I was just driving home and heard World Champion chess player Gary Kasparov talking to Tom Ashbrook on "On Point," the radio show from WBUR. You may remember that in 1996 Kasparov represented the human struggle against computer intelligence and lost— in chess. Kasparov's a fascinating guy— warm, concerned, fiercely intelligent, speaks beautiful English— and he's leading a grass roots movement to challenge the upper-most constituency of Putin in a possible run for president in Russia's next election. Before I lapse into irony, let me say that I was in awe as I listened. You could hear the concise political logic and strategy that only the world's greatest living chess player could bring to the table. He had every possible corner of the Kremlin's aging bureaucracy in sight, as well as every action the Kremlin could take in vain defense over the next few decades. Though the man was recently arrested and jailed for political dissent after leading protests for the "other half," he remains commited to his cause. Bear in mind, he mentioned that the 100 wealthiest Russians hold assets totaling one third more than the entire Russian federal budget. So he's a man of a lot of the people. I like him. He's a fighter.
But I can't escape the irony of his situation. Yeltsin's market revolution provided a political choice after his presidency: the money or the people. Putin has gone for the money, chasing western economic and industrial growth. And now Kasparov's going in for the people. He want's to raise the power of Russia's people to challenge the power of Russia's interminable oligarchy. Okay, wait, rewind, deja vu. Wait, oh yeah. But I'm a designer fixated on the social power of industry, and Kasparov's last major political opponent was who again?
IBM's Deep Blue
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