“Reading Is the Glue Between Parents and Children”
“A great love story!” says a teenage girl… about Under the Yoke?! How can that be, when Vazov’s classic is supposedly incomprehensible to today’s young people and we have to “translate” it for them… Val Stoeva is the ideal guest for a conversation about children and books and the love of reading. She is the creator of the invaluable platform Detski Knigi.com (Children’s Books.com) and the foundation of the same name. Why is reading more important than ever for children in the technological world we live in? How do we choose reading for them from a sea of titles and light the spark? Which books will a child like, given their age and interests?
102“We Were Made to Live in Relationships, in Communities, in Unions”
Nishka (Thread) is the third novel by the guest I am meeting today, and not by chance. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone: it tells seven stories in a remarkable way and reminds us that the thread does not begin with us, and must not end with us, as Bulgarians, as people, or as humanity. Viktoria Beshliyska impressed me no less with the courage and skill with which she lectured nearly 2,000 IT specialists at DEV.BG All in One, the biggest tech event in Bulgaria, on why it matters so much to keep writing by hand in the digital age. Now we look at human relationships rethought and reshaped by technology: love in the digital age, what makes us human, and the necessary meeting of the humanities and technology on which all our futures depend.
103“Stagnation in Our Education System Is Ruinous”
How can we be sure we are giving our children an education that will still be useful tomorrow? Evgenia Peeva, founder of Teach For Bulgaria and head of the SoftUni Buditel high school, on the skills that matter today, why we should stop obsessing over exam scores, and how to choose a school that prepares a child for life in a hyper-dynamic technological world.
104“The Digital Can Wait. Childhood Can’t”
How do we lead children who are already too absorbed by the internet back out of it? That is the great cause of Alexandrina Georgieva, a programmer with serious experience who now heads the Offline Kids foundation, which helps parents find the balance. A fascinating personal story and countless valuable tips for every digital parent who believes children should, from time to time, find themselves offline.
105“An Era Is Coming in Which We Will Have to Reinvent Ourselves”
What will tomorrow look like? Why is “the era in which we will have to reinvent ourselves” approaching? What is worth teaching today’s children so they are ready for the future? Which professions will survive? And how do we find those ever scarcer skills that are worth helping them develop? Assoc. Prof. Mariana Todorova is a pioneer of Bulgarian futurology in its modern form. It has become a tradition for her to be my guest at the start of every year with forecasts that unmistakably come true. “We are returning to that most primal human quality of critical thinking, reasoning and debate.” “It is only a matter of time before most of the tasks we perform are taken over by artificial intelligence. We will live in permanent change, and at some point we won’t be able to catch up. As humanity, we could respond only through a global political consensus in which we decide that, even though the technology can do almost everything, people stay. But such a philosophy is deeply anti-capitalist, and imposing it would take either some boundless humanism or a dictatorship.” Can we be ready for the future?
106Hedgehogs Are Born Without AI
What kind of world will today's children live in? What is worth learning today, and what would be a waste of time, effort and money? When and how should we introduce them to technology so that both sides get to know each other without anyone getting hurt? And when should we “introduce” them to artificial intelligence? I will look for the answers to these and other important questions about children and technology. A long series of children's Digital Stories begins. Here is why I believe it is vital to dig deeper into these enormous topics:
107How Do We Introduce Our Children to Technology? (A Survey)
What kind of world will our children live in? And how do we introduce them to technology in the best possible way? I have two kids, and this site exists because these questions won't leave me in peace. And there are so many other important questions that it is time we found answers to. Let's talk them over, then go looking for the answers. Let's paint a picture together of digital parenting today and the way it looks toward the future. The survey is aimed at parents of children aged 0 to 11 (and at grandparents and anyone else who has children in their life). Teenagers' issues are extremely important too, and their moment will come. The survey is anonymous, and you can answer whichever questions you choose. You can also enter a prize draw for hand-picked books and T-shirts with the Digital Stories logo. Responses are being collected until February 28, and you can expect the results in early March. This survey opens a series of important Digital Stories about children and technology. We'll talk about motherhood and fatherhood today, about the changes in education, about the professions of the future. I've invited remarkable guests from whom every parent (myself included) has a great deal to learn. Heartfelt thanks for every response and every share!
108“I Can’t Wait for AI to Keep Getting Better!”
Artificial intelligence is throwing down the gauntlet to artists in more and more fields. While many believe the technology is far from creating better than humans, more and more often, and more abruptly, the opposite turns out to be true. So where do creativity, art and imagination go from here? How do we value the journey when the result comes easy? We live in a surprising world where you have to adapt to survive. Lubomir Sergeev is a photographer, digital artist, director and producer with 30 years of experience in advertising. He has worked on five continents and has lived in London and New York. He holds a long list of awards, among them the Victoria, considered the most prestigious in the world of photography. For 12 years in a row he has been included in the global selection of the “200 Best Digital Artists.”
109:-) Smile! The Story of the First Emoticon
With the arrival of the internet, text spilled over into images and back again. And although everything in the online world changes at breakneck speed, one “pioneer” symbol has survived to this day. The smile we all use every day, “drawn” with just two or three characters, is perhaps the most recognizable sign of the online era. Fashions, technological generations and social networks come and go, while the “smiley” stays, eternal and recognizable. Do you know who its “father” is? Strange as it may seem, this combination of characters has a specific “inventor,” plus a “godfather” who helped it leap onto the internet. For his venture, a stylized laughing face, graphic designer Harvey Ball earned a “whopping” 45 dollars. He never claimed copyright. Instead, decades later, he set up a foundation that raises money for children in need, whose symbol is, of course, the smile. Smile at life! It’s time for a radiant digital story.
110“AI Will Never Write Better Than Boris Hristov”
What does it mean to be a successful poet today, what keeps you going, and how long will poetry be with us? Veselin Veselinov, winner of this year's seventh Stanka Pencheva National Literary Competition, has a whole wall of poetry awards at home. A doctor of clinical psychology, he has worked as a teacher and school psychologist for 13 years and now also teaches bachelor's and master's students at New Bulgarian University.
111A Generational Question: Digital Leaders and the Cult of Personality
Who have been the most striking figures in public life over the past few decades? The ones we would least expect, if we believe the stereotypes—the people of technology. From Bill Gates, whom the whole of conspiracy-minded humanity turned into the chief culprit behind the pandemic, to Elon Musk, who, while “saving” our freedom of speech, is our last real hope of rising to the stars as a civilization… Yes, the cult of personality is going through a rather strange apogee in the digital age. Politicians long ago lost their magic as interesting personalities, artists tend to stay focused on their particular audiences… while the celebrities of technological progress have become the powerful figures of the new era. Is it because technology is today’s magic? Incomprehensible to many, transformative, alluring… Are the powerful figures of the digital age supermen? Do the innovators get the fame they deserve, or do the idea thieves thrive? What do the representatives of different generations share, and what sets them apart? We meet some very different digital stories…
112Eight Surprising Facts About John Atanasoff
“The father of the computer was Bulgarian.” We repeat it like an axiom, rarely asking what lies behind it—so what exactly did John Atanasoff create, and was his contribution truly decisive? Here are eight curious details from Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley’s biography that answer the most important questions.
113EI + AI: Shoulder to Shoulder, Neuron to Neuron
While we pelt each other with clichés and argue online about whether artificial intelligence will enslave us, leave us jobless or vanish under the weight of enormous expectations, I, for one, am sure it will do none of the things on that list—and a little of all three. AI is here, and we still haven't decided how to greet it: in the economy, in our lives, in the way we see the world and ourselves. The only sensible approach from now on is to learn to work together.
114“The Epidemic of Ignorance Will Only Spread”
“Our inability to strike up a meaningful dialogue has left hundreds of thousands of people socially isolated. Some fall ill and die simply because they lack real human contact. I believe artificial intelligence will deepen this trend, because it will fool people into thinking they are talking to a friend, to someone they have lost, or to someone who refuses to hear them. And so we find ourselves in a world where we can supposedly talk to each other. But behind this apparent palette of viewpoints, of words, of word salad, including self-absorbed academic speeches, sit frightened, disillusioned people, impoverished intellectually and emotionally. To me, that is the great horror of our time.” Our conversation with the writer Silvia Tomova began with poetry and went on to education, history, the epidemic of ignorance and the long-overdue need for a social awakening. Against this backdrop, technology remained a constant companion, changing each of these subjects from the ground up. A journalist and special education specialist by training, she publishes essays, short stories and novels. The winner of numerous awards and the author of five novels and three short story collections, Silvia often peers into the past as well as into the big questions of today. She is not afraid to break out of clichés and to challenge the mainstream, both in literature and in public life. And so we meet for an important conversation that has come at just the right time.
115Which Predictions for 2025 Came True—and What Lies Ahead?
In 2015, seven leading futurists laid out their expectations for the decade ahead. In a few hours we will welcome that very 2025, so we can now judge how well they did in the dynamic and turbulent first quarter of the 21st century. Then comes the more interesting part: a look at what the same futurists expect today, especially the ones who turned out to be right, and what the coming years hold according to the people who called the last decade.
116“A Machine Cannot Be a Poet”
Can a machine learn to write like Pushkin? Or is it leading us into Orwell’s world? This text was published in the September issue of LIK magazine in… 1967! Yet, as you will see, many of its ideas sound as if they came from the future. “The writer-machine? It keeps in its memory a vast store of words and has perfect command of every subtlety of grammar and style; it knows all the organs of sensation and all the ways of writing that writers have developed over the last 3,000 years. This ‘writer’ observes, memorizes phenomena, reasons, processes the data reality gives it. In the end it writes books, and we, reading them, are thrilled, but… we remain cold.” Is Dmitry Zhukov, the author of these lines, right? There is no way to ask him. But, as you will see, his point of view has a lot to say about our own day too. In search of answers to the big questions that move us—about technology and humanity, about poetry and creativity, about “automatons” and true creators…
117Merry Christm@s!
At last he managed to get himself a decent connection. The speed kept limping along until he finally figured out what to do, and on the eve of yet another Christmas he wrote a letter to a colleague. “I’m giving Santa Claus internet for Christmas,” read Elon Musk’s tweet, which was the plain truth, though the followers of the world’s richest oddball, for some reason, failed to grasp its meaning. But how to begin? He didn’t learn much from the elves: they all had their eyes glued to their phones, and while he questioned them, they scraped at the screens with their index fingers, trying with undisguised annoyance to dodge his questions. Still, it became clear to him that the road ran through the notorious social networks. And now he sat there, staring desperately at the monitor and smoking nervously…
118The Ethics of Progress: Can Technology and Humanity Live in Balance?
Can there be ethics in progress? Can technology and humanity exist in balance? Most likely not. Should there be ethics in progress? Should technology and humanity exist in balance? Definitely yes. But how can that be? The two of us, ChatGPT and I, are arguing over a theme: “Man in the New Age.”
119Brain Blast! Dr. Hansen's 10 Ideas for Surviving the Digital Tsunami
Our brain evolved slowly, gradually getting used to a changing environment… and then came Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and suddenly our most important organ found itself in a world it was entirely unprepared for. Swedish psychiatrist Anders Hansen is not afraid to raise the big questions of today's technological age, and his book is a reason to stop, think and pay attention to what truly matters for every one of us.
120“Poetry Remains a Secret Treasure”: “Hristian Papazov” Gives His First Interview
The man who was the first in Bulgaria to place AI-generated verse among the best in a poetry competition gives his first (and perhaps only) interview ever, to Digital Stories. The questions come from… the second person to confirm the striking experiment. Who is behind the name Hristian Papazov, and why does he hope that we humans, not the algorithms, will soon be writing far better, more original and meaningful poems?
