
How space travel became the unofficial religion of the USSR - codeas
http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/4645
======
ClintEhrlich
This article fails to explore the depth of the connection between Russia and
space travel. Long before the October revolution, Russian scientists like
Kibalchich and Tsiolkovsky were obsessed with using rocketry to explore the
cosmos.

They were just two members of a robust philosophical tradition, Russian
cosmism, whose influence can still be seen today in the transhumanist
movement. To many cosmist thinkers, space travel was not a "religion" in the
cliched symbolic sense suggested by the article; it was the literal
underpinning of their metaphysical beliefs.

Exploring space was considered, not just the fate of the Russian people, but
the ultimate destiny for humanity itself.

~~~
gwern
> They were just two members of a robust philosophical tradition, Russian
> cosmism, whose influence can still be seen today in the transhumanist
> movement.

Source? I don't see any influence at all. When I read older transhumanist
works like _Great Mambo Chicken_, Ettinger's _Man into Superman_, or even
older than that like _The World, The Flesh, and the Devil_, or I read
histories of the movement like Stambler's recent _History of Life Extensionism
in the 20th Century_, I see absolutely no influence on Western transhumanism
from Russians except indirectly through Cold War realities. Further, when I
read the occasional summary or publication that filters through the language
barrier about current Russian stuff like the 2045 Initiative, it feels like
it's coming from a totally separate and disconnected world (for better or
worse).

That there are similarities is not much of a proof: the possibilities of
technology and science are the same everywhere, and so responses will likewise
be similar. You don't have to have studied deeply in the Kosmism canon to
think that it would be good if we didn't age, sicken, and die suffering
horribly and that science might be able to do something about that...

The only attempt I've seen to actually show real links is Stross's lame blog
post on it, which amounts to 'this is a little like that, this came before,
therefore, this caused that' and is nothing more than a thinly-disguised 'post
hoc ergo propter hoc'.

~~~
ClintEhrlich
There is a certain special irony in debating the genealogy of an idea within a
thread about Russian cosmism, given Vernadsky's belief in the noosphere.

Regardless, I didn't mean to imply that the modern transhumanist movement is
merely an outgrowth of Russian cosmism. But the cosmist writings may be the
earliest articulation of transhumanist values.

If someone finds a direct, linear connection between cosmism and
transhumanism, I would love to hear about it. But I suspect that the same set
of ideas has been developed independently multiple times.

Indeed, it would be problematic if they had only evolved within one nation,
because that would imply that they were culturally contingent. If they are
intrinsically sound, they should be available for discovery by diverse
thinkers.

~~~
gwern
> Regardless, I didn't mean to imply that the modern transhumanist movement is
> merely an outgrowth of Russian cosmism. But the cosmist writings may be the
> earliest articulation of transhumanist values.

When people say "whose influence can still be seen today in the transhumanist
movement", it seems reasonable to me to infer that they were indeed implying
that if not an offshoot, there is still a lot of causal influence. If it was
all a sheer coincidence, then 'influence' is a very odd word to use...

------
dimitar
Practically all of the economy of the Soviet Union was the military-industrial
complex and that complex had to pretend it wasn't only that.

All industry was dedicated to manufacturing weapons - what was produced for
civilians was a side-production and small part of the output.

For example - practically all of the aluminium in the Soviet Union was used
for the military. And most of the aluminium was used for rocketry and aviation
- again military. And you have a big cities like Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine
called Rocket city for having a huge concentration of such plants.

Now space exploration sounded good because it is one of the few areas the
Soviet Union could compete with US AND it was convenient to explain why
Socialism needs so many rockets.

The scientific progress might even eventually improve living standards might
one wishfully think. Of course it didn't, at least it wasn't allowed to.

Eventually, most of the military-industrial complex was disbanded and it is
only logical that the space cult was thrown in the dustbin on recent history.

Nowadays Russia has only a fraction of it is former military output and there
isn't any point in pretending it is smaller, quite the opposite, the
government think it is important to display it is military might.

~~~
abcd_f
Bold claims require proper sourcing. Otherwise it's perilously close to
trolling.

Perhaps start by explaining why that complex had to pretend "it wasn't only
that"?

~~~
ommunist
Man, he is mostly right. Almost everything industrial in the USSR was either
military, or dual purpose. E.g. in my home town huge chemical plant was
supposed to produce chemical fiber, however if needed in 24 hrs it could be
switched to produce explosives.

~~~
gdy
The plant wasn't _pretending_ it wasn't only capable of producing explosives,
it was actually producing fiber.

~~~
ommunist
You wont't believe, but driving chains plant in the same location was capable
to produce and fix damaged T-72s. Actually it still can, and current owner has
a collection of Soviet tanks, driving on small parade on the 9th of May each
year. UPD: have a look - T34 and ИС-2 on the backyard of Driving Chains Plant
- [http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-
strelyali-s...](http://www.gorod.lv/novosti/253080-v-daugavpilse-strelyali-
sovetskie-tanki)

~~~
gdy
Thanks for sharing this

------
huhtenberg
My grandmother knew names and personal details of first 60 or so cosmonauts,
had a notepad with all launch dates and was generally a walking encyclopedia
on all things space. She was a housewife most of her life and a steam engine
machinist in the 1930s. Not any sort of technical elite, nor even remotely
interested in anything technical. Except for the space travel.

So, yeah, to say that space travel was a big thing back in Soviet times would
be a major understatement.

------
kushti
The article is an exaggeration at least. "Space travel" wasnt' comparable with
dialectical materialism(lead Soviet philosophical doctrine) in any way.

Interestingly, could be "american exceptionalism" called an "unofficial
religion" as well? lol

~~~
ClintEhrlich
"Exceptionalism" is not an American phenomenon. It just seems that way because
America currently enjoys unipolar primacy, so it can put its ideology into
action.

Most powerful nations have intentionally promulgated some form of
exceptionalist ideology. Russians believe their country is exceptional because
it alone can bridge the gap between Eastern mysticism and Western materialism.
The Chinese believe their country is exceptional because of their
civilization's unrivaled history. Brazilians believe their country is
exceptional because it has blended more cultures and races than any other.

The examples go on and on... Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy, India...
all have well publicized beliefs that some factor elevates their country above
its peers. Given the ubiquity of this belief, I suspect that it has adaptive
benefits for society, such as increasing social cohesion. (Or maybe it's just
an innate human failing!)

~~~
zorked
There's a difference between a claim that a country is unique for some reason
(everyone has one of these) versus thinking that this makes them superior or
entitled.

American Exceptionalism even has a creation myth and a pantheon of gods. It's
something else entirely.

~~~
pyre
> American Exceptionalism even has a creation myth and a pantheon of gods.
> It's something else entirely.

Are you referring to the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers? If so
that sort of thing doesn't seem exclusive to American Exceptionalism...

------
primroot
The article seems to imply that any work of art created within the context of
an organization must be regarded as propaganda by default. "The Mystery of the
Third Planet" was produced by a studio, which according to wikipedia enjoyed
an "unprecedented degree of artistic freedom" [1]. Yet this film is mentioned
right after the remark that "children were a key target of propaganda with
space-themed films and cartoons cranked out for a younger audience." I don't
really disagree with this way of categorizing certain art as propaganda but
I'd like to see the same line of thought applied more often to Hollywood.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuzmultfilm#History_during_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuzmultfilm#History_during_the_Soviet_era)

~~~
bpodgursky
"Propaganda" is usually used to refer to attempts by a government organization
to rally support behind itself and convince people that it is doing the right
thing. It's pretty much implicit that a private company will try to gather
public support by producing art/commercials/etc.

But most people feel a government should hold itself to different standards,
and act on the will of the public rather than try to CREATE public opinion.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
In the 1930's, the Roosevelt Administration was concerned with widespread
corporate propaganda aimed at convincing the public that the New Deal would
destroy the economy, and so it commissioned a series of rival videos meant to
help steer Americans from being unduly influenced away from policies that
would actually help them.

If (a democratic) government merely holds itself to the will of he public as
opposed to seeking to create it, then someone will take advantage of the power
vacuum, and I see no way that state or society would benefit.

------
vvpan
Very interesting article, it brought together a lot of things which I haven't
thought about in years. Yet the word "propaganda" is a bit strong I feel. I
was into many things as a end-of-Sovier-era kid, but have very fond memories
of taking in Soviet sci-fi and generally futurist ideology. As a kid it has
provided me with plenty of food for imagination and was all-around enriching.
There are much worst things to surround your mind with, and plenty of things
from modern capitalist pop culture are clearly inferior, I'm sure everybody
can think of countless examples.

------
wtbob
It loads up briefly—with an image visible, even!—then becomes a blank white
page without JavaScript.

------
myth_drannon
I just want to add that the same fascination with science and space created
cinema masterpieces at least for that time. The special effects used in these
50's and 60's movies influenced Hollywood and helped to create such classics
as Stars Wars and Terminator 2.

~~~
juliangamble
Could you provide examples of the Soviet films that were so influential?

~~~
ommunist
Hollywood directly ripped that one off - Планета бурь by Pavel Klushantsev. It
strongly influenced both Spielberg and Lucas, and Cameron too.

~~~
PerfectDlite
> Hollywood directly ripped that one off - Планета бурь by Pavel Klushantsev.

Really? That's some weird thinking - that Star Wars were 'ripped' from that
B-grade movie.

~~~
myth_drannon
Maybe by our modern standards. But the movie was so revolutionary at that time
that it was edited, voice-overed and all the mentions of the Soviet actors
removed, fake American names were added in credits. And I think some
additional scenes were shot in US (source
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planeta_Bur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planeta_Bur)).

Another famous movie was edited by young Francis Ford Coppola (who was also
inspired by Soviet cinema)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beyond_the_Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beyond_the_Sun)

~~~
PerfectDlite
So basically a B-grade movie got cannibalized by low-budget horror director.

That's very far away from your original claim.

~~~
ommunist
Mate, before Planet of the Storms there was no SciFi. This is the hollywood
rip off I am telling about -
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059887/?ref_=tt_rec_tt](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059887/?ref_=tt_rec_tt)
This is the original movie -
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056352/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056352/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
See for yourself.

------
pandaman
A same article could have been written about the USA. Actually it would have
made a bit more sense, since it could include pop culture references to actual
space travel (e.g Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica etc. etc) instead
of things like "The Guest from the Future", a TV series about time travel that
mentions that there is a space port in Moscow of the future and some obscure
cartoons (other than "The Secret of the Third Planet" I have not seen ones the
author mentioned and, unlike her, I grew up in the USSR).

Not that I believe the cult of space exists in the USA, but the same stupid
argumentation is more applicable here.

------
ommunist
I was a zealot of it in my early school years. Much of my later disappointment
with modern days Russia was allowing the Soviet space research programmes to
collapse. Its a pity humanity will never again have Energia rocket. That one
could reach Mars with 5tons of useful weight in 1991. In 2012 there was
attempt to animate Energia, but 90% of it was constructed in Ukraine, and it
is not an option today.

