what it should do. So, I can even assume that every ant has the same program in head. Another example of self-organization is flock of birds, when the fly, they move in the same direction and even do the same movements. Amazing! The last concept we have discussed was emergence.

How can people use it in life? I guess people can use it in politics or in another sphere for manipulating people or getting the group do what you want from them.

In this lesson, we discussed what a system is, which collection we can call a system, and which is not. I believe that a system is a combination of elements that are interconnected with each other. For example, if you remove one element from the system, then it will no longer be the same system or there will be no system at all. As for me, combining elements that are not interconnected is a collection. For example, a toaster is a system, since every detail of this device performs a certain function and if you remove one element of the system, the toaster will not work. On the other hand, a plate of fruit is a collection, since if you take one fruit from there, it will still remain a plate of fruit.

Thus, we can say that the system has certain distinctive features. Firstly, it is that each system has some purpose of its existence. Secondly, the system cannot exist if one or more elements are removed from it, in extreme cases it will already be another system. If you look at the system globally, then it can be divided into mechanical and living. Before that, I mostly talked about the mechanical system. But what is a living system?

As for me the best live system is shown by the presented video about how wolves were able to change the national park. After watching the video about how wolves changed Yellowstone national park a feel inspiration. It is so breathtaking how the system of nature self regulate. And how small one person in this system. Only because of the wolf in this park appeared more types of animals, without peoples influence. Amazing!

What I knew, I guess I know about natures self regulating, but this lesson and this video reminds me this fact and make me think about it. What I want to ask, is it okay that people try to control and to influence on nature, if the nature can do it by itself?

I always dreamed about studying abroad, so dreams come true, now I am here. What can I say? I can say that it is great opportunity, which came in my life. I thought it would be cool, but it turned out to be even more interesting, so I thought. That is why I can say that I feel myself really happy. 

Why I’ve decided to study “System theory, psychology and social media”? I have no any subjects related to my specialty, so I understand, that it is a great opportunity to try something new. Psychology has always been interesting to me. I like to read books, watch movies and various social experiments, observe how people behave in various situations. When I first saw the name of the subject, I thought that there would be a lot of complex theories, perhaps mathematics. Nevertheless I decided to try it and was not mistaken. When the professor started explaining what we would study in this course, I realized that we would practice more than memorize the theory by heart. This is the most important criterion for me when choosing a subject. I agree that you can’t do without theory, but still the material is remembered better when you train it in practice. As for me, writing your own anonymous blog is a very effective way not only to memorize the material you have passed, but also to get feedback and understand the thoughts of your classmates. 

During our last class, the atmosphere was very calm, the professor was open and polite, and the guys were interested in the subject. I think it is very important at the very first lesson to find a connection and approach to each other. I think we have coped with this task and will continue to easily interact with each other. 

I liked when we started thinking about life, nature and so on. Such open questions let us to think and share our opinion with each other. 

In conclusion, I am looking forward to the next class with curiosity and anticipation, because I like the profession, the students, the material being studied and the interaction of all of us. What I want to ask, is it true that all classes will be so involved and interesting for me? 

I am mostly sure that it will be so.