“I Want to Read Something Written by People!”
Alexander Kondov joins us to talk about books and front-end programming, and about writing, in words and in computer code, with detours through philosophy and artificial intelligence. “Programming is an art, not engineering!” goes our guest's creed. Why does he think so? The three of us, him, me and ChatGPT, are sitting in a digital tavern over a cup of digital tea, chatting about those big questions that stir us all…
02From Dostoevsky to Harry Potter: What Bulgaria's IT Leaders Read
I sent a short invitation to 30 IT figures I find remarkable: recommend three of your favorite books to the readers of Digital Stories. I tried to make the lineup of guests as varied as possible, from people in leadership roles to well-known speakers, from those working across the ocean to foreigners the industry has brought to Bulgaria, representing the widest range of technologies and different generations. Get ready for some stereotypes to blow up! I received no fewer than 20 replies, and I have the pleasure of presenting them to you! Once again they amazed me with their variety, their range and their depth, and they gave me plenty of ideas for future reads to add to my Goodreads list. Today I present the recommendations of the first ten guests; the rest will follow in a week. They aren't grouped by any particular logic—they simply turned out too varied and unexpected for that—so I offer them in the order I received them. Happy reading!
03The Logic of Emotions: Why We Hate, and How to Stop
Two IT people sat down… to talk about communication. Technologies change; the people who use them don't. Why does a programmer with 20 years of experience insist that the most important skill in his profession is understanding people? And what does that have to do with hate on social media and with artificial intelligence?
04Can Algorithms Make Art? 15 Viewpoints That Matter
Can algorithms create? Is artificial intelligence a tool or an author? Could AI give birth to the arts of the future, or has creating already become a pointless pursuit? What will we do when its works in every field become indistinguishable from ours? For three years now, I have been collecting viewpoints on this site about the big questions of today's technological day. I believe it is vital to bring more and different voices into the discussions on important topics, and art and creativity is unquestionably one of them. Here are 15 of the most interesting and substantial opinions I have gathered in that time. Do the words of tech people, writers, artists, clergymen and… tomcats contradict each other, or do they complement one another?
