“When Yegor Starosvetov was twelve years old, the Teacher gave the group a topic for an essay: “Distant Rainbow: the tragedy of choice.” Students were expected to conduct an analysis of the situation on the Far Rainbow and have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to analyze a topic that was widely known, repeatedly evaluated, and, most importantly, rated uniquely. In principle, as the Teacher later explained to the chief psychologist of the boarding school, what was meant was not even the students’ own assessment of the situation, but the ability to collect and organize a system of other people’s arguments...”