Since childhood, like many Soviet teenagers, I liked Soviet science fiction. Naive, from the point of view of 2012, largely utopian, but such kind and enchanting dreams of a wonderful future now remain only in our memories. Among this kaleidoscope of plans, ideas and predictions, the genre associated with "cybernetics" and "artificial intelligence" stood apart. The authors of this genre guessed the future most accurately, and many of their predictions turned out to be prophetic. But there was a project among them that went beyond science fiction and was only one step away from its implementation. The discussion will focus on the project of the "electronic government" of the Soviet academicians A. I. Kitova and V. M. Glushkova.
By the mid-1950s, the planned Soviet economy was faced with the problem of coordinating the work of tens of thousands of enterprises of different industries, scattered across 11 time zones of a huge country from the icy Arctic expanses to the sultry Central Asian deserts. The ramified system of communications and transport, communications, production, hundreds of design bureaus and institutes - all this made the effective management of the Soviet Union an intractable task, requiring the involvement of a huge number of people, largely torn out of the creative sector of the economy.
Thousands of State Planning officials could competently coordinate in theory the work of 10 … 20 … 100 enterprises of the national economy, but when the number of such objects went to tens of thousands, the effectiveness of their decisions sharply decreased, costs increased and errors accumulated. No ministries could track millions of intricate production chains and promptly adjust their work in accordance with the changes that took place.
The idea of the engineer-colonel Anatoly Ivanovich Kitov was four decades ahead of the "Matrix" of the Wachowski brothers. In 1956, A. I. Kitov, then director of the head computing center of the USSR Ministry of Defense (VTs-1, which later became TsNII-27 of the USSR Ministry of Defense), put forward the idea of creating a unified All-Union system of dual-purpose computing centers - for managing the country's national economy in peacetime and the Armed Forces in case of war. It was proposed to concentrate the computing equipment of all institutions of the Soviet Union into a single network of computing centers serviced by military personnel. In addition, AI Kitov was convinced that the implementation of this project would allow the USSR to overtake the United States in the development, production and use of computers.
The fantastic project received a completely ordinary, bureaucratic name "National Automated System of Accounting and Information Processing" (OGAS). In addition to accounting and current management, the main task of the OGAS was to provide a system of volumetric-calendar territorial-sectoral planning in all sectors of the economy (from the State Planning Committee of the USSR to a workshop, a site, and in short-term planning to individual workplaces). Let me remind you that we are talking about the late 50s!
By 1959, a 200-page report was prepared for the Central Committee of the CPSU, called the "Red Book" Project, which was examined by a specially created commission of the Central Committee of the Politburo and the Ministry of Defense, headed by Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky. However, the hard-hitting and harsh criticism of the state of affairs in the USSR with the introduction of computers contained in the preamble to this report, as well as proposals for a radical restructuring of the control system both in the Ministry of Defense and in the highest echelons of power of the USSR, determined a negative attitude towards the report on the part of the leadership of the Ministry. defense of the USSR and employees of the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The party bosses realized the threat to their existence. AI Kitov was removed from office, expelled from the Party, and all studies on the OGAS topic were curtailed.
The director of the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov did not let the original idea of AI Kitov die. After revising the OGAS project and enlisting in 1962 the support of A. N. Kosygin about the feasibility of a project for automating the management of the Soviet economy, Glushkov began a large-scale campaign to introduce electronic computing technology in government departments and enterprises, which captured hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens and lasted until the beginning restructuring.
Having fallen into disgrace, Anatoly Kitov did not retire, remaining a prominent Soviet expert in the field of electronic computers and automatic control systems. 1970-1980 he represented the USSR in the Technical Committee No. 4 of the International Federation for Information Processing (TC 4 IFIP - International Federation for Information Processing), was one of the members of the governing board of IMIA (International Medical Information Association), took part in the organization of international congresses and conferences through IFIP and MedINFO. From 1980 to 1997 he worked as the head of the Department of Computer Engineering and Programming of the Russian Academy of Economics. G. V. Plekhanov. A. I. Kitov died in Moscow on October 14, 2005.
A similar project existed on the other side of the Earth - well, who would have thought, in Chile! The government of Salvador Allende, with the support of a team of British scientists (just no kidding) and programmers, managed to develop an Automatic Economy Management System - Cybersyn. In 1970-1973, 500 Chilean businesses were linked into a single network operated by the Cyberstrider program. All information was sent in real time to the control room of the Palacio de La Moneda Presidential Palace in Santiago.
The original system provided for four levels of control (firm, industry, economic sector, global level). If at the lowest level the problem was not resolved within a certain time interval, then it was automatically escalated to a higher level of decision making. In principle, Cybersyn proved to be a reliable system that was successfully used to find solutions in the difficult political situation in Chile in the early 70s. The coup d'état of September 11, 1973 put an end to Cybersyn. The Chilean cyber miracle was ruthlessly destroyed as a symbol of the old regime.
At the moment, such systems exist in the form of international financial markets (like FOREX), combining computing centers and an extensive terminal system. The world's largest financial centers Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, London, Frankfurt, Zurich are fighting for currency around the clock. Billions of dollars, euros, pounds sterling, yen or Swiss francs participate in this "currency marathon", sensitively tracking any geopolitical news and changes.
The military analogue of the OGAS was the Perimeter system - a complex for automatic control of a massive retaliatory nuclear strike. "Perimeter" deserves a separate article, so I will briefly note the main idea of the system: in the event of a threat of a nuclear strike by a "probable enemy" on the territory of the USSR, the Supreme Commander transfers his functions to this infernal machine, dispersed in super-protected bunkers throughout the country.
If the information is not confirmed, the "Perimeter" will hang up and return to sleep mode. If, during switching on, the system registers seismic shocks that coincide with the location of large industrial centers and important military facilities, ground sensors register an increase in the radiation level, and silence at military radio frequencies, or vice versa, extreme revival, the system goes into high alert mode. For some time, Perimeter computers have been trying to contact the Strategic Missile Forces command. If there is no connection, "Perimeter" launches its command ballistic missiles (index 15A11).
Flying over the entire globe, they broadcast missile launch codes for all ground-based launchers and SSBNs in the oceans. The Third World War has begun. Dear reader, you understand that this is a very classified topic and a lot of information on the Perimeter system given here may turn out to be incorrect. Nevertheless, the system existed, perhaps in a slightly different form, and thus it was guaranteed that orders from the highest levels of command and control to the launchers were transmitted, even in the event of the destruction of the General Staff. Retribution is imminent.
Another, purely civilian aspect of OGAS, was implemented in the Russian Federation on July 21, 2005, when federal law No. 94-FZ "On placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, and provision of services for state and municipal needs" came into effect. since January 1, 2006. This law regulates all state and municipal purchases in the Russian Federation, and also introduces a number of mandatory requirements for the publication of information on ongoing purchases on the Internet.
Simply put, as part of the fight against corruption and kickbacks, all purchases for government agencies or private companies with more than 50% of government assets are carried out in the form of transparent electronic bidding - auctions. A beautiful idea, but in Russia there were quickly skilled craftsmen on how to ruin everything. What is the hassle with an electronic digital signature?
Concluding my little excursion into the history of automatic systems of government, I think that many readers liked the story about "Perimeter" the most. Yes, the jokes with the Soviet Union were bad, I promise an article about this funny "Doomsday machine" soon. Well, about OGAS … the idea is alive, who knows, maybe one day we will wake up in a state devoid of the usual bureaucracy, under the all-seeing eye of "Big Brother" …
