
How communist Bulgaria became a leader in technology, robotics and sci-fi (2018) - jordybg
https://aeon.co/essays/how-communist-bulgaria-became-a-leader-in-tech-and-sci-fi
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severak_cz
I wonder if Bulgaria really became leader in tech. In Czechoslovakia we also
had some sort of computer industry. We also had state security agents buying
western tech in disguise and importing it home for cloning.

I even know one guy who worked at computer reverse engineering institute back
then. Also I have found memoirs of some random guy who worked as IT specialist
for Stb (Czech equivalent of Stasi).

However, this article is really good introduction to Blugarian sci-fi which I
didn't known before (unlike Polish and Soviet).

~~~
buzzkillington
>At its peak, Bulgaria supplied 40% of the computers in COMECON. The
electronics industry employed 300,000 workers, and it generated 8 billion
rubles a year. [0]

That's on top of a population of just under 9 million and a working age
population of 6 million [1], so 5% of the workforce was involved in the
production of computer hardware alone.

It seems there was a very large bet on the computer industry from the
communist party. Jumping around wikipedia [2] it also seems that pretty much
all the computers were clones of western computers and several years behind
the west in terms of technology.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_hardware_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_hardware_in_Bulgaria)

[1]
[https://www.populationpyramid.net/bulgaria/1985/](https://www.populationpyramid.net/bulgaria/1985/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_hardware_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_hardware_in_Bulgaria)

~~~
varjag
Vast majority of the electronic industry were not computer production, so
you're off by a magnitude for sure.

~~~
buzzkillington
Computer hardware included everything from magnetic platters for hard drives
to crt displays to the silicon wafers.

~~~
varjag
It also included steel, copper and plastics, so by this logic we can throw in
everyone involved into production of those. Getting really solid numbers then,
like 50% working population!

Bulk of the electronics products were things like radios, TVs and rotary
telephones.

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npace12
I grew up there. Every school had classrooms with Pravetz 8D (apple ii clone)
running Karateka and those classes were full! I was in kindergarden when my
parents signed me up to learn computers and by 1st grade, I was writing
chatbots in Basic. Fun times.

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IgorPartola
My first computer was a home computer from Bulgaria called Pravetz 8D. It’s
amazing that it never occurred to me until now to look it up on the web and
sure enough there is a Wikipedia page about them. If not for that thing, I
wouldn’t be a software engineer today.

~~~
ReptileMan
I remember that nightmare ... the software was recorded on tapes.

~~~
laumars
That was the norm for 8bit micro computers of that era. It did have some
accidental benefits too because some radio stations would air software for
people to record

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keiferski
The author of the _Cyberpunk Manifesto_ (1997), Christian As. Kirtchev, is
also Bulgarian. He has a collection of Eastern European cyberpunk stories on
Amazon (no idea how good they are) and is apparently active on Twitter too.

\-
[http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyberpunk_manifesto.html](http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyberpunk_manifesto.html)

\- [https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Illusions-Anthology-
Cyberpun...](https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Illusions-Anthology-Cyberpunk-
Eastern/dp/144956402X)

\- [https://twitter.com/cyberkristiyan](https://twitter.com/cyberkristiyan)

~~~
gentleman11
I read neuromancer recently and it was interesting how commonplace the hugely
creative ideas within it are today. The books ideas felt commonplace, except
that it’s only because it/the genre influenced sci-fi so successfully. I wish
I could have read it when it first came out

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sehansen
Bulgaria is the origin of the oldest, still-functioning satellite in earth
orbit, the Bulgaria 1300. It will turn 40 next year.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria_1300](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria_1300)

~~~
istinetz
Haha, this is absolutely brilliant, thank you for sharing.

It's so old, it was not even easy to verify it's still up there.

[https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=12645](https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=12645)

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m0zg
The first 286 I've worked on (in the USSR) was Bulgarian. It was pretty
crappy, but still, 286 DOS software ran on it just fine. CGA display.
Arkanoid, Prince of Persia, good times. At the time the USSR did not produce
its own PC-compatible computers.

~~~
Koshkin
> _pretty crappy_

> _just fine_

So... Which was it?

~~~
m0zg
A crappy computer can run programs just fine. I don't see a contradiction. It
was poorly made, just like the rest of Eastern Bloc stuff.

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Nasrudith
I certainly wasn't a part of the cultural context but I get the feeling that
in many cases the messages werr really about the Soviet Bloc consciously or
otherwise. Along with the anxieties attributed to the computers, which sound
like an outlet for complaints about the top down system.

The bit about the experts seems downright allegorical for the suppression of
"bourgeois pseudoscience" like cybernetics itself before they could
rationalize it in the prevailing dogma for the party.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics_in_the_Soviet_Un...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics_in_the_Soviet_Union)

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cosmolev
I heard a story that at the opening ceremony of a semiconductor plant some
Bulgarian communist party member made a speech where he said that
semiconductors is just a first step and they are going in the direction of
full conductors.

~~~
atmin
Not just some member, but the leader. He did know how to behave in this role
(including allowing such stories become widespread), he was the leader for 45
years.

~~~
andrei_says_
This is interesting. Are you implying a leader’s job was to act silly and
maintain an image of a not-so-smart but relatable guy while the party was
doing its shady deeds? A comic relief mask of sorts?

~~~
pdimitar
Many dissidents in Bulgaria believed exactly that. "Give the people bread and
entertainment", as the Romans said.

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Barrin92
Concerning the fiction of Lyuben Dilov mentioned in the article which I had
not heard of before, does anyone know if there are translations of his work
either in English or German? Googling does not spit out much info.

~~~
gostsamo
He was translated mostly in Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a
list of translations, but german is more likely option than english. If you
are really interested, I can ask around.

~~~
Barrin92
if you find something out that'd be amazing. Had little luck scouring the
internet.

