Ресейлік философ және өмірді ұзартушы: Николай Федоров және «Ортақ Міндет» тұжырымы

Russian philosopher and life extensionist

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (Николай Фёдорович Фёдоров; 9 June 1829 – 28 December 1903), known in his family as Nikolai Pavlovich Gagarin, was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, religious thinker and futurologist, library science figure and an innovative educator. He started the movement of Russian cosmism which was a precursor of transhumanism. Fyodorov advocated radical life extension, physical immortality and even resurrection of the dead, using scientific methods. He was called the "Socrates of Moscow." He dreamed of resurrecting people, not wanting to be reconciled to the death of even one person. With the help of science, he intended to gather scattered molecules and atoms to "put them into the bodies of the fathers". Fyodorov gave science a place next to art and religion in the Common Task of uniting humanity, including the dead, who must in the future be reunited with the living. He held that "we can become immortal and godlike through rational efforts and that our moral obligation is to create a heaven to be shared by all who ever lived."

Fyodorov was a futurist, who theorized about the eventual perfection of the human race and society (i. e., utopia), including radical ideas like immortality, revival of the dead, space and ocean colonization. He was an adamant defender of universalism and wanted universal rather than particular immortality and resurrection through something he called the common task of humanity He was a strong advocate of ancestor worship and saw people's genealogical and social relationships as reflecting their value and was critical of individualism as making people expendable. For him, the Common Task meant "to regulate the forces of nature, to defeat death and bring ancestors back to life, so that they too would participate in the general resurrection." This ideas was so central to his philosophy that "whatever topic he wrote about, Fedorov brought in his main idea of the Common Task—how to achieve universal brotherhood, rationalise nature instead of merely exploiting her bounties, overcome death, resurrect the ancestors and create a united humanity worthy of governing the universe." Fyodorov argued that evolutionary process was directed towards increased intelligence and its role in the development of life. Humanity is the culmination of evolution, as well as its creator and director. Humans must therefore direct evolution where their reason and morality dictate. Fyodorov also argued that mortality is the most obvious indicator of the still imperfect, contradictory nature of humanity and the underlying reason for most evil and nihilism of humankind. Fyodorov stated that the struggle against death can become the most natural cause uniting all people of Earth, regardless of their nationality, race, citizenship or wealth (he called this the Common Task). Fyodorov thought that death and afterdeath existence should become the subject of comprehensive scientific inquiry, that achieving immortality and revival is the greatest goal of science, and that this knowledge must leave the laboratories and become the common property of all: "Everyone must be learning and everything be the subject of knowledge and action".

Fyodorov was an advocate of climate engineering. He praised an 1891 Russian military experiment in cloud seeding using explosives in response to the Russian famine of 1891–1892. Fyodorov argued that this could transform humanity as militaries could be directed towards a Common Task rather than violence. He described cloud seeding as being analogous to irrigation for sky rivers, and that the proper Christian way was to do this redirection, and objections on the basis of this going against the will of God were foolish. Fyodorov argued that adoption of renewable energy was a moral obligation, to stop workers from being exploited in mining. He particularly mentioned iron and coal mining, and taking energy from solar power and wind power. Fyodorov said that Man does not live in harmony with nature but that this is a common urban delusion brought about by lack of contact with nature

Human life, emphasized Fyodorov, dies for two reasons. First is internal: due to the material organization of a human, his or her functionality is incapable of infinite self renewal. To overcome this, psychophysiological regulation of human organisms is needed. The second reason is the unpredictable nature of the external environment; its destructive character must be overcome with the regulation of nature. Regulation of nature, "introducing will and reason into nature" includes, according to Fyodorov, prevention of natural disasters, control of Earth's climate, fight against viruses and epidemics, mastery of solar power, space exploration and unlimited creative work there.

Achieving immortality and resurrection of all people who ever lived are two inseparable goals, according to Fyodorov. Immortality is impossible, both ethically and physically, without resurrection. We cannot allow our ancestors, who gave us life and culture, to remain buried, or our relatives and friends to die. Achieving immortality for individuals alive today and future generations is only a partial victory over death – only the first stage. The complete victory will be achieved only when everyone is resurrected and transformed to enjoy immortal life.

He also argued that sexual relationships led to men being attached to women and alienated from their ancestors, potentially introducing strife into the world. He believed universal compulsory education must occur before marriage so people could decide whether they wanted to get married.

Fyodorov contemplated the existence of Extraterrestrial life but came to the conclusion if they did exist they did not participate in the common project of resurrection, and this may explain their seeming absence. This may be seen as an early proposed solution to the fermi paradox

Leo Tolstoy held Fyodorov in high regard, and the two were quite friendly, sharing many ideas in the 1880s and early 90s. However, their relationship soured after 1892 due to ideological differences. This occurred during a period of food shortages in Russia caused by poor harvests. Tolstoy published an article in the London Daily Telegraph, criticizing the Russian government for not doing enough for the peasants, which upset many Russian conservatives.

Fyodorov laid the foundations of a worldview capable of opening new ways of understanding humanity's place and role in the universe. Unlike many who tried to construct a universal planetary and cosmic worldview based on Eastern religions and occult ideas about the world, Fyodorov considered himself a deeply religious Christian. He believed that the medieval worldview was untenable after the Copernican Revolution, which opened the cosmic perspective to man. But the main thing, according to Fyodorov, in the teachings of Christ the message of the coming bodily resurrection, the victory over the "last enemy," that is, death he kept unshaken, putting forward the idea that this victory would be accomplished with the creative efforts and labor of Humanity united in a fraternal family. Fyodorov at the end of the 19th century already foresaw what in the second half of the 20th century became known as "ecological global problems" and "ecological thinking. He put forward the idea of transforming the regular army from an instrument of death and destruction into a weapon against the destructive elements of nature – tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods – which today cause billions of dollars of damage to humanity every year. Today's science is already capable in principle of provide the means to combat these elements, and the main factor on which the solution of these problems depends, is the fragmentation of mankind, lack of reason and goodwill. However, according to the Christian worldview, the presence of natural disasters is not evidence of the disunity of mankind, but of the corruption of human nature as a consequence of the fall into sin. Fyodorov is called a philosopher of memory and homeland studies. In his works many pages are devoted to history and culture, both Russian and world. He repeatedly expressed his views on the study and preservation of the cultural heritage of the past, did much for the development of local history in pre revolutionary Russia, and stood up for overcoming the historical forgetfulness, the retail of generations. Fyodorov was a religious man who participated in the liturgical life of the Church. At the heart of his life position was the commandment of St. Sergius of Radonezh: "Looking to the unity of the Holy Trinity, to overcome the hateful division of this world. In Feodorov's works the Holy Trinity is mentioned many times; it is in the Trinity that he saw the root of man's coming immortality

In social and psychological terms, the image of the Trinity was for him the antithesis of both Western individualism and the Eastern "dissolution of the individual into the universal. In his life and writings a synthesis of religion and science was evident. The religious publicist and philosopher called Nikolai Fyodorov a great saint of his time and compared him to Seraphim of Sarov.

Libraries occupied a special place in Fyodorov's philosophy. Fyodorov wrote about the great importance of libraries and museums as centers of spiritual heritage, centers of collecting, research and education, moral education. Libraries communicate with the great ancestors and should become the center of public life, analogous to temples, a place where people are introduced to culture and science. Fyodorov promoted the ideas of international book exchange, the use of books from private collections in libraries, the organization of exhibition departments in libraries. At the same time he was against the copyright system, as it obviously contradicted the needs of libraries. The concept of museum and library education developed by N. F. Fyodorov's concept of museum and library education became the basis of the pedagogical programs of the International Society "Ecopolis and Culture".

With the "Philosophy of Common Task" by N. F. Fyodorov begins a deeply peculiar philosophical and scientific direction of universal knowledge: Russian cosmism, active evolutionary, noosphere thought, represented in the XX century by such major scientists and philosophers as mycologist Наумов, Николай Александрович (учёный), V. I. Vernadsky, A. L. Chizhevsky, V. S. Solovyov, N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, P. A. Florensky and others. Drawing attention to the fact of the direction of evolution toward the generation of reason, consciousness, cosmists put forward the idea of active evolution, that is, the need for a new conscious stage in the development of the world, when humanity directs it in the direction that reason and moral feeling dictate it, takes the wheel of evolution in its hands, so to speak. For evolutionary thinkers, man is still an intermediate being in the process of growth, far from perfect, but together consciously creative, called to transform not only the external world, but also his own nature. It is essentially about expanding the rights of conscious spiritual forces, about the control of matter by spirit, about the spiritualization of the world and man. Cosmic expansion is one part of this grand program. The cosmists succeeded in combining care for the big whole – Earth, biosphere, cosmos with the deepest demands of the highest value – the concrete person. An important place here is occupied by questions related to overcoming disease and death and achieving immortality. The planetary worldview put forward by N. F. Fyodorov and Russian philosophers cosmists is now called the "worldview of the third millennium". The idea of man as a consciously creative being, as an agent of evolution responsible for all life on the planet, the idea of the earth as a "common home" is important in our era, when more than ever before humanity is facing questions about the relationship to nature, its resources, to the very imperfect mortal nature of man, which gives rise to individual and social evil. Cosmist philosophers have proposed their own creative version of ecology, allowing to effectively solve the global problems of our time. The idea of fruitful dialogue between nations and cultures, each contributing to the "building of noosphere" is an effective means of education in the spirit of interethnic harmony, opposition to chauvinism, rivalry of "national egoisms", put forward in this movement. The idea of continuity, memory, connection with the spiritual heritage of the past, which received a new ethical justification in the philosophy of N. F. Fyodorov, is relevant today. The reflections of cosmist thinkers on the need for moral orientation of all spheres of human knowledge and creativity, on the cosmicization of science, on the reconciliation and union of faith and knowledge in the Common Task of preservation and multiplication of life on Earth are important. Fyodorov can rightfully be considered a forerunner and prophet of the noosphere worldview, whose foundations are laid in the works of V. I. Vernadsky and P. Teilhard de Chardin. The transhumanism movement that emerged at the end of the 20th century also considers Fyodorov its forerunner. At the same time, transhumanism calls for endless human perfection with technical achievements, while Fyodorov considered technology a temporary, side branch of civilization development. He believed that "the forces of man should be directed in the other direction to the improvement and transformation of himself". Философия общего дела has resonated in the work of many 20th century writers, poets, artists, such as V. Bryusov and V. Mayakovsky, N. Klyuev and V. Khlebnikov, M. Gorky and M. Prishvin, A. Platonov and B. Pasternak, V. Chekrygin and P. Filonov. Their work was touched by the depth of ethical requirements of Fyodorov, the uniqueness of his aesthetics, the idea of the regulation of nature, overcoming death, debt to past generations. It is no coincidence that A. L. Volynsky wrote of the thinker "Fyodorov is the only, inexplicable and incomparable phenomenon in the mental life of mankind The birth and life of Fyodorov justified the millennial existence of Russia. Now no one on the globe will turn his tongue to reproach us that we have not thrown to the ages neither a prolific thought, nor the genius of the work begun ".

Tsiolkovsky's thought: "Earth is the cradle of mankind, but not forever to live in a cradle!" was clearly inspired by the ideas of N. F. Fyodorov. It was he who first stated that before the restored in its entirety humanity lies the path to the development of the entire cosmic space, in which man plays the most important role of the carrier of the Mind, is the force that opposes the destruction and heat death of the universe, which will inevitably come if man will give up his role as a conductor of the Divine Energy in the mortal world. The ideas of Fyodorov later inspired the founders of Russian cosmonautics. His works, published after his death in 1903 by Fyodorov's followers V. A. Kozhevnikov and N. P. Peterson under the title "Philosophy of Common Task", were carefully read by S. P. Korolev. Since Nikolai Fyodorov was the illegitimate son of Prince Gagarin, there is an opinion that the names of Yuri Gagarin and Nikolai Fyodorov stand side by side in the history of cosmonautics.

At the height of the Russian Civil War, a group of biocosmists immortalists was formed (a breakaway from the Anarchist Universalists). The group denied death as logically absurd, ethically intolerant and aesthetically ugly, and advocated galactic liberation from the state, calling for the immediate establishment of space communications. Two basic demands were made: freedom of movement in outer space and the right to eternal life. In 1921, the poet Alexander Svyatogorov, a follower of Fyodorov, compiled a manifesto of Биокосмизм, in which he gave two definitions of death: bodily and spiritual ("death while alive"). Svyatogorov also developed Fyodorov's idea of turning the Earth into a giant interstellar spaceship

At the end of the 20th century in Russia interest in Fyodorov's work and ideas increased again. In Moscow at the end of the 1980s the Музей библиотека Н. Ф. Фёдорова was established in Moscow in the late 80s. In the Музей библиотека Н. Ф. Фёдорова there is a regular scientific and philosophical seminar, where Fyodorov's ideas are discussed by physicists and biologists, philosophers and literary scholars, politicians and businessmen. In 1988, in the city of Borovsk. Borovsk, where N. F. Fyodorov and K. E. Tsiolkovsky worked at the same school with an interval of 30 years, the First All Union Fyodorovsky Readings were held. The tradition of Fyodorovsky readings became regular and in 2003 the International Congress "Cosmism and Russian Literature" was held in Belgrade. To the 100th anniversary of the death of N. F. Fyodorov". Лепский, Владимир Евгеньевич relies on Fyodorov's critique of individualism, justifying the need for public participation in self developing polysubjective environments. The first monument to Nikolai Fyodorov in Russia was unveiled on October 23, 2009, in Borovsk of Kaluga Oblast. In contemporary popular culture, Fyodorov's ideas have gained popularity through science fiction works, such as Hannu Raianiemi's trilogy Quantum Thief and Igor Miretsky's novel The Archivist. His ideas also feature prominently in Karl Ove Knausgård's novel The Wolves of Eternity (2021).