NFTs: Paying Millions for… Nothing
$69,346,250… for a file containing 5,000 images. More than $2 million to buy a tweet… Has the world gone mad, or are we witnessing a fundamentally new technology that lets us buy and sell unique assets?
02“Come Spring, Crypto Will Be Back with Lasting Growth”
A few months ago everyone was talking about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and blockchain, and then, suddenly, the crypto world found itself in yet another winter. Blagovest Belev, one of Bulgaria's crypto pioneers since 2013 and founder of BlockChain.bg, the country's first cryptocurrency investment fund, talks about whether this is the end or the beginning, whether now is the moment to invest, and where the next big blockchain news will come from. We also discuss NFTs, whether you should buy when everyone is talking about Bitcoin, and the exciting future technology promises us.
03“When Everyone Starts Talking About Bitcoin, Don’t Buy!”
Valentin Mihov is the person you need if you want an up-to-date technological view of decentralized finance. What does its future look like after yet another record in the price of Bitcoin? What are the technological risks? What will happen once the last Bitcoin is mined? And what should anyone who decides to invest in cryptocurrencies know?
0415 Predictions About the Future We Can Laugh At
Trying to peer into the future is a doomed challenge, yet reading tech predictions that never came true turns out to be unexpectedly entertaining, especially when… they are your own. In more than five years, I have published just over 500 Digital Stories. I will invite an impartial observer to assess them and pull out specific passages that have not aged well at all.
05Blockchain Democracy
These days we talk about nothing but artificial intelligence, while another of the big technological trends is developing in the shadows… Is blockchain the next step in the way we organize society? And what does the idea have to do with the ancient oracles? Technology is changing a huge part of our lives. Yet in some areas it stays on the sidelines and never quite catches up. It is clear that when it comes to how we are governed and to democracy, there are problems, and the solutions we know are outdated and inadequate for today. Before long, artificial intelligence will probably enter the paradigm too, as has already been discussed. But in the meantime, shouldn't we try to change things ourselves, as people, with the help of the technologies we already have? This one could make electronic voting, such a contentious subject in our part of the world, completely transparent. And on the other hand, it holds the potential for a far more drastic change: blockchain democracy. A way of making the decisions that concern society in a very unexpected, yet logical way.
06Hush! 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…
07Five Technologies We Expect Big Things From in 2022
Here it comes, just days away! We expect so much from 2022! Not only for it to finally rid us of the pandemic, but also to bring back normal. And we also expect some purely technological solutions from it, each of which certainly has the power to change the life of every single one of us. Still: which are the technological fields where we hope the coming 2022 will be especially hot?
08The Kid Who Talks to the Blockchain
He is only 27 and already a billionaire. More important, though, he gave birth to the technology that showed what blockchain is capable of. Ethereum's creator, Vitalik Buterin, is a fascinating character, and we should expect plenty more serious tech news from him.
09Blockchain Keeps Us Connected…
Bitcoin has been in the headlines for quite a few years now… but do we know what the technology behind it actually is? What else could blockchain be good for? For example… helping to create a new form of democracy?
10Artificial Art: Are Computers Learning to Create?
Is it mostly a marketing trick, or will artificial intelligence soon paint like a master? Can we teach a computer program to create music, or literature? For a long time we were certain that this is one of the things that set people apart from machines—the lack of imagination, of artistry, of the ability to express oneself through art. But is that really so?
