My name is Nickolai Leschov, I'm from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, originally. I chose the recent war as an invitation to raise my indignant disagreement with what my government said my long-suffering homeland should stand for (war, violence and religious obscurantism, apparently) and join the global community that I always felt a part of. Is it still illegal to call war a war there? I don't know or care. I lived in several countries since and hope to live in some more.

I am interested in computers, human perception and cognition, and their intersection and impact.

I am living with my girlfriend, Malvina Pushkova, who is a long-time transhumanist activist, a workaholic and transgender woman (LGBT person and activist, but not an LGBT activist). Some of it should not be that important, but it is part of the reason we left our home country, so it kinda is.

I generally subscribe to ideas of transhumanism, a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being; eliminating the undesirable aspects of human existence such as suffering, disease, aging and death. In my own words, transhumanism is humanism, radically enhanced.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is a wonderful way to travel while communicating with both locals and fellow travellers. That's why I participate in couchsurfing (either lowercase or capitalized) as a host and a guest, time and money permitting. I'm on BeWelcome, Couchers and Trustroots, too.

Interests

I love and have a penchant for abstract thinking, hope to apply it for my own and everyone else's amusement and benefit. Currently trying to reinvent my career and self in a new reality I found myself in. That's what goes instead of a hobby, too.

• board games
• cycling
• hiking
• engineering

Music, Movies, and Books

I am interested in music enough to have a paid subscription to a music streaming service and to have 2 music apps on a phone that only allows 7 apps in total. I am aware of the limitations of my taste and horizons and eager to expand them, time permitting. I've had a decent home stereo system for decades, upgraded to an external audio card, set of monitor headphones and set of monitor loudspeakers for my PC and was sad to sell the latter off before going travelling, as I was really happy with that setup; still think of acquiring the loudspeakers back; I guess I'm somewhat of an audiophile?

"Books are my hobby, I love them both, you see." Not. I used to read a lot, as a child, youth, and sometime later in my life. Still miss it a lot. Amazingly enough, nowadays it is Facebook that introduces me to the most amazing, stunning, mind-blowing examples of human thought. What are you, machine, what do you know about me and what do you want from me?

There are so much wonderful films out there, even if you do away with the vast majority of the uninteresting stuff. Latest fav.:

• Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
• Carol & the End of the World (December 2023, mini-series of 8)

but it doesn't have to be new to be relevant, of course.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate... Forget that.

I've been working in the large gas power plant, a sprawling monster creeping over a city, large enough to power some European nations. A lake is kept warm in winter with just effluent waters. Everywhere you look in the city you can see traces of it. At any given time there's always something breaking or leaking somewhere. It looks like it can break down at any moment. Yet the constant labour of thousands of workers always keeps power plant humming along. It's an impressive feat of human engineering.

Teach, Learn, Share

Help! I'm trapped in an HTML form and i don't know what to do.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can offer my hosts my stories, experiences, culture and perspective. I try to bring an open mind and a spirit of curiosity, eager to immerse myself in another way of life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Azerbaijan, Finland, Georgia, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation, Turkey

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