In the summer of 2018, the authors of the book were standing in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. They marvelled at the Foucault pendulum, which made its circular movements on a long rope under the dome. The authors were amazed and wondered, like Casaubon in Umberto Eco's book 'The Foucault Pendulum', what could be at the ideal end of the thread pendulum. The fixed point that could give us support and security in an uncertain world and difficult times? What uncertainties, what times or even what threats are we actually talking about? Where can we find the fixed points, the safe spaces of our lives? This book deals with these and other questions. The authors found inspiration for the book in Umberto Eco. And so it is also a homage to Eco. The authors: Wolfgang Frindte, Prof. i. R. Dr. phil. habil., graduate psychologist (Friedrich Schiller University Jena 1974), 1981 doctorate and 1986 habilitation. From 2008 to 2017 Head of the Department of Communication Psychology at the Institute of Communication Science at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. 1998-2005 Visiting Professor for Communication and Social Psychology at Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck. February to April 2004 Fellow at the Bucerius Institute at the University of Haifa (Israel). Main research interests: Terrorism research, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, right-wing extremism, media and violence. Ina Frindte, graduate physicist (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena 1977), 1977-1981 scientific assistant at the research center of Carl Zeiss Jena. 1981-1991 project manager for hospital and ophthalmic optics (Carl Zeiss Jena). 1991-2018 senior manager for medical technology (Analytik Jena AG). Realization of projects in Germany, Europe and Asia, among others. This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.

Autorentext

Wolfgang Frindte, Prof. i. R. Dr. phil. habil., graduate psychologist (Friedrich Schiller University Jena 1974), 1981 doctorate and 1986 habilitation. From 2008 to 2017 Head of the Department of Communication Psychology at the Institute of Communication Science at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. 1998-2005 Visiting Professor for Communication and Social Psychology at Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck. February to April 2004 Fellow at the Bucerius Institute at the University of Haifa (Israel). Main research interests: Terrorism research, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, right-wing extremism, media and violence. Ina Frindte, graduate physicist (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena 1977), 1977-1981 scientific assistant at the research center of Carl Zeiss Jena. 1981-1991 project manager for hospital and ophthalmic optics (Carl Zeiss Jena). 1991-2018 senior manager for medical technology (Analytik Jena AG). Realization of projects in Germany, Europe and Asia, among others.