Collective Intelligence Sessions

26/02/2022

As the members of CIS team, we condemn the war in Ukraine and the Russian aggression.
We stand for peace. We stand against any violence. We stand with the people of Ukraine. This war is pure insanity. This was has to be stopped.
We are sorry to see Russia acting as an aggressor in this conflict.
Russia is not Putin. We hope to keep this borderline.
We strongly believe that a peaceful solution must be found for any conflict.
Peace to everyone living in this world!

Russia is blocking Facebook. Let's stay in touch in Telegram:

Challenging basic assumptions about our strange world through collective perspectives. A safe space for curious friends in pursuit of truth. http://bit.ly/3hCaCEi

25/12/2021

SEASON 1 IN NUMBERS

At out last team meeting we were analyzing our results in 2021 from the perspective of "what we haven't achieved". But suddenly it turned out that actually for a baby-project with 0 funding we've managed to do a good job. Check the numbers to see for yourself.

What you won't see behind those numbers is the DNA of our work. The answer to the question "WHY" all these people keep coming to the sessions. At the start of the year we ourselves didn't know what is was. We just wanted to meet curious friends from all around the world and search for the answers to the questions about our strange world. We didn't want to be satisfied with just one point of view. Because we believed that truth consists of fragments and we need to collect more of them in order to get closer to it. Somehow we found the way to create such a safe space to challenge the assumptions in the form of our sessions. And this is the biggest victory for all of us.

We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who helped us along the way in 2021. And special thanks to Helen Shaga Alex Varnavski Kseniya Geevskaya Andres Herric Alexander Udovichenko Khadìdja Boulahbal Ekaterina Rozhko for actively engaging into the creation of what is now known as "Collective Intelligence Sessions".

Thank you all and see you in 2022!

24/12/2021

The last co-authored essay of 2021 is out.
Thank you for the debates and contribution of multiple perspectives during the session. Unexpectedly for us the question created two opposing views which travelled into the article.

Alex Varnavski Fatima Zohra Kouider Hamza Khan Khadìdja Boulahbal Nesrine Lrb Rayene Boukhalfa Thomas Graves Zaryab Fatima
Looking forward to writing more articles together in 2022!

_______________________________
Competition among languages? Don’t put the cart before the horse.

"Would one common language really create a united humanity
The idealistic way of looking at the question is to think that having one global language will impoverish us by destroying the multiple universes created by a diversity of languages. People believe that language is an indispensable part of our identity. But answer this: do you drop your national identity while you are reading this article in English? Do you stop being Russian, Chinese, Algerian or Pakistani?"

Edited by: Andres Herric Daniel Shpaihler

Scientific Consultant: Bachir Habalet, Ph.D. student in Applied Linguistics at University of Mentouri 1, Constantine, Algeria

_______________________________
Read the full essay at

Why then is there so much ado when it comes to protecting the world’s linguistic heritage? It might be because we are not defending the languages but rather our own sense of dignity.

23/12/2021

WE DID IT!
We still can't believe it, but we have completed our 1st season of Collective Intelligence Sessions. All thanks to our members – you were the strongest source of inspiration for us throughout the year. You gave us confidence to move on in 2022!

We are excited to annouce that Season 2 is coming in February 2022!

Now we are leaving on a break to prepare more challenging sessions for you and your friends!

Sign up for notifications so not to miss the start of the new season!
https://russellschickenseries.com/

07/12/2021

For the most of the time humor is considered as something irrational. One is not supposed to explain the mechanics of why a joke is funny. Same concerns the search for a logical explanation of why another joke is offensive.

We have made a bold shot at doing just the opposite. We even drew a literal graph of a joke in order to explain what determines the appropriateness of a joke.

So thank you Alex Varnavski Hamza Khan Helen Shaga Ilhem Issaoui Khadìdja Boulahbal Meriem Trad Rayene Boukhalfa Valeria Reppucci Zaryab Fatima for joining the session and co-authoring the final essay.
_______________________________
Humor: a battlefield for equality

"Humor is a tool aimed at pointing out deviations from the desired behavior and bridging the gap between the ideal status of a certain value and its current state. A good joke is an alarm, signaling that something is wrong with our value system, that the deviation is too strong and it is time to correct the course and bridge the gap between A and B. A bad joke is one that enlarges this gap."

Read the full essay at
https://russellschickenseries.com/tpost/0cbarfffy1-humor-a-battlefield-for-equality

28/11/2021

We are having the last session of Season 1 today at 12:00 noon GMT. Then we are going on a NY break and will come back for Season 2 in Feb 2022.
If there are challenging topics you would like to tackle next year – tell us now so we can include them into the season schedule!

06/11/2021

Wow. What if we could frost a human for 40 000 years? It's even cooler than travelling to Mars. Literally cooler. What would you prefer?

Skeptics cite possibility of ancient samples’ contamination by contemporary organisms

06/11/2021

Have any ideas about the questions below? Join the session tomorrow or share your thoughts in the comments!
Sign up for session tomorrow at 12:00 noon GMT here: https://russellschickenseries.com/sessions

05/11/2021

Agree or disagree? Let us know what you think!

03/11/2021

The session on History Wars turned out to be one of the hottest discussions we've had. Now we see that it was a natural outcome since history is inherited in out identity, be it our religious beliefs, political views or nationalistic sentiments. Whenever anybody challenges this part of our history, either by revising the facts, creating a new interpretation or reassessing its importance, we are programmed to attack back and prove that our version is the only "official" one. History is not only a matter of national importance, but very much a chapter of our personal story.

So thank you Alex Varnavski Alexandre Colmant Fatma Senoussi Fatima Zohra Kouider Hadjer Saifi Hamza Khan Helen Shaga Khadìdja Boulahbal Nesrine Lrb Rayene Boukhalfa Zaryab Fatima for co-authoring the final essay.
_______________________________
History: the righteous lie based on truth

"Not everything that has happened to us in the past has to be a part of our identity today. It is relevant to our history on the personal as well as on the national levels. We are free to select and omit facts depending on who we want to be. After making this decision the narrative inevitably experiences adjustments and protects itself from external intrusion. Why do we feel righteous wrath when we witness how certain knowledge about our past leaders or prominent victories is covered up or even denied?"

Edited by: Andres Herric Daniel Shpaihler
Scientific Consultant: Patrick Rasico, Ph.D., assistant professor (tenure track) at Fisk University. Historian specializing in the history of the British Empire, particularly in India.

Read the full essay at

Not everything that has happened to us in the past has to be a part of our identity today. It is relevant to our history on the personal as well as on the national levels. We are free to select and omit facts depending on who we want to be.

29/10/2021

Humans wishes and desires greatly outnumber forms of relationship already discovered and described . At the hands of time, more types and forms of relationship appear, and ‘the intolerable’ gradually becomes normal.

This picture is a visual representation of a thought above. What do you think is represented here by various geometric figures?

26/10/2021

Hey friends! We have a big announcement to make – we have officially started with visualization and graphic expression of the ideas we collectively generate during our sessions. A big thanks to our graphic designer Svetlana Gvozdik and to Alex Varnavski, Alex Novak, Anika Arevalo, Andres Herric, Daniel Shpaihler, Helen Shaga, Katya Genchikova, Nina Jhalley for sharing knowledge and discussing ideas!

If you want to express the ideas we generated in any form, be that essays, graphic, animation, sculpture, singing or stitching – you are more than welcome to do so and share with us!

These are four main key-points from our previous Collective Intelligence Session on Marriage: what form is most suitable for contemporary society? Can you guess what each of them means?