Pavel Durov - dreams without borders

Our time is the era of media. Today, the rulers of the minds (primarily of young people) are those who are firmly connected to information flows. The key significance is not the content of the message, not the sharpness of the thought, not the beauty of the word, but the promotion of the character who voices these thoughts.

Just five years ago, popular television and radio presenters ruled the minds. Who had a greater influence on the younger generation - Roman Trakhtenberg or Zhores Alferov? I think the answer is obvious. Nowadays, the locomotives of social thought are online characters—heroes of Zhezheshechka, Twitter, and social networks.

It is obvious that the political manifesto of the IT “genius” Pavel Durov, published on the popular afisha.ru, was doomed to become an information bomb. In the distorting mirror of postmodernity, Durov is more of a politician than party leaders, seasoned publicists, street rebels, professional economists and sociologists. This reality cannot be denied, even if it is unpleasant for many.

The manifesto itself is a collection of theses that can be classified as libertarian. For those who are not in the know, libertarianism is a kind of anarcho-capitalism, that is, a free market beyond state borders. Libertarianism differs from the ideologies that justify oligarchic globalism in its emphasis on human freedom, personal growth, and the priority of small innovative businesses.

Some points of Pavel Durov’s civic manifesto can be immediately accepted as positive. For example, the idea of ​​electing judges seems reasonable, as well as increasing taxes in the field of raw materials production (limit raw materials oligarchs receiving excess profits), and abolishing barriers in the information sphere (the state will still not be able to restrain the information boom).

There are controversial but interesting theses in the manifesto. The author proposed to “destandardize the education system” , since “current schools were conceived in the industrial era and resemble factories, on the assembly lines of which stereotyped views are instilled.” The proposal “to introduce the direct right of the taxpayer to choose budget projects on which his taxes are spent” seems interesting.

Durov also raised the pressing issue of countering uncontrolled money emission, proposing to return the gold standard to the currency. True, Pavel very boldly interpreted this not stupid idea: “Allow the free circulation of gold and any electronic currencies, 100% backed by gold. Russia should become fertile ground for reliable and free means of payment.” In general, the return of the gold standard is a retrograde idea (which does not mean that it is bad), condemned by progressives, on whose side Durov seems to be. But this oxymoron (contradiction) apparently does not bother Paul.

The situation is worse with those points that do not directly relate to the sphere of activity of Pavel Durov. Of course, he is not obliged to know the answers to all socially significant questions, but if he has already set his sights on Russia’s strategy, then he would like to formulate a holistic, consistent concept.

National policy. How does Durov plan to counteract the expanding Chinese influence? What to do with Chechnya? How to build interethnic relations so that indigenous and non-indigenous people do not kill each other in the street? As an answer, Pavel seems ready to open the migration floodgates to all visitors: “Abolish registration, international passport as a separate entity, entry visas, military conscription and other rudiments of feudalism.” For cosmopolitans like Durov, the concept of “nation” makes no sense at all, so he hardly thinks about the fact that our grandchildren may well study Chinese or Sharia law in schools as compulsory subjects.

The economic block of Durov's manifesto also does not stand up to criticism. Pavel proposes to “relieve the population of high customs duties, which in the end are always paid by the consumer. Duties not only reduce the standard of living of the population, but also, due to greenhouse conditions, undermine the chances of domestic business to succeed in global competition.” Everything here is turned upside down. It is primarily foreign businesses that suffer from customs duties, as these duties prevent them from entering the domestic market. The elimination of customs barriers will lead to further expansion of TNCs on Russian territory, that is, the national production sector will finally die. Durov’s advanced business, of course, will survive, but how can Russian agriculture, light and heavy industry survive? What should tens of millions of people do who will remain unemployed and will not fit into the global market? Will they go to Europe to work as guest workers and prostitutes?

Finally, the program completely lacks social services. In the state of Pavel Durov, it seems, only hipsters and other representatives of the “creative class” live. Where are the workers and teachers? What does the state offer for them? Should I use VKontakte or learn C++?

Durov's manifesto is the quintessence of the views of modern computer scientists, "information people." In the society outlined by this author, he himself will be able to live comfortably - he will be able to fly around the country and the world without residency or registration, run his own business on a planetary scale, without fear of ending up in the army. However, as already noted, our “Russian Mark Zuckerberg” simply does not see a whole bunch of extremely pressing problems.

Of course, the state and society should encourage gifted people like Durov. What is important here is not the person of the creator of VKontakte, but the human type itself. Therefore, it would be great to see Durov’s corner on the map of Russia. Make one of the Russian cities a full-fledged science city, with its own advanced education system, with tax holidays. Such a “Silicon Valley” could become a real Mecca for young scientists. A city where, according to Durov’s behests, people do not drink or smoke, but play badminton right on the streets. And they really, really don’t like Stalin. And make Mr. Durov the governor of this city, that is, the moderator.

Such an experiment would be interesting, but turning all of Russia into Durovland is not worth it, and it will not work.