Inspirations

Information shapes substance and creates new pathways in the minds and bodies of the subjects who position themselves in relation toward the flow. We are what we read, eat, drink, watch, hear, and feel.

On this page, I gather all the different works of other people that have inspired me so far. I like to call them cognitive stimulants because they have the potential to have a very strong effect: to the point of feeling like there is “before” and “after”. Maybe you’ll find something that resonates or have a recommendation: I’ll be happy to hear back!

In my own life, books had a huge influence on me. They shaped the way I see the world and sometimes led to abrupt changes. I remember ordering them in the 90s from Amazon to my small 14th-floor apartment in Moscow — at the time when you didn’t really have internet yet and definitely not so many books in English in Russia — and it was an amazing feeling to get access to knowledge in this way. Films, music, and works of art also left many imprints, perhaps on a deeper level than books because I am less conscious of their effects. Today, I think that computer code is a new form of language and the software we use (and create) is the new form of books. So I’m also adding some of the software tools that I think can have a similar potential.

 

Publications

Aeon.Co
One of the most thought-provoking and intelligent publications on the internet.

Quora
Provides an answer to almost any question, often in a highly comprehensive and intelligent way.

Quartz
Will often offer a slightly different perspective on current events than most publications.

N Plus One
An in-depth and comprehensive analysis of culture, politics, and inter~subjective relations.

The Financial Times 
In my view, of all the newspapers this one has the least bias and provides a generally good and in-depth overview.

032c
The only fashion title that is stimulating in a way that is not only superficial.

Syg.ma
An online journal (in Russian) on culture and humanity. Thought-provoking and deeply engaging especially for its presentational formats.

Polysingularity
Elicits a sense of plurality with a moving center, produces oscillatory effect (zooming in / zooming out) in perception.

Dadakinder
This personal blog (in Russian) has a way of using language that is quite inspiring even if the content is sometimes too ideologically laden.

 

Books

Steps to an Ecology of Mind by Gregory Bateson
Enhances the subject’s understanding of relational dynamics, psychological processes, and schizophrenic behaviors. Produces a strong homeostatic effect.

Remainder by Tom McCarthy
This a very good example of a narrative mirroring its own structure. Enhances awareness of traumatic tendencies and the dynamics of simulation and psychosis.

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy
Improves comprehension of cultural and anthropological phenomena as well as observational skills. Frequent intellectual orgasm response has been observed.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Blurs the border between dreams and reality, and increases sensitivity to coincidences and signs.

Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The notion of doing “good” is applied in near-realistic circumstances. Has a pacifying effect on the one who reads and may cause permanent changes in behavior with the focus shifting from oneself toward the environment.

The War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The reading subject has experience of multiple points of view and constantly shifting perspectives (both on subjective/personal and objective/political layers).

The Gift by Vladimir Nabokov
Produces a long-lasting (sometimes irreversible) ability to zoom in and zoom out on a certain perspective. Enhances fractal narrative view of the world.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Elicits a sense of interconnectedness between things, people, phenomena, and beyond. Sensations of pleasure from the narrative structure.

Magic and Happiness by Giorgio Agamben
Dissolution of sense into speechless beauty.

Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad
Produces a strong impetus to explore one’s own sense of self to the fullest potential.

Mean Free Path by Ben Lerner
The aesthetic pleasure from watching shimmering narrative structures playing along the structural vertices of abstract dimensions. A sense of protracted engaged detachment from the object of observation.

The Computational Beauty of Nature by Garry Flake
Alters perception of natural phenomena translating them into mathematical representations.

 

Visual and Performative Experiences

Humor in Music by Reggie Watts
Produces disorienting effect and polysingular awareness.

Cuentos Patrióticos by Francis Alys
Transforms everyday environment into playground, elicits prolonged contemplation on the nature of submission.

The Crossing by Bill Viola
Has a pacifying and soothing effect on the observer.

The Last Riot by AES+F Group
Slows down the time and produces a mix of aesthetic pleasure and contemplations on violence

Phase-Shifting Index by Jeremy Shaw 
A beautiful work of science fiction that touches you on a visceral level.

Lightning Bolt Live Concert 
Cathartic collective experience.

 

Scientific Research

Bassett, D. S., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Achard, S., Duke, T., & Bullmore, E. (2006). Adaptive reconfiguration of fractal small-world human brain functional networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(51), 19518–23.

Bystritsky, a, Nierenberg, a a, Feusner, J. D., & Rabinovich, M. (2012). Computational non-linear dynamical psychiatry: A new methodological paradigm for diagnosis and course of illness. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(4), 428–435.

D’Mello, S., Dale, R., & Graesser, A. (2011). Disequilibrium in the mind, disharmony in the body. Cognition & Emotion, 00(00), 1–13.

Kello, C. T., Anderson, G. G., Holden, J. G., & Van Orden, G. C. (2008). The Pervasiveness of 1/f Scaling in Speech Reflects the Metastable Basis of Cognition. Cognitive Science, 32(7), 1217–31.

Yamada, N. (1995). Posture as a Dynamic Stable State of a Body. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development.

 

Films

Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky
Slows down time and produces oscillatory dynamics between the empirical, scientific and spiritual representation of the surrounding phenomena.

Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowski
Increases variability in perceptual dynamics, produces hallucinatory effects and temporary hypnotic symptoms.

The Turin Horse by Bela Tarr
Enhances observational capacities in the subjects exposed, produces a strong awareness of time and resistance.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
Produces a deeply satisfying sense of aesthetic pleasure and disquieting comfort.

Raised by Wolves by Ridley Scott
A beautiful series that draws interesting parallels between religion and technology.

 

Music and Sound

The Necks
Beautiful improvisatory music.

Presidence by Excepter
Enhances perception of repetitive phenomena in time/space.

The Belly, With Us All In It by Ezra Green and George Lewis Jr
Tears and joy.

Atavism by SND
Space disorientation and hallucinatory shimmering structure effects.

Soa-4 by Mark Fell
Dissolution of perception into clusterized attention.

101007_set_cd_r-1_ct by Kraniche
Heightened awareness of natural non-equilibrium variability with a soothing effect.

Wriss by Planetary Assault Systems
Energy boost.

Azimuth by Primitive World
Dissolution into the horizon.

The Trap by Fantastic Mr Fox
Positive mood boost, increased movement activity.

 

Software

InfraNodus
Triggers connective network thinking, proposes a holistic view but also includes the nuance, reveals the structural gaps and peripheral threads in ideas.

Obsidian 
A note-taking tool that encourages connective thinking

Stack Exchange
Produces the need to formulate questions precisely enough so that they might get answered during the process of formulation.

Tumblr
Strong visual stimulation, facilitates symbolic interaction.

Google
Hallucinatory effect of omnipresent availability, facilitates access to collective subconscious (especially through its search suggestion and Keyword suggestion tools).

ChatGPT
An attempt to emulate human consciousness through combinatorics and probability. Inspiring if it’s used to enhance, not to replace.

WordPress
Motivates writers to integrate structural design elements into their textual narratives.

Telegram
Facilitates the formation of co-isolated multiplicities that retain their essence: ad-hoc private networks around certain subjects of interest.

 

Hardware

Tenori-ON
Increases awareness of rhythm and oscillatory sound dynamics.

Betabook
Stimulates imagination and visual collaborative thinking, reduces dependency on electric devices, activates sketching activity.

iPhone
Stimulates networking activity, facilitates both offline and online connections, develops the thumbs.

EightOS Fractal Control Sensors
Stimulate moving in fractal patterns and introducing more variability in life.

 

Languages

English
Creates a medium for simplified inter-subjective interaction (can be compared to alcohol or MDMA).

JavaScript
Heightens awareness of loops, causal formations, iterative logic, and variable parameters.

Russian
Metaphors inspired from nature.

French
Fluidity and priority of beauty vs the rules.

 

Somatic and Cognitive Practices

Systema
A sense of oscillatory wave-like recurring dynamics and heightened awareness of incoming and outcoming impulses.

EightOS
Fluid adaptive dynamics experienced in the body and in the mind.

Noguchi Taiso
Relaxation and deeper connection to natural elements and materials.

Agile Development
Promotes iterative approach to production, purpose-oriented project-based work with clear objectives, frequent pauses (zooming in / zooming out) and pair programming.

Butoh Dance
“Dance is the prayer of spirit” — Kazuo Ohno

Pranayama
Calming and empowering effects on the body and consciousness.

Vipassana
Soothing effect and increased nonverbal awareness.

Yoga
Refreshing effect on the body, better fluid dynamics.

Devised Theater
Constructing reality on the fly.

Open Theater
Really interesting improvisational exercises and experiments in movement and sound.

Cranio-Sacral Therapy
Enhanced alignment.

Tai Chi
A very comprehensive system that encompasses movement, thinking, and sound.