12th Book Festival "Red Square"
From June 4 to 7, the 12th book festival "Red Square" took place. I try not to miss such events, mainly for the opportunity to meet authors, ask questions, and get books signed. This festival was no exception.
True, there weren't many interesting authors for me, but still. I listened to a talk by Alexander Prokhanov and got his book "The Murder of Cities" signed (there's a decent film based on it titled "Call Sign: Passenger").
I bought and have already read Andy Weir's new book "Project Hail Mary" (there's a film based on it called "The End of the World," which I think is better than the book). I also purchased a collection of works by Vladimir Bogomolov; I took a copy of "Quest for Fire" by Joseph Rony Senior as a gift (I already have that book, but this edition included illustrations and several other works).
But the highlight for me was the meeting with sci-fi authors! Interestingly, this time there weren't many readers at the meeting with Lukyanenko and Panov. (However, Panov has never missed a single book fair!)
No wonder! The meeting was titled: "Sci-fi Writers on AI and Literature," without mentioning any names. If I hadn't been interested in the topic and hadn't expanded the description, I might have missed it. As it is, I prepared myself, bringing along unsigned books. I present to you a brief description of the meeting:
"The final day of the Book Festival 'Red Square - 2026' in the pavilion of the Union of Writers of Russia (No. 12) began with a dive into a rather intriguing future.
Within the framework of the discussion "A Conversation of Sci-fi Writers about AI and Literature," the country's leading sci-fi authors met: the creator of the iconic "Night Watch" Sergey Lukyanenko and the author of the famous "Secret City" Vadim Panov. The moderator was Vyacheslav Konovalov, a member of the board of the Union of Writers, a TV and radio presenter, who, as a former engineer, immediately redirected the conversation to practical matters.
The main question of the meeting became the expansion of neural networks in creativity.
Sergey Lukyanenko shared a recent curious case from his writing workshop, where one participant managed to send in a piece fully generated by AI. The text passed the selection because it seemed lively and competent, resembling a trial of a beginner author, but ultimately the deception was revealed.
"You can't fool the master, for the neural network won't learn to write better," the writer warned. "And those who cheat simply take the place of a living, talented person."*
Discussing the nature of AI, Lukyanenko distilled it into a sharp formula: "A neural network errs with a confident tone. It can produce balanced, smooth critiques, but it will never give the author an honest, passionate human assessment since there are no personal experiences, pain, and soul behind its words."*
Vadim Panov approached digital threats even more categorically, admitting that he fundamentally does not use artificial intelligence in his work.
"I have enough of my own cockroaches; I simply don’t need others," the writer said with a smile. Reflecting on the nature of AI, he added: "A neural network is like a shovel: you can dig with it, or you can get hit on the head with it. Everything depends solely on whose hands the tool ends up in."*
According to the sci-fi writers, the greatest danger of blind trust in algorithms lies in the degradation of human thinking. As in an old song where robots are laboring while a person is happy, the main warning echoed in Red Square: it's important that the creator and the machine do not eventually swap places.
Panov reminded us that the human brain, capable of brilliant insights, operates on energy comparable to just a 15-watt light bulb, far surpassing electronic systems in energy efficiency by millions.
"Neural networks, on the other hand, will require a colossal amount of resources to reach true superintelligence, comparable to a third of the planet’s energy consumption, necessitating the construction of dozens of nuclear reactors."*
The conversation inevitably touched on the topics of chipping and interfaces that Elon Musk is already testing today. According to the sci-fi writers, all these technologies are launched not for the sake of saving humanity but for the ideals of transhumanism and the illusion of 'digital immortality,' which is accessible only to the chosen.
"I really hope that this entire system collapses during the process," Lukyanenko ironically remarked, emphasizing that while a smartphone can still be taken out of one's pocket and forgotten at home, an implanted chip will continuously monitor one's consciousness. The most frightening part will begin when the human brain starts to perceive external commands as its own thoughts.*
In conclusion, the sci-fi authors urged readers not to cease developing their own gray matter. Although machines can today prove complex mathematical theorems and assist in daily life, they cannot generate original ideas or empathize. Therefore, the living human word will always remain undefeated."
Regarding the role of neural networks in writing, the authors' response was unanimous: the network cannot come up with anything new but successfully "steals" and assembles fragments from already written works. One of the attendees asked, "Can you submit your in-progress work for critique to a neural network?" The answer: "It depends on the result you want!" And immediately followed by an addition from another attendee: she recounted that for the sake of experiment, she asked the neural network how good A.S. Pushkin's specific work was. The response was roughly as follows: "It's genius!" Then she asked the neural network to analyze how bad the same piece was – and it left no stone unturned.
I should add that a year earlier at the book fair, I heard from presenting authors that in the US,