The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

This is a modest endeavour written from an engineering perspective by a nonphilosopher to set things straight if somewhat roughly: What does artificial intelligence boil down to? What are its merits and why some dangers may stem from its development in this time of confusion when, to quote Rémi Brague: “From the point of view of technology, man appears as outdated, or at least superfluous”?

Artificial Intelligence, both as a hope of making a substantial progress, and a fear of the unknown and unimaginable, has its roots in human dreams. These dreams were materialized by means of rational intellectual efforts. We see beginnings of such a process in Lullus’s fancies. Many scholars and enthusiasts participated in the development of Lullus’s art, ars combinatoria. Amongst them, Athanasius Kircher was distinguished. Gottfried Leibniz ended the period in which the idea of artificial intelligence had been shaped, and started a new one when artificial intelligence could be considered a part of science, according to today’s standards.

The main thesis of this paper is the assertion that, in contrast to the prevailing opinion about the decline or deep crisis of the intelligentsia, it is precisely this social group—and especially its elite—that is the dominant actor in social life. This thesis emerges from an analysis of the role of the intelligentsia, using ‘longue durée’ categories and also the broader international perspective of ‘world system theory’, in which Poland is assigned to the (semi)-periphery. Elements of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory, particularly the idea of cultural capital and the field of power, are an important theoretical poin in the author’s argument. In this view, the structurally privileged position of the intelligentsia in Poland is understood as an aspect of the specific configuration of the Polish field of power, in which—at least since the end of the First World War—cultural capital turns out to be the strongest and most stable dimension in the creation and reproduction of elite social positions.

O tym, dlaczego obawiamy się humanoidalnych robotów, a także o tym, czy oglądanie maszyn grających w piłkę jest przyjemne, opowiada dr Aleksandra Przegalinska.

While considering the anthropological and sociological aspects of development of the historic city of Zamość , it is necessary to mention the elements of its residents’ life that brought intellectual values in the cultural space of the city entered in 1992 into the List of World Cultural Heritage. The paper has recalled a unique meeting place of the Zamość intelligentsia in the years 1957–2003 – the Ratuszowa café. It was located in the very heart of the city, in the Zamość Town Hall. The paper proves that it was not only a place of careless entertainment but of creative debate and work. It has also evoked memories of the “café life” and regular visitors to coffeehouses in Lviv, Krakow and Warsaw

Każdy człowiek codziennie staje przed różnej wagi wyborami.

O tym, jak może w nich pomóc sztuczna inteligencja, opowiada dr hab. inż. Miłosz Kadziński.

The author analyses problems of disease, dying, and death addressed in a play by Margaret Edson entitled Wit. Special attention is paid to the structure of meta-theatre and the function of wit in the play. The author investigates limitations of reason in the approach adopted by the doctors who take care of Vivian Bearing, and who subject her to an excruciating experiment in order to achieve a potential research success. She also discusses the protagonist’s attitude to literary works, dealing with her own disease, to other people and to God. This offers an opportunity to ruminate on the exact meaning of irretrievable loss involved in suffering. She also concentrates on the attitude of the nurse who – thanks to her emotional intelligence and empathy – accompanies Vivian on her way to death.

Żyjemy w czasach, w których wzrasta znaczenie sztucznej inteligencji oraz oczekiwanie na coraz bardziej inteligentne systemy. W miarę jak sztuczna inteligencja i inteligentne roboty przejmują od człowieka różne funkcje, pojawiają się pytania o rodzaj i zakres ich działania w stosunku do możliwości człowieka. Proces ten rodzi pytanie, czy można wskazać takie sfery ludzkiej aktywności, które nie mogą być powielone przez inteligentne programy lub roboty? Na pierwszy rzut oka takimi własnościami człowieka jest emocjonalność, uczuciowość i twórczość. W niniejszym artykule analizuję, czy inteligentne roboty mogłyby być twórcze artystycznie i zastępować w tym procesie człowieka. Zakładam, że choć trudno jest w dzisiejszych czasach wskazaćnowatorsko twórcze roboty, to równie trudno podawać w wątpliwość fakt, że roboty w jakimś sensie tworzą sztukę. Wprawdzie z dzisiejszej perspektywy natura ludzka jest jeszcze pod tym względem niepowielalna przez roboty i sztuczną inteligencję, ale równocześnie wykracza się w niej coraz bardziej poza postawę antropocentryczną, przyjmując, że twórczość nie jest wyłącznąwłasnością, lecz jedynie właściwością człowieka, i że mówiąc o sztucznej inteligencji, można dopuścić myśl o uprawianej przez nią twórczości.

This article presents little known facts sampled from the notes and personal records of Professor Stanis$aw Pigoń and Karol Wojtyła. The two met for the first time in 1938, when young Wojtyła began his studies at the Polish Department of the Jagiellonian University. A bond of mutual liking and respect, based on similar personalities and similar war experiences, morphed into an abiding friendship in the years after the war. The article chronicles that friendship on the basis of documents and private papers held in the Jagiellonian Library (Professor Pigoń’s Archives) and the Archives of the Metropolitan Curia in Cracow. Wojtyła, when he became Pope John Paul II always spoke warmly about his university teachers, especially about Professor Pigoń.