03 Worldwide Laff: Russia
The main challenge for a newcomer wishing to visit the "reactor" is the regimen. The event lasts three days. The organizers recommend preparing for around-the-clock work, just like in science fiction writer Raphael Lafferty's short story "The Long Night From Tuesday to Wednesday." The goal of the all-night vigil is the same as in the story—to live several lives in one night. At the same time, the designers of the "knowledge reactor" immediately disclaimed responsibility for the participants' altered states of consciousness and the feeling of inhuman fatigue, as after heavy physical labor. The "reactor" included analysts from design bureaus specializing in investor relations, Rosatom experts, researchers from research institutes, and entrepreneurs. They are already creating the future as we know it in their work—designing cities, neighborhoods, and new mechanisms. At meetings, they modestly refer to themselves as the intellectual elite and simultaneously the intellectual proletariat of our time. —“Reactor of the Future” (“Реактор будущего”), Delovoy Peterburg, July 9, 2010. Translated from Russian.
It is particularly amusing, given Lafferty's axe-wielding attack on all things New Age/New Media Techno-Optimism, to see him take on this kind of life in Russia. From what I can tell, “Reactor of the Future,” published in Delovoy Peterburg on July 9, 2010, was a three-day workshop led by futurist Sergei Pereslegin. Apparently, researchers, designers, entrepreneurs, and Rosatom specialists attended, whatever that means. Their “knowledge reactor” was a structured brainstorming exercise meant to anticipate social and technological changes and develop practical projects, including a new kind of history textbook. Lafferty would have loved that. Maybe they should know about the effigy histories.
