A letter to a scientist neighbor, or which kind of thermodynamics was learned by Vladislav Surkov

Kirill Poltevsky, businessman, publicist

I read Surkov's article on thermodynamics and empires. Well, on the one hand, it was difficult to read, of course, since this article is very long. But, on the other hand, it was fun, since it is similar to Chekhov's story "A Letter to a Scientist Neighbor", which is funny, and I really like it.

So, at Chekhov's there - a certain Vasily Semi-Bulatov from the village of Bliny-Seedy writes - to his learned neighbor Maxim: "Maxim ... (forgot it like a priest, excuse me generously!) ...", and confesses to him his love for the leaders all sciences: "I ardently love astronomers, poets, metaphysicians, assistant professors, chemists and other priests of science ...". And then he begins in the most ridiculous and ignorant way to dispute the scientific conclusions and ideas of all these "scientists", arguing, for example, that there can be no spots on the Sun, since they would burn out, and people cannot live on the Moon, because then the garbage they would throw on top of us would fall. Well and the like. As a conclusion, he, in a fatherly way, scolds all sorts of newfangled freedoms, in particular, the struggle for equal rights of women, citing as an example his own daughter, who: “She is my emancipation, all her fools, only she is smart. Young people now, I can tell you, are making themselves felt. God grant them!"

Well, Surkov writes - in the same spirit. But for some reason, of all sciences, he fell in love with Thermodynamics. He obviously does not know this science. Makes mistakes. Funny and stupid. Shows ignorance. Being mistaken, of course, he also draws ridiculous conclusions - exactly the opposite of what a person who knows thermodynamics could make.

Why is all this? I do not even know. I, I say, have read this terrible and ridiculous work of his. And what did I start thinking about? About thermodynamics? No! I began to think - does he have a higher education at all? Well, I got into Wikipedia to find out exactly this.

Earlier, I remember, about Surkov, after all, they said that he, it seems, first graduated from MISIS (metallurgical), and then - from VGIK (theatrical). And now - I’m reading it - and, in an article on Wikipedia, it’s already somehow unclear - whether he graduated from MISIS, or only "studied there" for some time. And about VGIK, I did not find anything at all this time. In short, something strange.

In general, well, many, of course, in the 90s wrote one thing about themselves, but in fact they had something else. And now, here - the archives have been digitized. And maybe some lines in biographies have to be erased, because they are not confirmed.

In general, I think that many of those whom we considered to be all sorts of "gurus" may later, as it turns out, turn out to be completely different from what they pretended to be. For example, I thought that Gref was such a German aristocrat-financier-internationalist. Why did I think so? Well, probably read about this somewhere before.

And now, the other day, I read his (Gref's) biography and see - he was born in the village. Either I graduated from school, or not. It seems like I did it at MGIMO, but it seems like I didn’t study there. And then he was in the army - he served as a soldier. Then - he had some unclear year. Then, it seems, he nevertheless entered the Omsk University, which he still seems to have graduated from. And as a result, he became a "jurist". And then he defended his "candidate" - but only in 2011. That is, he was almost 50 years old. Weird.

Strange, but okay. Village, so village. A soldier, so a soldier. Omsk lawyer, and let it be - it's also good. But why, then, all this arrogance of him, about which they constantly write on the net? - what, then he has: "the people are a senseless cattle", then something else like that? Well, why does Gref need this "arrogant aristocracy" if he himself is a village man?

So is this "Thermodynamics". Why is she to Surkov? If he himself seems to be illiterate? I do not understand!

Original is here.