Mushrooms, Masons and Programmers on Arbat

The autumn evening in Moscow was especially mysterious. Leaves swirled in the air like algorithms searching for the truth, and the damp cobblestones of Arbat sparkled under the light of street lamps. It was here, at walls of Viktor Tsoi, three programmers gathered to discuss a new idea for a startup. But instead of the usual conversations about code, their attention was drawn to a strange man in a long coat and with a staff decorated with carvings. He was standing nearby and quietly muttering something under his breath.

"Hey, do you see this?" asked one of the programmers, Sergey, pointing at the strange stranger. "Looks like some kind of modern magician. Maybe he's also developing something in Python?"

They came closer and heard the man say, "Mushrooms... the key to eternal harmony... the Masons have always known the truth..." The programmers looked at each other: this combination of words was clearly not found in regular SQL queries.

- Excuse me, - the second of them, Dima, dared to speak, - did you say something about Masons? And what do mushrooms have to do with it?

The man turned around and, waving his staff, introduced himself: “I am the keeper of the ancient codes of Moscow. And mushrooms are not just forest creatures. They are ancient databases, recorded by nature.” He explained that in the underground tunnels under Arbat, which were once used by the Freemasons, there is a network of mycorrhiza that connects all of Moscow. And it is the mushrooms that store the knowledge that the Freemasons have collected over centuries.

The third programmer, Misha, couldn’t help but laugh: “Are you saying that mushrooms are a biological analogue of the blockchain?”

“Exactly,” the man answered seriously. “But only the chosen ones can decipher their secrets. Want to try?”

Not knowing what to expect, the programmers agreed. The man led them to a courtyard near Arbat, where tiny mushrooms were poking out of the ground. He pulled out a strange device that looked like an old modem and connected it to a small generator. The device began making sounds like an old dial-up phone. Then lines of code appeared on his laptop screen.

- What is this, JavaScript? - Sergey was surprised. - But how? Mushrooms write code?

"They don't write, they save," the man explained. "This is knowledge that they have absorbed over the centuries. Look, there are even lines written by Yesenin himself! He was one of those who knew about mushrooms and their secrets."

The programmers stared at the screen for a long time, not believing their eyes. There really was something poetic in the code, the lines seemed to shimmer with rhythms and rhymes. But then the laptop blinked and turned off. The man said solemnly: “You have seen enough. Remember that knowledge is responsibility, and mushrooms are not just a side dish for potatoes.” And he disappeared around the nearest corner.

The next day, the programmers returned to their projects, but Sergey, inspired by the strange meeting, created a new startup. He called it "Mycelium Networks" and began developing a platform for storing data on biological media. Well, maybe mushrooms really will become a new word in IT.

***

Of course, this is a joke, and there is no real basis for this story - just a little imagination and for the sake of a smile! And if you are interested in real facts and events, we invite you to the excursions of the "Radius" bureau, where real history comes to life!