InterNyet: Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network

[Hyacinth]

InterNyet: Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network (http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&ved=0CBIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.mit.edu%2Fslava%2Fhomepage%2F articles%2FGerovitch-InterNyet.pdf&rct=j&q=InterNyet&ei=UZOYS_rqE4KMlAeeu4j-DA&usg=AFQjCNGT53j8-PEB8dd_nBq1ptp8wre30g)


This article examines several Soviet initiatives to develop a national computer network as the technological basis for an automated information system for the management of the national economy in the 1960s-1970s. It explores the mechanism by which these proposals were circulated, debated, and revised in the maze of Party and government agencies. The article examines the role of different groups - cybernetics enthusiasts, mathematical economists, computer specialists, government bureaucrats, and liberal economists - in promoting, criticizing, and reshaping the concept of a national computer network. The author focuses on the political dimension of seemingly technical proposals, the relationship between information and power, and the transformative role of users of computer technology.

Fascinating article.

[Dimentio]

I think it did, though it was never released for civilian use. It was called GLONASS and was basically a computerised satellite navigation system. There were some plans to digitalise the Soviet Planned economy - DISPLAN - similar to project Cybersyn in Chile.

Though for obvious reasons, the establishment preferred to privatise the resources and enrich themselves greatly in the process.

[Hyacinth]

I think it did, though it was never released for civilian use. It was called GLONASS and was basically a computerised satellite navigation system. There were some plans to digitalise the Soviet Planned economy - DISPLAN - similar to project Cybersyn in Chile.

Though for obvious reasons, the establishment preferred to privatise the resources and enrich themselves greatly in the process.
Yes, indeed, there were in fact several such networks, mostly for military use. That being said, the title of the article is somewhat misleading insofar as it is concerned specificlaly with 'a national computer network as the technological basis for an automated information system for the management of the national economy'. So what it's really about is the failure to implement any proposals for the cyberneticization of the economy (hence why I posted it in the economics subforum).

[Hyacinth]

While we're on the subject, I'm most curious as to what extent the recommendations proposed by the Soviet-era cybernetics enthusiasts (Kitov, Glushkov, et al.) are relevant today, and whether their work is available in English?

And, in addition, apart from the work of Cockshott and Cottrell, is there any contemporary work on this topic?

[Dimentio]

While we're on the subject, I'm most curious as to what extent the recommendations proposed by the Soviet-era cybernetics enthusiasts (Kitov, Glushkov, et al.) are relevant today, and whether their work is available in English?

And, in addition, apart from the work of Cockshott and Cottrell, is there any contemporary work on this topic?

interrupt_00h is the only one whom I know has brought that up, even trying to translate Glushkov to English in 2003-2004, before he turned from a cyber-stalinist-technocrat into a nazi-satanist-maniac.

[Paul Cockshott]

Has any translation of Glushkov been done?

[ComradeOm]

In 1958, only a handful of Soviet economists were interested in mathematical models of planning and managementHmmm? The USSR always had a rich tradition of applying mathematical models to economic development - from Basarov and Kondratieff, to Kantorovich and Nemchinov, and onwards to the likes of Shor

Interesting article though, even if the primary lesson probably is that "computerization" is not "a vehicle of reform"

[Dimentio]

Has any translation of Glushkov been done?

As earlier said, one internet progeny tried to do that before he degenerated down into the realm of complete trollishness.