Russian Futurism and Today’s Tech Revolution
For the past several months I have been attending a Slavic Book Club at McNally Jackson in Brooklyn, New York. In the last session I learned about a movement that arose in the early 20th century, where a group of avant-garde artists and poets in Russia sparked a movement that would challenge the very foundations of art and society. This movement, Russian Futurism, was a radical approach to creativity and progress that holds surprising relevance in our current era of rapid technological advancement.
The roots of Russian Futurism can be traced to around 1910, when figures like Vladimir Mayakovsky, Velimir Khlebnikov, and David Burliuk rebelled against traditional artistic conventions. The movement didn’t last long, however these visionaries were inspired by the dawn of industrialization, the energy of urban life, and the promise of a radically different future. Their works, from Mayakovsky's provocative poetry, to Khlebnikov's experiments with a universal language he called "zaum," sought to break free from the constraints of the past and usher in a new age of artistic and societal innovation.
The impact of Russian Futurism on culture was far-reaching. It challenged the established norms of art and literature in the Soviet Union, introducing new forms of expression that emphasized dynamism, speed, and the machine age. The movement's influence extended beyond the arts, seeping into everyday life and changing how people perceived modernity and progress. Futurist ideas shaped graphic design, architecture, and even political discourse in the early Soviet period
Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves in the midst of another transformative era- the realm of artificial intelligence. The Futurists' fascination with reinventing language finds a similar echo in the development of AI systems like GPT-3/Claude/Bard etc. These advanced language models, capable of generating human-like text, represent a kind of technological "zaum" – a new form of communication that blurs the lines between human and machine creativity. Just as Khlebnikov sought to create a universal language, researchers today are exploring how AI can bridge linguistic divides and open up new forms of expression. Even space exploration, a field that might seem far removed from early 20th-century art movements, carries the DNA of Futurist thinking. The Futurists were obsessed with speed, flight, and pushing the boundaries of human experience.
The Futurists additionally celebrated the merging of humans and machines, seeing technology as a means to enhance and evolve the human experience. Companies like Neuralink, with their brain-computer interfaces, are working to create a symbiosis between human cognition and artificial intelligence – a goal that aligns perfectly with the Futurist ethos.
Simultaneously, areas where the movement felt short, but still is echoed in today’s word, is the Futurist’s celebration of war and violence. Highlighted, in Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness, we are once again seeing the dangers of unchecked technological progress and where that could lead to geopolitical violence.
As we navigate the complexities of our rapidly evolving technological landscape, the principles of Russian Futurism offer a valuable perspective. Their willingness to radically rethink established norms, their enthusiasm for technological progress, and their belief in the transformative power of creativity.