April 18, 2019

Do Russian Robots Dream of Electric Ice?


Do Russian Robots Dream of Electric Ice?
Ice explosions. Ministry of Emergencies

Throwback Thursday

Commemorative stamp of Battle on the Ice
Commemorative stamp of Battle on the Ice. / Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Today, Russia commemorates Alexander Nevsky’s victory over the Teutonic Knights in the 1242 Battle on the Ice. Read Tamara Eidelman’s essay on how this battle was remembered under Stalin — Russian Life digital subscription required (subscribe here).

We Are All Robots on this Blessed Day

1. Dynamite me a river. Every spring, when the Amur River in Siberia unfreezes, there’s a risk that big chunks of ice flowing downstream will get stuck and cause floods. The Russian government has devised a clever solution: blow up the ice. Usually, ice explosions start around mid-April, but the Amur is thawing earlier and earlier due to global warming, so this year authorities started clearing the ice on April 3, and finished on April 12. To blow up the ice, workers plant explosives at regular intervals across the river, so the explosion resembles a grand fountain. You could say that winter’s going out with a bang (hope someone warned the fish).

Almost better than fireworks. / Video: Anna Liesowska
 

2. Beep boop, I’m a human. Last Saturday, a robot named Alyosha kicked off a soccer match in Moscow. The commentators oohed and aahed at his advanced “artificial intelligence.” Fear not, however, that robots will take over the world soon: as it happens, “Robot Alyosha” was merely a man in a costume, and the commentators were just joking. Actually, this isn’t the first time Robot Alyosha has made mischief in Russia. Last December, he fooled TV channel Rossia 24 at a youth robotics forum. Evidently he was looking to fool us again, but sadly for him, we humans, like artificial intelligence, learn from our mistakes.

3. We, Robots. Alyosha wasn’t the only robot who made a debut this past week. On Rossia 24 (yes, the same one duped by Robot Alyosha), a robot journalist named Alex delivered some news stories in, shall we say, a freakish manner. The Internet was not impressed. “They made a robot, it’s good, but why does he have a hangover?” wondered one Tweeter. Whatever your opinion on Robot Alex, he’s here to stay: his developers plan to train him to become a consultant. We just want to say that if this is the robot apocalypse, we’d honestly rather have Alyosha.

What’s with his mouth?! / Video: Россия 24
 

Blog Spotlight

Journey through the Arctic and experience the Northern Lights with Katrina Keegan, who visited Murmansk and wrote about it on April 9.

In Odder News

  • What’s daily life like in Pskov? One photographer documents it using only his smartphone.
  • Kazan residents learned an unusual lesson: Next time you think an earthquake’s happening, consider whether it might just be a really loud rap concert.
Belarusian rapper Max Korzh
Belarusian rapper Max Korzh made a thunderous debut in Kazan. / Instagram: maxkorzhmus
  • Speaking of rap: After soccer coach Leonid Slutsky went on a rant lambasting a rival coach, one Internet denizen set his remarks to a hip-hop beat. Lucky for us English speakers, Slutsky spoke in English, so the resulting humor is truly international.

“Here’s an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements.” / Video: Телекомпания ТБК

 

Quote of the Week

“It DOESN’T REALLY work.”

— One unimpressed Tweeter commenting on Robot Alyosha’s soccer debut

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

You Might Also Like

The Battle on the Ice
  • March 01, 2006

The Battle on the Ice

Alexander Nevsky's victory over the Livonians on Lake Chudskoye (Peipus) has taken on the status of legend in Russian history. But Nevsky may not be the best of Russian heroes.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955