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                        Biographical Notes on Valentin Turchin

   (See [externallink.GIF] [2]Profile of Valentin Turchin for another, more
   up-to-date biographical sketch, by Ben Goertzel.)
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [Val3.gif] Prof. Valentin[3] Turchin is originally from the Soviet Union. He
   holds three degrees in theoretical physics, in 1952, 1957, and 1963, and worked
   in neutron and solid state physics.

   In the 1960's he turned his attention to mathematics and computer science,
   accepting a position at the Moscow Institute of Applied Mathematics. There he
   worked in statistical regularization methods and authored [externallink.GIF]
   [4]REFAL, one the the first AI languages. REFAL is a purely functional, pattern
   matching language with simple semantics, in the same class as LISP and PROLOG. It
   is currently the AI language of choice in the Soviet Union.

   In the 1960's Dr. Turchin became politically active. In 1968 he authored "
   [externallink.GIF] [5]Inertia of Fear and the Scientific Worldview", a scathing
   critique of [6]totalitarianism and an emerging cybernetic social theory.
   Following its publication in the underground press, he lost his research
   laboratory.

   In 1970 he authored "[7]The Phenomenon of Science", a grand cybernetic
   meta-theory of universal evolution, which broadened and deepened the earlier
   book. In 1977 it was published in English by Columbia University Press, followed
   by "The Inertia of Fear" in 1981.

   By 1973 Dr. Turchin had founded the Moscow chapter of Amnesty International and
   was working closely with Andrei Sakharov. In 1974 he lost his position at the
   Institute, and was persecuted by the KGB. Facing almost certain imprisonment, he
   and his family were expelled from the Soviet Union in 1977. He came to New York
   and joined the Computer Science faculty of the City University of New York in
   1979, where he currently teaches and owns the company Refal Systems Inc.

   It is difficult to completely describe the scope of Dr. Turchin's work.
   Philosphical unity is achieved through the concept of the [8]Meta-System
   Transition, in which higher levels of hierarchical control emerge in system
   structure and function. Dr. Turchin uses this concept to provide a global theory
   of evolution and a coherent social systems theory, to develop a complete
   cybernetic philosophical and ethical system, and to build constructivist
   foundation of mathematics. Using the REFAL language he has implemented a
   [externallink.GIF] [9]Supercompiler, a unified method for program transformation
   and optimization using the meta-system transition concept.

WORKS OF VALENTIN TURCHIN

Joslyn, Cliff, and Turchin, Valentin: (1990) "Introduction to the
     Principia Cybernetic Project", to be published, available by
     electronic mail
Turchin, Valentin:  /Cybernetic Foundation of Mathematics/, to be
     published
     /Computation and Metacomputation in Refal/, available with
     software system
     (1977) /Phenomenon of Science/, Columbia U., New York
          Cybernetic theory of universal evolution.  Metascience as a
          cybernetic enterprise.
     (1981) /Inertia of Fear and Scientific Worldview/, Columbia U. Press,
     New York
          Interpretation of totalitarianism from the persepctive of cybernetic
          social theory.
     (1982) "Institutionalization of Values", /Worldview/, v. 11/82
          Review of Turchin's social theory and defense of reviews of
          _Phenomenon of Science_ and _Inertia of Fear_.
     (1985) "Orlov in Exile", /Physics Today/, v. 7/8
     (1986) "Concept of a Supercompiler", /ACM Trans. of Prog. Lang. and
     Sys./, v. 8:3
     (1987) "Constructive Interpretation of Full Set Theory", /J. of
     Symbolic Logic/, v. 52:1
          Almost complete reconstruction of ZF set theory from a constructivist
          philosophy, including implementation in the REFAL language.

Turchin, Valentin, and Joslyn, Cliff: (1989) "Cybernetic Manifesto",
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [10]Copyright© 1990 Principia Cybernetica - [11]Referencing this page

   Author
   C. [12]Joslyn,

   Date
   27 Jan 1990

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References

   1. LYNXIMGMAP:http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TURCBIO.html#PCP-header
   2. http://www.goertzel.org/benzine/turchin.htm
   3. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TURCHIN.html
   4. http://www.supercompilers.com/refal_book/index.html
   5. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0231046227/principiacyberneA/
   6. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TOTALFRE.html
   7. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/POSBOOK.html
   8. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MST.html
   9. http://www.supercompilers.com/new_design/html/supercompilation.html
  10. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/COPYR.html
  11. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/REFERPCP.html
  12. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/JOSLYN.html
  13. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html
  14. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ORG.html
  15. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CONTR.html
  16. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PEOPLE.html
  17. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TURCHIN.html
  18. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TURCHIN.html
  19. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/UMPLEBY.html
  20. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MAKANNOT.html
  21. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/hypercard.acgi$annotform?

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   3. http://pcp.lanl.gov/TURCBIO.html
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