As we have already written in our other materials, the “School of IT Management” at the Academy of National Economy organized the course “Anti-crisis program for an IT manager” (www.itmane.ru). One of the seminars of the course, which was led by the General Director of GVC Energetiki OJSC Evgeny Aksenov, and concerned the use of the service model in IT, we will discuss here.

As we have already written in our other materials, “School of IT Management” The seminar was called “Industrial Service Science”, and the name itself immediately suggested the idea that we were dealing more with a detailed scientific message rather than with the more familiar audience of the Academy of National Economy practical reports. The focus of the seminar was really twofold. Practical aspects were certainly present in the theses of a specialist who has been involved in the implementation of the IT service model in the Russian energy sector for many years, but the characteristic features of a scientific approach to the problem were also clearly felt. In this way, this seminar differed from many in-person events devoted to the now popular topic of the service approach. And although Evgeny Aksenov has considerable experience and concrete achievements in this direction, he, nevertheless, restrained himself from attempting to directly declare benefits. Instead, he pushed listeners to the conclusion about the prospects of the service model and its optimality from the point of view of financial management and quality management.

According to the canons of the scientific approach, the initial formulation of the problem cannot in any way proceed from the purely utilitarian question of whether the service approach in general and outsourcing in particular are profitable from the point of view of cost savings. In a crisis situation, such a message could, of course, look even more “spectacular,” although, it must be admitted that numerous discussions directly addressing the issue of costs have still not brought us closer to an answer to this question. The scientific approach obliges us, firstly, to initially approach the problem from the point of view of a historical perspective, secondly, to take into account all possible micro-, macroeconomic and cultural factors of influence (including those coming from the foreign market), and thirdly, predict the situation for the future.

One of the most significant factors from a historical perspective is that we have reached a point where a significant explosion of innovative project activity in the IT sector brings with it a trail of deferred operating costs. Moreover, it is often so significant that even the inevitable suspension of the pace of innovation development during a crisis period still cannot restrain the increase in the necessary budgetary allocations for IT (at the seminar, Evgeny Aksenov convincingly shows this with figures regarding IT costs in the energy sector). In such a situation, a service model may become simply necessary.

From the point of view of taking into account various factors influencing the prospects for the development of a service model, perhaps the most interesting is the consideration of macrotrends. Currently, they are not talked about very often, since in the context of discussing the service model, the main attention, as is known, is absorbed by discussing technologies for the internal management of the IT department. At the same time, what happens around can become an equally powerful factor of influence. And this is even more important because the current, as they say, turbulent state of the economy can catalyze the development of a service model in IT due to those macro business priorities that are placed at a much higher level than the one we are accustomed to associate with corporate IT support. At least by global research companies, trends in such areas as consolidation of business operations, relocation of processes to offshore zones, transfer of business to subsidiaries and dependent companies and some others are no longer only recorded qualitatively, but also assessed quantitatively. Trying to predict the synergistic effect of these trends and assess how this might impact IT service delivery culture given its current state is an even greater challenge. However, at the seminar such an attempt was made at a very serious level. And this is a scientifically based forecast of the situation.

In other words, the report given as part of the course “Anti-crisis program for an IT manager” turned out to be an attempt to lead IT professionals away from a more understandable to practitioners, but, at the same time, narrower view of the service model from the point of view of opportunity save today or, at the very least, tomorrow. And at the same time lead him to another formulation of the question: what is the internal state and external environment of the business, and how, in these specific conditions, can we move forward in relation to the application of the service model in our company. In conditions of an unstable external situation, such a turn of the topic seems especially valuable and important to us. And in this sense, it complements other “anti-crisis course” seminars well.

In science (natural science), as in religion, there are such unconditional provisions - “dogmas” - which are not proven (and cannot be proven), but are accepted as initial ones, since they are necessary for the construction of the entire system of knowledge. Such provisions are called postulates or axioms. Natural science is based on at least the following two basic principles: recognition, firstly, of the reality of the existence of the world and, secondly, the laws of its structure and cognizability by man.

Let's consider these postulates.

1) Surprisingly, but the statement about the objective, i.e. independent of human consciousness, the existence of the world is, rather, immediate evidence rather than a scientifically proven truth, more a matter of faith than knowledge. The famous philosopher Bertrand Russell († 1970) wittily remarks on this matter: “ I don't think I'm dreaming or dreaming right now, but I can't prove it" Einstein († 1955) in turn directly states: “ Belief in the existence of an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science" These statements by famous scientists well illustrate science’s understanding of the reality of the external world: it is an object of its faith, a dogma (in theological language), but not knowledge.

2). The second postulate of science - the belief in the rationality, regularity of the structure of the world and its knowability - is the main driving force of all scientific research. But it also turns out to be the same object of faith (dogma) for science as the first. Authoritative scientists speak about this unequivocally. Thus, Academician L.S. Berg († 1950) wrote: “ The main postulate with which a natural scientist approaches understanding nature is that nature in general has meaning, that it is possible to comprehend and understand it, that between the laws of thinking and cognition, on the one hand, and the structure of nature, on the other, there is a certain predetermined harmony . Without this tacit assumption, no natural science is possible. Perhaps this postulate is incorrect (just as perhaps Euclid’s postulate about parallel lines is incorrect), but it is practically necessary" Einstein said the same thing: “ Without faith that it is possible to embrace reality with our theoretical constructs, without faith in the internal harmony of our world, there could be no science. This faith is and will always remain the main motive of all scientific creativity." The father of cybernetics N. Wiener († 1964) wrote: “ Without the belief that nature is subject to laws, there can be no science. It is impossible to prove that nature is subject to laws, for we all know that the world from the next moment can become like a game of croquet from the book “Alice in Wonderland.”"". The famous modern American physicist C. Townes († 1992) writes: “ The scientist must be imbued with the conviction in advance that there is order in the universe and that the human mind is capable of understanding this order. A world that is messy or incomprehensible would be pointless even trying to understand».

But even if these postulates are true (and this can hardly be doubted), then even then the most important question remains, without the solution of which the very formulation of the problem “science and religion” loses all meaning - this is the question of the reliability of scientific knowledge itself. But first, a brief note about his methods.

The world around us is largely a man-made world of information technology, technology and scientific achievements. It determines the level of human civilization, the diversity and depth of exploitation of the earth's resources. The 21st century is the era of science, its tremendous forward progress and influence on the development of civilization.

The concept of “science” has several meanings; on the one hand, science is a dynamic system of reliable, most essential knowledge about the objective laws of the development of nature, society and thinking. Knowledge is a product of science and at the same time its material, which is again involved in scientific activity to obtain new knowledge. At the same time, knowledge about the world around us can be ordinary, everyday and scientific. Scientific knowledge differs from ordinary knowledge in its consistency, systematicity, and also in the fact that it creates new concepts, laws and theories. Scientific knowledge not only reveals and explains new phenomena in nature, society or economic practice, but also makes it possible to improve human activity and anticipate its results and consequences.

Science is not only a system of scientific knowledge that explains the world around us, but also a means of measuring and transforming it. It influences a person’s knowledge of nature not through emotional perception, but through a systematized logical interaction of intelligence, nature and society.

On the other hand, science is a specially organized activity of people. As a branch of human activity, science is a complex social institution that was formed in the process of division of labor, the gradual separation of mental labor from physical labor and the transformation of cognitive activity into a specific type of occupation of individuals, teams and institutions. The first materialized products of scientific activity were ancient manuscripts and books; later correspondence between researchers began, which led to the appearance of scientific journals in the second half of the 17th century. But the final formation of science as a field of activity occurred when special scientific institutions began to be created, some of which were funded by the state.

Science as a human activity includes the following processes:

1) knowledge generation what happens as a result of specially organized scientific research;

2) knowledge transfer, that arises as a result of communications between scientists and other persons engaged in research work. Communications can be both formal (scientific monographs, descriptions of inventions, materials of scientific meetings, forums, conferences, symposia, scientific reports, dissertations) and informal (correspondence, conversations, exchange of preprints, reprints of articles, as well as currently widespread electronic journals , email, electronic conferences);

3) reproduction of knowledge, which consists of training scientific personnel and forming scientific schools.

The object of science is the nature and forms of movement of matter, human society in its development, man and his activities.

Subjects of science There are people who have a certain amount of knowledge and are ready for scientific activity.

The essence of science is revealed in its functions. Cognitive function science reflects the great desire of the human mind for knowledge and justifies the very existence of man on earth. The cognitive function of science is the manifestation of the most essential knowledge about the laws of development of nature, society and thinking and their interrelation. Critical function science is to evaluate the identified patterns, properties, trends in order to enhance the positive aspects of phenomena, processes and eliminate the negative ones. Practical functions are also connected with these functions, which consists in improving the surrounding world, especially the system of material production and social relations.

As you know, the economic development of any state combines three types of technologies - pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. In pre-industrial and industrial technologies, the leading role belongs to material resources, labor and methods of their combination in the technological process. In post-industrial or mechatronic technologies, knowledge and information occupy a prominent place. It is the industries that use mechatronic technologies that are developing 5-10 times faster. Therefore, science and “high” technologies become the main sources of economic development of individual states, a huge productive force of society.

Concepts that have a connotation of special scientific meaning are called terms. This may be a word or phrase that carries specific scientific content (for example, discounting, interest rate, fiscal policy).

Concepts that acquire a broad content and are used in different meanings with several shades are transformed into categories (for example, the categories of market, demand, money, finance, trading enterprise).

The basis for the formation of science as a system of knowledge are principles - certain key, starting points, the first degree of systematization of knowledge. Unlike laws, principles do not exist objectively in nature, but are determined by scientists. Thus, the general principle of all research is the principle of dialectics - to consider all phenomena and processes in interrelation and in Rus' both in space and in time. In economic sciences, the most widely used principles are the principles of complexity, control, and others. A type of principles are postulates - statements that are accepted as truth within a certain scientific theory, although they cannot be proven by the means of this theory and therefore serve as axioms in it. An axiom, in turn, is a position that is accepted without logical proof through its immediate persuasiveness, clarity, and certainty. For example, one of the postulates in economic sciences is the postulate of limited resources.

Scientific laws are statements (using principles, concepts and categories) that reflect necessary, significant, stable and recurring objective phenomena and connections in nature, society and thinking. Laws are objective in nature and exist independently of the will and consciousness of people. Knowledge of laws is the task of science, which becomes the basis for people’s transformation of nature and society. There are three main groups of laws: specific or partial (for example, the law of supply and demand, the law of value), general, i.e. characteristic of large groups of phenomena (for example, the law of conservation of energy, the law of natural selection, the law of cyclic development) and all-pervasive or universal (for example, the laws of dialectics).

Scientific theory is the highest degree of generalization and systematization of knowledge. Theory is understood as a system of basic ideas, provisions, laws in a particular field of knowledge, which gives a holistic idea of ​​the patterns and classification.

Logical approach complements the two above and is based on highlighting various aspects of a certain object of science, taking into account the general and the particular, the abstract and the concrete.

It should be noted that even a combination of these approaches does not allow making a perfect and unchanging classification of sciences, because the connections between objects of nature and society and scientific knowledge are very multifaceted and interdependent. In addition, with the rapid development of science, new knowledge is born that complements and unites various branches of science.

In the most general form, all branches of scientific knowledge are combined into three groups:

• knowledge about nature (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, etc.);
• knowledge about society (economics, history, law, etc.);
• knowledge about thinking (philosophy, logic, psychology, etc.). If we are talking specifically about science, this classification can be modified and all sciences can be divided into the following large groups:
• natural sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.);
• technical sciences - a system of knowledge about the purposeful transformation of natural forces and processes into technical objects;
• medical sciences;
• social sciences (economics, sociology, political science, legal sciences, demography, etc.);
• humanities (history of state, history of art, church, theology, linguistics and literary studies, philosophy, logic, psychology, etc.).

Each of the named sciences has its own “pairs” of knowledge, which branch out all the time. The process of branching, the birth of new “branches” on the “tree of science” is called the diversification of sciences. Diversification of sciences- is the emergence of new sciences at the junction of previously known ones or as a result of separation from them. As a result of this continuous process, such subfields of science as solid state physics, demand statistics, commodity science, finance of international insurance operations, ergonomics, etc. were formed.

The ramifications of sciences are facilitated by their interweaving, interpenetration, and integration. Integration is the unification of sciences into a new science. The result of integration was such well-known sciences as biochemistry, mathematical statistics, engineering genetics, etc.

In general, in Ukraine it is customary to distinguish the following main branches of science: physical and mathematical, chemical, biological, geological and mineralogical, technical, agricultural, historical, economic, philosophical, philological, geographical, legal, pedagogical, medical, pharmaceutical, veterinary, art history, architecture, psychological, sociological, political, others.

By the nature of their focus and relationship to social practice, sciences are divided into fundamental and applied.

Basic Sciences aimed at understanding the foundations and objective laws of the development of nature, society and thinking in general. their main goal is the search for truth, which can then be applied in various types of research, both in the fundamental sciences themselves and in applied ones. Fundamental sciences include mathematics, certain branches of physics, chemistry, philosophy, economic theory, linguistics and others.

Applied Science, developing on the basis of fundamental ones, they develop ways and methods of applying and implementing the results of fundamental research into practice. The indicator of the effectiveness of research in the field of applied sciences is not so much the acquisition of true knowledge as its direct practical significance. Applied sciences include all technical sciences, most of the medical, economic sciences, etc. Currently, almost every integrated branch of science combines fundamental and applied sciences.

In science (natural science), as in religion, there are such unconditional provisions of “dogma” that are not proven (and cannot be proven), but are accepted as initial ones, since they are necessary for the construction of the entire system of knowledge. Such provisions are called postulates or axioms. Natural science is based on at least the following two basic principles: on the recognition, firstly, of the reality of the existence of the world and, secondly, the laws of its structure and cognizability by man.

Let's consider these postulates.

1. Surprisingly, the statement about the objective, i.e., independent of human consciousness, existence of the world is, rather, immediate evidence rather than a scientifically proven truth, more a matter of faith than knowledge. The famous philosopher Bertrand Russell († 1970) wittily remarks on this matter: “I do not think that I am now sleeping or dreaming, but I cannot prove it.” Einstein († 1955) in turn directly states: “The belief in the existence of an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science.” These statements by famous scientists simply illustrate science’s understanding of the reality of the external world: it is an object of its faith, a dogma (in theological language), but not knowledge.

2. The second postulate of science - the belief in the rationality, regularity of the structure of the world and its knowability - is the main driving force of all scientific research. But it also turns out to be the same object of faith (dogma) for science as the first. Authoritative scientists speak about this quite clearly. Thus, academician L. S. Berg († 1950) wrote: “The main postulate with which a natural scientist approaches understanding nature is that in nature there is a meaning in general, that it is possible to comprehend and understand that between the laws of thinking and cognition, on the one hand, and the structure of nature, on the other, there is a certain predetermined harmony. Without this tacit assumption, no natural science is possible. Perhaps this postulate is incorrect (just as perhaps Euclid’s postulate about parallel lines is incorrect), but it is practically necessary.” Einstein said the same thing: “Without faith that it is possible to embrace reality with our theoretical constructs, without faith in the inner harmony of our world, there could be no science. This faith is and will always remain the main motive of all scientific creativity." The father of cybernetics N. Wiener († 1964) wrote: “Without the belief that nature is subject to laws, there can be no science. It is impossible to prove that nature is subject to laws, for we all know that the world from the next moment can become like a game of croquet from the book “Alice in Wonderland”. “The scientist must be imbued with the conviction in advance,” writes the famous modern American physicist Charles Townes († 1992), that there is order in the Universe and that the human mind is capable of understanding this order. A world that is disordered or incomprehensible would be pointless even trying to understand.”

But even if these postulates are true (and this can hardly be doubted), then even then the most important question remains, without the solution of which the very formulation of the problem of “science and religion” loses all meaning - this is the question of the reliability of scientific knowledge itself. But first, a few words about his methods.

Bohr's quantum postulates, which explained processes occurring in atoms that were previously not understood by physicists, became the foundation on which quantum physics subsequently grew. The basis of the quantum theory developed by Niels Bohr includes three postulates formulated by him as a result of experiments or observations of the behavior of atoms of various substances, a quantization rule derived from the study of the hydrogen atom, and several formulas that mathematically explain Bohr's postulates.

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The video will help you better understand the theory if questions arise while reading the article. You can watch a video about the rules of the theory of the father of quantum physics by following the links:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0jRlO768nw;
• https://vk.com/video290915595_171732857.

Postulates included in Bohr's quantum theory

First rule

The first rule says that the energy En in systems formed from atoms can exist only if these atoms are in specialized or, in other words, quantum states. In other cases, the atom does not release its energy into its environment.

This rule, derived by the scientist, absolutely contradicts the knowledge accumulated by classical mechanics. According to the axioms of classical mechanics, any atoms or electrons that are currently moving have energy, and this energy can be of any kind.

In addition, the main conclusion from the first postulate of one of the fathers of quantum physics fundamentally contradicts the knowledge in the field of electromagnetism obtained by Maxwell in the nineteenth century, since it allows for the possibility of the movement of molecular particles without emitting electromagnetic pulses into the surrounding space.

Second rule of the theory

It states that the light that an atom emits is the result of its transition from a state during which it had more energy Ek to a state in which it has less energy En. The formula that calculates the amount of energy that a photon emits into the surrounding space is the difference Ek - En.

Second rule of Bohr's theory provides that the reverse process is possible, that is, the atom can return to a state where it stores a greater supply of energy than it previously had, if before that it absorbs a certain amount of light energy.

Bohr's third postulate

Its essence is that an electron in an atom or an atom in a molecule moves from one orbit to another and during this either emits, or absorb energy. This energy is released from them in so-called quanta or portions, which science can measure and calculate.

The third rule, discovered by Bohr, was studied by other famous physicists and confirmed as a result of an experiment conducted by scientists Frank and Hertz.

The third postulate played a significant role in the development of optics, since it proved that atoms emit only those spectra of light that they can also absorb.

The hydrogen atom and the quantization rule

In order to develop atomic model the simplest currently known element, hydrogen, Bohr postulated a quantization rule or, in other words, a pattern according to which the energy levels of an electron are determined depending on its stationary values ​​occupied by it in the orbit.

It follows that depending on the orbit in which an electron in an atom or an atom in a molecule is located, the coefficient of energy they possess is determined.

Using the quantization rule, based on the laws of mechanics derived by Newton, Niels Bohr was able to calculate the value of the minimum possible radius of the orbit of an electron in an atom, as well as the energy values ​​​​that atoms and electrons have when in stationary states.

The meaning of the postulates and their influence on the scientific world

Despite the fact that some of the assumptions and opinions expressed by Bohr later turned out to be incorrect and erroneous, for which he was mercilessly criticized by his scientific colleagues, including Albert Einstein himself, nevertheless his postulates played an important role in physics: