Trifon and the Engineering Revolution
Trifon Stefanov will soon finish a master's degree at the university where Xi Jinping also studied. Before that, he learned engineering in Japan. And this young man of the exact sciences dreams of changing the world through an economic model that has been in development in Bulgaria for years. What might this engineering revolution in the economy, the one Trifon believes in, look like?
402RoboGod: What Should Artificial Intelligence Believe In?
If one day we create a technology indistinguishable from a human, will it… believe in God? What will its God look like? Might it try to become God itself? Or… simply be God? Technology and religion have always had a complicated relationship. But will they find the road to the future and to the survival of the human species together?
403“There Are Saints on Facebook, Too”
Where do the paths of religion and artificial intelligence cross? And those of God and social media? Father Nikolay Georgiev is just the right person, with a worldview broad enough to offer a meaningful perspective on the subject. Will robots have a soul? Where do faith and technology meet? What moral categories should we build into artificial intelligence?
404And Yet… Who Really Is Elon Musk?
You may even be tired of seeing his name in the news. He is the undisputed superstar of our time, and just about everyone has tried their hand at portraying his endlessly curious persona. And yet, let us try to peer into the heart of all the major contradictions that Elon Musk holds within himself. We will look further back into his story in search of his true face: where his road begins, what his remarkable successes are… and his failures. What does he promise us for the future? In today’s public space, torn apart by extreme contradictions, the nuances are increasingly lost. And it is precisely in them that the key lies.
405“No Two Photographs Can Ever Be the Same”
Ot upor (Point Blank) is the title of Garo Keshishian's book. We meet the great master of photography to talk about life in pictures. “Pressing the shutter really is death. One man kills a rabbit, another kills a lion.” “Now everyone lifts a phone and snaps away. And once they've shot their kebapcheta, they think they've taken a photograph, because it's in focus.”
406Battle for Pixels: How 6,000,000 People Create Together
r/place. The Place project on the social network Reddit showed, all at once, that people can work together online for a beautiful idea; that social networks sometimes make sense; and that we can build wonderful messages when we come together.
407One Quail Does Make a Spring
Did you know that COVID-19 may well have emerged partly because of the destruction of animal habitats? The connections in nature are fascinating and unexpected. That is exactly what ecologist Aleksandar Petrov wants to show us through his project Padpadak Daily. He also wants to help us, by popularizing the natural sciences, remember how vital the world around us is to every one of us.
408“Laugh, ’Cause the Universe Is Endless, but Life Ain’t”
This piece was the April Fools’ greeting from Digital Stories, an unconventional interview with a beloved, out-of-the-box writer, and today it reads very differently and is even more worth reading: Stoyan Nikolov (Torlaka) passed away just days ago, at only 42, leaving behind distinctive, meaningful books that will be read for a long time, and three boys who will grow up as brave and defiant as he was, and as his Northwest is. “Laugh, ’cause the universe is endless, but life ain’t. It’s just energy, changin’ from one form to another in this endless universe; long as you’re in this here shell of yours, enjoy it. After that, who knows.”
409How the Algorithm Learned to Recognize Our Faces
Facial recognition systems have become so refined that they are practically infallible. How did we arrive at this technological breakthrough, and why does hardly anyone talk about it? What ethical questions does it raise, and why should each of us learn more about it?
410“My Future Reached Out Its Hand…”
The Cybernet was boundlessly amazed. Its three antennas stood up straight and bent into marks of wonder: “What is feeling?!” In 1969 the poet Dobri Zhotev told, in verse, of his meeting with the Cybernet, and today his reflections sound more than timely. The poet's story is as fascinating and instructive as his poems.
411Five Jobs on Their Way Out and Five the Future Is Bringing In
Technology is drastically changing the needs of society, needs that must be met by the daily work of its individuals. Today whole professions vanish and new ones appear faster and more quietly than ever, and although forecasting in so dynamic a field is nearly impossible, we will try to sum things up: which five professions will soon disappear, which five will be most in demand in the near future, and what five professions we can only imagine might one day exist?
412The Superhuman: “The Little Seed of Positive Doubt”
“The Superhuman” is a podcast that got ahead of the trend, offering deep, enriching conversations united by the search for inner fulfillment: long, meaningful audio and video interviews from which every guest stands to gain. Georgi Nenov’s project is an oasis free of politics, propaganda, hate and division. But how did Georgi’s seemingly accidental path to “The Superhuman” begin, what gives him the strength to keep finding new superhumans who will inspire still more people to take a different path, and what is the power of a good example and of “the little seed of positive doubt”?
413Horned Joe and the New Journalism
$200,000,000. That, it turns out, is what the notorious Joe Rogan got for his deal with Spotify. The creator of the most successful podcast certainly paved the way for the whole genre. He is everyone’s favorite figure in the battle between anti-vaxxers and vaxxers, the “modern” and the “backward,” left and right, all those who envy him, are outraged by him or simply admire a strong persona. So who, in the end, is this seemingly simple-minded muscleman who has gathered so many eyeballs… and millions? How did it get to the point where even the White House grew indignant with his employers because of him? And how is his story connected to the future of journalism?
414“Let’s Be Human. Let’s See Each Other, Talk, Dream…”
We all know Orlin Goranov as a singer, but lately he has proved himself, impressively, in a new role. At the height of the first COVID gloom he was asked to take on the hard job of hosting a TV show that would make people smile: The Last One Wins, an original quiz show that somehow provoked me into trying my luck too, with the result airing on Monday evening. On the show the host gave me a hard time with his questions; in return, I will try to provoke him with mine. How does he manage to stay away from social media? How do you keep a positive outlook in hard times? And when will technology become perfect at art?
415Hush! The Algorithm Is Dreaming…
How does artificial intelligence dream? Deep dreaming reveals what algorithms see before they “get the job done.” The result is magical and surreal, and could easily pass for the work of a human artist, because it peers beyond the visible and finds its own patterns, accents, nuances and stirring images in photos and paintings. Could this technology also help us understand more about how our own brains work…
416Draw Me… a T-Shirt
Narisuvai Mi (“Draw Me”) is a charming platform that can definitely help you stand out. Its founders bring together talented artists who hand-paint T-shirts, and for an affordable price you can order one made entirely to your own design, unlike anyone else's. One more thing: you still have a chance to win one of these original T-shirts with the Digital Stories logo. Here's how.
417Happy Birthday, Digital Stories. Time for Presents!
Exactly a year ago, on March 1, 2021, the Digital Stories site was born: a small island of essays and reportage about the latest technologies and the challenges they put in front of us. Together we set out on a journey where two worlds meet, the humanities and technology, in search of our shared future as a species. Now it is time for a short look back at the year, and then for presents. They are definitely worth it!
418What Do Google and Facebook Know About You? And Why Does It Matter?
“If something is free, you are the product.” “You are not the internet giants’ customer, you are their product,” says Jaron Lanier, a researcher who knows very well what hides today behind the facade of the information society. How did the data of billions of users become one of the most valuable commodities of our time? What do the biggest players “know” about each of us? And why is it so important to stay on guard?
419The Dreamer Who Should Have Been Bill Gates
“It was not a happy moment when I realized that computers were being built to make money, not to make minds,” says Gary Kildall. He wrote the first operating system for personal computers. And, according to legend, he let slip the golden contract with IBM that could have put him at the top of the software world—the place Bill Gates and Microsoft won instead. He is, without a doubt, a legend of the computer age. He died at just 52, but left an enormous mark on computer history.
420Save Food!
Restaurants and shops are forced to throw away enormous amounts of food, while at the same time many people go hungry. foodObox, a mobile app created by two young Bulgarians, lets us drastically reduce this problem. It rescues food from the bin and lets each of us buy quality dishes and products at a serious discount. Here is how the app works and why the idea is actually so good and so important…
