State of the problem and its relevance
In the last decade, computer science as a fundamental science has become a key component of the system of scientific knowledge. In the context of the formation of a global information society, the development of this science is strategically important, since it largely determines the development of the economy, science, education and culture, the competitiveness of a country, the quality of life of its population and national security. In this regard, the increased interest in the problem of clarifying the place of computer science in the system of sciences, as well as in its fundamental foundations, historical, philosophical, scientific, methodological and socio-cultural aspects, which is observed today in the field of science, is understandable.
At the same time, the educational system, both in our country and abroad, is still dominated by the instrumental-technological approach to the study of computer science problems, and its fundamental aspects are considered secondary. But it is precisely these aspects, including the scientific, methodological, and philosophical foundations of computer science, that are the most relevant, since they are necessary to ensure the fundamentality of training scientific personnel and specialists of various profiles, the formation of a new information culture of society adequate to the challenges of the 21st century. The reason here is that the problem of positioning computer science in the scientific system has not yet been sufficiently studied, although the relevance of such research is obvious and beyond doubt.
In recent years, in the USA, China and Western European countries, interest in the scientific, methodological and philosophical aspects of computer science has intensified. For example, in 2010, the Fourth International Conference on the Foundations of Information Science (FIS 2010) was held in Beijing, to which the author of this work was invited to participate as Honorary President. The conference was organized by the International Coordinating Council on the Fundamentals of Information Science, which, since 1994, has been holding conferences in various countries: Spain (1994), Austria (1997), France (2005), China (2010). The next conference on this issue (FIS 2012) is planned for 2012 in Russia.
The above Council today includes 62 representatives from 20 countries, including six scientists representing Russia. In August 2010, a meeting of this Council was held in Beijing, at which it was decided to create the International Society for Information Studies (ISIS). Currently, this Society is registered in Austria, and a representative of Russia, the author of this work, has been elected as its President.
Problems of computer science development were discussed at other major international conferences. One of them took place in 2010 in Azerbaijan, and the other in 2011 in Bulgaria. During these years, new institutes and research centers for the study of fundamental problems in computer science were created at universities in a number of countries around the world. For example, the Social Information Science Institute was created in 2006 as part of the Huajong University of Science and Technology of China, and in 2010 the International Research Center for the Philosophy of Information was created as part of one of the Chinese universities in Xi’an.
On the initiative of the Institute of Informatics Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, two new scientific and educational centers (RECs) have also been created in Russia. One of them is part of the Siberian Federal University (REC “Computer Science, Information Technologies and Management”), and the other is part of the Chelyabinsk State Academy of Culture and Arts (REC “Information Society” [19]). Their task is to introduce results in the field of development of the fundamental principles of computer science into the education system, develop new training courses for masters and graduate students, as well as proposals for modernizing State educational standards.
By a joint decision of the leadership of the Institute of Informatics Problems and the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a Scientific and Methodological Seminar on Philosophical Problems of the Information Sciences was created in 2011.
It would seem that there are positive trends. However, it should be recognized that, both in our country and abroad, today there is still no clear positioning of computer science in the scientific system, and scientifically based approaches to the study of its problems in the system of education and training of scientific personnel are not properly used. This became especially noticeable when in 2006 a new Candidate Examination Program for the course “History and Philosophy of Science” was introduced in Russia. Its analysis showed that the content of sections related to the study of computer science problems cannot be considered satisfactory, since it does not reflect the current state and main trends in the development of this science. At the same time, Russia already has new scientific results that can be used in the education system.
The importance of modern computer science methods for the development of science and technology
Recently, interest in the use of computer science methods in a variety of areas of scientific research and practical development has been growing rapidly. This interest is shown not only by individual scientists and scientific organizations, but also by some government agencies. Thus, in 2005, the US Presidential Advisory Committee on Information Technology presented an Analytical Report on this issue. Its brief analysis is contained in. The Report shows that the US leadership needs to take decisive action to prevent the further development of the negative trends observed in American science and the education system. In this case, special attention should be paid to the development and use of information modeling methods, which are rapidly developing and have already emerged as one of the promising areas of interdisciplinary research, called Computational science in Western countries.
The authors of the Report predict that this direction will be a critical factor in the further development of science, education and high technology in the 21st century. They argue that progress in this area should ensure US primacy in the global economy and its strategic superiority in the field of high technology. The Report shows that the development of “computational science” creates unique opportunities for scientific research. Using its tools and methods, scientists can study a wide variety of problems, the study of which by other methods is ineffective and often simply impossible.
An important feature of computer science is that its methods are in demand in almost all subject areas of science and therefore can be used in all areas of scientific knowledge, introducing fundamentally new qualities into them. Computer science as a fundamental science today is becoming an interdisciplinary field that can greatly increase the efficiency of research in almost all other areas of fundamental and applied science. However, this versatility represents not only an advantage, but also a weak spot in computer science. After all, other scientific disciplines can use its tools and methods, but none of them solves the problems of their further development. That is why special measures are needed for the development of this important interdisciplinary scientific area.
References:
- https://www.computer-museum.ru/
- https://portal.tpu.ru/
- https://school-science.ru/
