Vladimir Gorzhaltsan, Advisor to the Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, addressed participants of Russia’s Nauchka Student Scientific School, organized by the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI). He delivered a lecture, Life, Intelligence, and AI: A Multidisciplinary Approach to New Knowledge and Opportunities.
The lecture explored the historical development of scientific approaches to studying intelligence and creating “intelligent” machines, the advent of cybernetics, and current understanding of artificial intelligence. Special emphasis was placed on the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, which integrates knowledge and methodologies from various scientific domains to tackle complex modern challenges.
Vladimir Gorzhaltsan encouraged students to examine modern artificial intelligence technologies within their historical and scientific contexts. He specifically cited Erwin Schrödinger’s “What Is Life?” and Norbert Wiener’s “Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine,” highlighting the importance of processes such as control, information transmission, and data storage in both biological and technical systems.
A distinct segment of the lecture was dedicated to the modern mathematical foundations underpinning artificial intelligence technologies: mathematical analysis, probability theory, and mathematical statistics, as well as control theory, neural networks, fuzzy logic, and other areas of mathematics. As Vladimir Gorzhaltsan noted, artificial intelligence should essentially be viewed as a comprehensive mathematical toolkit designed to solve specific practical problems.
Participants in the scientific school also discussed how AI can be leveraged in research activities, such as searching for and analyzing literature, working with texts and datasets, formulating hypotheses, and planning experiments. At the same time, while cautioning against plagiarism, the lecturer stressed the importance of conducting independent analyses, drawing original conclusions, and rigorously validating results when using modern digital tools. “It is precisely in these cases that the results exhibit elements of originality, constituting the author’s original work,” he emphasized.
In closing, Vladimir Gorzhaltsan underscored that the advancement of modern technologies requires not only proficiency with new tools but also a broad scientific perspective. An interdisciplinary approach enables the synthesis of knowledge from diverse fields, the development of a shared language for collaboration among experts, and the discovery of innovative solutions at the intersection of scientific disciplines.
“Today, artificial intelligence is often seen as an entirely new phenomenon, yet many of its underlying methods and scientific approaches have much deeper roots. Therefore, it is essential to view modern technologies within the broader context of scientific progress, combining knowledge from different fields. It is precisely this interdisciplinary approach that allows for a deeper understanding of complex processes and the identification of new solutions,” Vladimir Gorzhaltsan noted.
Russia’s Nauchka Student Scientific School is an intensive online educational program offered by MTUCI for students seeking to begin their journey into research and project activities. This year, the school brought together over 500 participants from 145 universities across 65 Russian cities. Registration for the school remains open until August 30.
