The talk analyzes an impact of esoteric ideas on shaping of computer science and information technology in Russia. The main argument is that the development of these fields in the Russian context was subjected to influences of esoteric ideas inherited through several channels, including Soviet cosmism and discussions about parapsychology during the 1960s.
Esotericism and Computers in the USSR and Russia: from Biological Wireless to the Internet
2021. EASR Annual Conference (online)
Statement for the Roundtable Science and the Impossible
What is the impossible? In this brief roundtable statement, I draw attention to the fact that the limits of the impossible are culturally defined and that, given how strongly we are conditioned to perceive the world in a certain way, the impossible becomes something that is out of reach not simply theoretically but also experientially. Psychological research in the fields like inattentional blindness hints at the mechanisms through which the impossible becomes imperceivable.
How and Why Study Russian Esotericism?
If one wants to understand the history of twentieth-century esotericism (or art, or science, or post-Soviet politics), then Russian esotericism should be an integral part of this conversation. It is important to speak about Russian esotericism in the larger context of both Western esotericism and Russian history because without these two components many aspects of Russian esotericism would remain unclear.