Greetings, Asgardians! My name is Kristina Gasparian, age 26, and I’m applying for a position in the Ministry of Culture. I joined Asgardia to help build a science-based nation for the betterment of all living things. My focus is on protection of life and prevention of problems both on ...
Greetings, Asgardians! My name is Kristina Gasparian, age 26, and I’m applying for a position in the Ministry of Culture. I joined Asgardia to help build a science-based nation for the betterment of all living things. My focus is on protection of life and prevention of problems both on the surface of the Earth and in low orbit arks.
I grew up in a family of professional musicians and painters who taught me a lot about various forms and principles of art in addition to the education I received in elementary music school. I was taught how to play recorder, violin and how to sing. I was performing on a stage starting at age five and successfully took part in countless contests, both for solo singers and instrumental bands. As a kid, I worked a lot as a street musician to earn money for school supplies and textbooks. With my love for literature, I chose the humanities profile in high school. For 9 years, I worked as a singer in a band. I went on to study applied psychology at the Jagiellonian University and planned to continue education in forensic psychology and psychology of terrorism. Unfortunately, due to financial issues, I wasn’t able to finish my studies. Looking for easier to learn and more practical professions, I studied digital design and marketing. I learned how to teach myself further and how to critically judge my progress. I had to stop after a year to finish applying for visa and immigrated to America in 2017.
I was born in Russia (North Ossetia), saved from war in 1993, and grew up in Poland. My family always taught me to respect our adopted culture by learning to use the language properly, being familiar with local literature, music and history. Despite that respectful approach, we experienced a lot of xenophobia and abuse from people projecting their blame for Soviet crimes onto immigrants. That taught me to never persecute individuals but only to stand up against governments, institutions, and organizations if they cause trouble. Those experiences also inspired me to study psychology, in order to gain scientific understanding of human nature. I studied universal patterns in human development, our cognition, perception, emotions, sources of fears, aggression and superstitions. I am also interested in anomalistic and child psychology and various philosophies of the world.
THE IDEA BEHIND THIS CAMPAIGN
Culture is the very core of any organized society and nation. It impacts our actions, our methods, values, and our ultimate legacy long after we vanish. The very foundation for Asgardian culture was first described in its concept by Igor Ashurbeyli
and in Declaration of Unity.
This is what brought us togethe
r.
Based on that concept, our goals and process needed to achieve them, I want to help Asgardia develop unique culture to truly earn us pride and legacy with positive impact on our community and the Earth for generations to come. To reach this goal, I
propose
cooperation between science, artistic creativity, philosophy and equal, humanitarian compassion for all life.
Modern systems of education tend to create a divide between humanities and sciences. It is the most effective way of learning practical skills which fit the predispositions and interests of each individual. However, it results in
a
majority of people having
faint
understanding of
the
strong bond between science and
the
arts as well as benefits of their cooperation. Only together they could lift humanity up and advance whole civilizations.
This is because art is based on science. The science of human psychology: our universal development patterns and cognitive processes, basic needs, fears, instincts, and universally shared requirements for maintaining mental health. This applies to all humanities and arts out there. With this knowledge we can improve our work and lives right now but especially once we have society living in low orbit. In future essays, I will be describing in detail how properly guided culture can benefit the whole community while making sure it remains democratic, gives freedom of expression and individualism. There are many important, practical solutions for life in space that can be accomplished by artists cooperating with scientists.
Furthermore, culture strongly impacts media, economy, educational system
s
, military and laws. Ministry of Culture must often have at least some say on these issues, making sure that they stay true to the original concept of Asgardia.
The most basic and yet most important task for Ministry of Culture is to create strong, recognizable and trustworthy brand for Asgardia. Community should be represented in a way that’s true to themselves and understandable for the rest of the world. We are in an urgent need for professional marketing campaign, proper visual identification, and improvements in communication, mainly on our website. With proper use of design we can create a sense of unity in community rather than separation by country of origin. Taking care of these issues at the very beginning will save Asgardia a lot of time, money, and effort later.
My experiences, work ethics, and education will significantly help this community of engineers, scientists and IT workers by filling important gaps in their reasoning. I’m an analytical deep-thinker who makes sure that all the basic elements are in place before allowing any project to move further so that Asgardia won’t waste time and money on fixing issues that could be prevented. I do not represent any particular country, nationality or ethnic group nor do I support any political party. I take a strong stand against use of manipulation, fearmongering, emotional abuse and pseudoscience for exploitation of human weaknesses and personal gain. I’m an Earthling. My ethics are influenced the most by philosophies such as secular humanism, equalism and biocentrism. I will serve all Asgardians to the best of my abilities.
- Kristina Gasparian
