The Wolf Has Been Catching Eggs for 45 Years. Who Dreamed Him Up?
Why on earth is the wolf from Nu, Pogodi! collecting eggs instead of chasing the hare? How did that same wolf help Nintendo turn from a playing-card company into an electronics one? And why is this story the exact opposite of the other cult game of the same generation, Tetris, which came out of the USSR? And finally, the game itself, written by Claude in minutes.
02The Claude Before Claude
Who is the man whose name we utter every day the moment we open one of the most popular artificial intelligences? Why will no one confirm that the bot is named after him? And how did a seemingly unremarkable mathematician, who rode his one-wheeled bike through the corridors of MIT, arrive at the idea that gave birth to both the mobile phone and large language models?
03Why Is Everyone Listening to Andrej Karpathy?
“There’s a new kind of coding I call ‘vibe coding,’ where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists.” With those words, on February 2 of last year, a world-famous programmer founded an entirely new field: a world in which software is made not by writing code but by explaining in human language. Andrej Karpathy, a co-founder of OpenAI and a builder of Tesla’s self-driving cars, has just joined Anthropic. What future does he see, and what kind of man is one of the prophets of the age of advanced artificial intelligence?
04Dario Amodei: Is It Too Late for Humanity to Wake Up?
“Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.” So says perhaps the most talked-about tech leader of the moment, and he has good reason to. “He hates Western civilization,” wrote Musk. “A liar with a God complex,” snapped Under Secretary of War Emil Michael. “Leftwing nut jobs,” added Trump. All words from the past few weeks, aimed at today’s hero. Who is this fearsome enemy? You would hardly guess that it is a level-headed, mild-looking physicist from San Francisco who simply announced that he will not allow his company to be used for building autonomous weapons or for mass surveillance. Dario Amodei, the creator of the most advanced AI models, has finally landed where he deserves to be—in the spotlight. And not only because he stood up to the most powerful state on earth at the real risk of destroying his multibillion-dollar company. Not only because, in recent years, Anthropic’s models have pushed artificial intelligence to incredible heights. But also because he dared to peer into the future. The place we are all heading toward, where few dare to ask the truly important questions. Such as—how do we survive as a civilization in the age of super-advanced artificial intelligence?
05Peter Thiel: The Conservative Visionary
Facebook, SpaceX, Airbnb, LinkedIn, PayPal, Ethereum. The revolution of OpenAI and ChatGPT, the rise of Donald Trump and his ubiquitous (until recently) ally Elon Musk. Is there really one person who ties all these phenomena together? More than that: it is no exaggeration to say that if it weren't for today's hero, hardly any of them would have come true… Peter Thiel has earned the name of a prophet, a guru. The great visionary of the tech age. And yet he holds deeply controversial views that somehow stay out of the big media noise. But that is typical of the German-born entrepreneur. Some see him as the éminence grise of Silicon Valley, others as a sage who can show anyone the road to great success in the technological era. A multibillionaire, he says competition is a deceptive good and monopolies are the solution of the future. He created a large-scale program to help people who choose to abandon their education in order to start their own business, which in turn paves the way for the next generation of tech leaders. All this and much more is Mr. Thiel. It is time he stepped into the spotlight, because he is certainly one of the people who have already changed the lives of each of us. More than that: ever more is expected to depend on him in the turbulent technological times we live in.
06Yuval Noah Harari: Prophet of a New Age
Yuval Noah Harari's name comes up again and again in conversations about the future: the historian and futurist who untangles the threads of humanity's past and poses the big questions of tomorrow. How did a history professor become the favorite author of Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Clinton while staying popular, translated, read and debated? A colorful figure beyond the stereotypes, and, to my mind, a valuable and powerful voice warning us about the immediate dangers we face as a species.
07Jensen Huang: The Wizard of NVIDIA
He is one of the great stars of our day. With 30 years of stubborn persistence he built the company that became the most highly valued of all time, and when the moment comes to unveil yet another innovative chip, he turns into a marketing icon: Jensen Huang grabs the leather jacket, steps into the spotlight where he feels at home, and the show begins. Eastern wisdom meets Western polish in one of the richest Americans, the only one on the list born in China (…in a manner of speaking), and his curious journey shows that strong personalities still matter, so it is worth walking it together and hearing his views on the future we are all going to live in.
08Bill Gates and the Philosopher's Stone
Can you picture the founder of Microsoft as a thief of time? How did climbing high mountain peaks shape his biggest successes in the software world? Why was the dream of beating his grandmother at cards among the ideas that made him the richest man on the planet? Hardly anyone would accuse Bill Gates of being a brilliant storyteller, yet the stories told by one of the most important people of our time (like him or not) are certainly impressive. I chose eight of them to tell you…
09A 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…
10Eight 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.
11Ward Cunningham, Warden of the Free Internet
“The best way to get the right answer is not to ask a question. It is far more effective to post the wrong answer.” And everyone will rush to correct you, to jump into the argument, right? That is Cunningham’s Law, a fascinating rule about how online communication has changed us. But who is this Cunningham? One of the pioneers of the democratic internet, he paved the way for Wikipedia and for online opinion-sharing systems, co-wrote the Agile Manifesto, and gave us concepts such as technical debt and extreme programming.
12Assange and Freedom
Where is freedom today? Where it has always been: in ideals. And in the deeds of the ever fewer people for whom it remains a cause, not a hollow cliché. After a 14-year battle that at many moments looked doomed, Odysseus has finally returned to Ithaca. The private jet landed in the Australian capital, Canberra. Out stepped the white-haired, charismatic man known all over the world, and he waved to the journalists and well-wishers who had gathered. Then he embraced his two young children, whom he was seeing in freedom for the first time, far from the oppressive bars… The heroes of the past fought for freedom. For the independence of their peoples, against slavery and injustice. And today's heroes, the ones future generations will honor? If there is a tomorrow, it will mean they have won, however unlikely that may seem. Today's heroes fight for freedom too. Alas, they are neither as many nor as well known. But if there is one whose battle for the truth has reached a great many people, it is without a doubt our hero today. Julian Assange has become a legend, a symbol. And his story is so thrilling and so full of twists that it is worth digging into. Along the way, we will let him speak through a few important quotes that, I hope, will make more people think about the truly important issues of our day. The very issues Digital Stories exists for…
13Stack Overflow: The Programmers' Savior Is Fading
It is easy to tell someone who has ever programmed from everyone else: if you have “touched” code, you have seen Stack Overflow. In just 15 years, the question-and-answer site fundamentally changed the way programmers work, but today the legend is heading toward its sunset, ironically because of the technological progress it helped make possible.
14Pavel Durov: The Better Zuckerberg
If there is Gandalf and Gandalf the White, why not Zuckerberg and Zuckerberg the White? Telegram founder Pavel Durov is a strange bird: a billionaire born in 1984 like the father of Facebook, but a Latin-speaking philologist and alleged hacker who built an app that promises security instead of manipulation. Two children, or none at all? What is his next big project, and does he fear artificial intelligence? Durov is one of those figures who make today’s tech world far more exciting…
15Tetris: The Soviet Game That Has Been Making Legends for 40 Years
Almost 40 years on, the original Tetris has finally been beaten! The triumph of a likable 13-year-old kid turned all eyes back to the good old classic contest from the days when computer games were a perfect feast for the senses, and to the story of how the game everyone knows was born and became a legend, with its fascinating sides and its dark secrets.
16Mitnick, the Mythical Hacker
As a boy, Kevin Mitnick was curious, but puzzles and chess left him cold; he preferred a rather different kind of problem… Before he even came of age, he was convicted of hacking, a crime that at the time didn't even exist in the law books. Soon he would become the most wanted hacker, “Public Enemy No. 1” (according to the New York Times) and the FBI's greatest challenge. Only to land in prison again, and to walk out as the savior of companies from online criminals. A life like a movie, you'll say. And films have indeed been made about his life, but… only about part of it. In July 2023, Kevin Mitnick passed away, seemingly having finally found happiness, though he narrowly missed living to see his first child. The man who coined the term “social engineering,” the teacher of today's hackers and of today's cybersecurity specialists alike, lived his life like a movie worth watching from beginning to end. The way he himself would have told it—the most wanted and most talked-about hacker in history…
17Paul Allen: The Other Face of Microsoft
Two kids become friends over their shared fascination with computers. Then they start their first company together. Less than a decade later, that same company is the first giant of the modern computer age. And while we know a great deal about one of those kids, who for a long time was the richest man on the planet, the story of the other is far less familiar. None other than the computer specialist Paul Allen, the “godfather” of Microsoft, turned out to be the owner of the most expensive private art collection ever sold. And this happened in November 2022, four years after he left this world. A connoisseur of art, a man smitten with sports, a huge donor to scientific research. He is also the rich man who awakened the modern interest in spaceflight. At just 29 he learned that he had a deadly illness, and he decided to live the rest of his life the way he had always dreamed. There is a lot we can learn from the story and the worldview of this unconventional figure. And, even more, we can ask ourselves what today’s tech world would look like if its other leaders shared his outlook.
18The “New” Mother of ChatGPT
The upheaval at OpenAI outdid Game of Thrones for plot twists: Sam Altman was fired, chief technology officer Mira Murati took his place, and within days everything was back where it started. Amid the telenovela-style debates about who pulls the strings, one figure stayed in the shadows—the woman who briefly ended up at the helm. It is time to learn more about Mira Murati, because the future of the world may well depend on her decisions.
19The Man Who Became a Domain, and the Trouble with Files
Kim Dotcom is not a website, nor the next heir to the North Korean dynasty or to the Kardashian clan—though yes, that is also the name of his website, and his life is a roller coaster: hacker, mega-successful entrepreneur, multimillionaire, and then a criminal doing everything in his power to escape American justice, with a stint as a champion of online freedom somewhere in between. It is time for one of today's most colorful and least-known digital stories, as unexpected, instructive, vivid and dynamic as its protagonist. And for an important lesson about where and how we store our data.
20FM-2030: The Man Who Refuses to Die
Left or right? Up! He believed that when 2030 came, he would wake from the ice to celebrate his 100th birthday. He was convinced that by then we would have reached the heavens, settled other planets, put our petty squabbles behind us and, lifted on the wings of technology, marched onward in human evolution. Was FM-2030 right? Could the sharp-shooting basketball player still surprise us with a three-pointer of a prediction? If so, in just seven years we will be able to discuss the details with the man himself. If he really is revived, the forgotten creator of transhumanism, who picked a name like a radio station's, will surely have a lot to tell us… If not, he will become just another dreamer who overestimated humanity and ran ahead of his time.
