ananyo.bsky.social
@ananyo.bsky.social
Chief science writer at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. 'The Man from the Future', on the unparalleled influence of John von Neumann, available everywhere.
Subscribe to my substack, Confections & Refutations https://ananyo.substack.com
Subscribe to my substack, Confections & Refutations https://ananyo.substack.com
Pinned
Whenever I have pressed the case that John von Neumann should be considered the father of the modern stored-program computer ie the one that nearly everyone uses and carries around in their pockets, I've been met with hurt rebukes. So let's lay out von Neumann's claim properly...
Folks! Amazon.com has done it again! Kindle edition of 'The Man from the Future' on sale for less than $5! That's 75% off. Want to find out what the fuss over John von Neumann is really about and what he actually did? You can now for $4.80!
www.amazon.com/dp/B098TYZN6...
www.amazon.com/dp/B098TYZN6...
November 14, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Folks! Amazon.com has done it again! Kindle edition of 'The Man from the Future' on sale for less than $5! That's 75% off. Want to find out what the fuss over John von Neumann is really about and what he actually did? You can now for $4.80!
www.amazon.com/dp/B098TYZN6...
www.amazon.com/dp/B098TYZN6...
The director of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences and I interviewed one of the most restless and original talents in science last week⏤theoretical physicist and innovator Stephen Wolfram!
Watch out for the rapidfire round!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
Watch out for the rapidfire round!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
Stephen Wolfram tackles the big questions—from God and free will to whether AI will destroy us all.
YouTube video by London Institute for Mathematical Sciences
www.youtube.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The director of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences and I interviewed one of the most restless and original talents in science last week⏤theoretical physicist and innovator Stephen Wolfram!
Watch out for the rapidfire round!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
Watch out for the rapidfire round!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
A video of the whole event is now on YouTube! youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
October 20, 2025 at 2:20 PM
A video of the whole event is now on YouTube! youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9...
Stephen Wolfram is such a legend, I wasn't sure what to expect! But he was gracious and charming, as well as totally fascinating. He even enjoyed my mean rapidfire questions, which he had 90 secs each to answer!
"So Stephen, Is there a God?"
Will post video of the event soon!
x.com/London_Inst/...
"So Stephen, Is there a God?"
Will post video of the event soon!
x.com/London_Inst/...
October 15, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Stephen Wolfram is such a legend, I wasn't sure what to expect! But he was gracious and charming, as well as totally fascinating. He even enjoyed my mean rapidfire questions, which he had 90 secs each to answer!
"So Stephen, Is there a God?"
Will post video of the event soon!
x.com/London_Inst/...
"So Stephen, Is there a God?"
Will post video of the event soon!
x.com/London_Inst/...
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
www.economist.com/science-and-... come work with me
The Economist is hiring a science and technology correspondent
We’re looking for a writer to join us in London for 12 months
www.economist.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
www.economist.com/science-and-... come work with me
I’ve removed paywalls from two substack posts on recently unearthed evidence of von Neumann’s contributions to Gödel’s Incompleteness theorems. This work was published after ‘The Man from the Future’ came out, so wasn’t in the book.
Links below 👇🏾
Links below 👇🏾
August 31, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I’ve removed paywalls from two substack posts on recently unearthed evidence of von Neumann’s contributions to Gödel’s Incompleteness theorems. This work was published after ‘The Man from the Future’ came out, so wasn’t in the book.
Links below 👇🏾
Links below 👇🏾
Many thanks to Marc Andreesen for name-checking 'The Man from the Future' in a Hermitix podcast episode, resurfaced by a16z!
Listen here
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Listen here
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
AI and Accelerationism with Marc Andreessen
Podcast Episode · a16z Podcast · 22/08/2025 · 1h 9m
podcasts.apple.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Many thanks to Marc Andreesen for name-checking 'The Man from the Future' in a Hermitix podcast episode, resurfaced by a16z!
Listen here
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Listen here
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
My feature for @nature.com on the impact of the proof of the geometric Langlands conjecture is out today!
David Ben-Zvi: It gives us the strongest evidence yet that something we’ve believed in for decades is true. Now we can finally ask: what does it really mean? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
David Ben-Zvi: It gives us the strongest evidence yet that something we’ve believed in for decades is true. Now we can finally ask: what does it really mean? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The breakthrough proof bringing mathematics closer to a grand unified theory
The Langlands programme has inspired and befuddled mathematicians for more than 50 years. A major advance has now opened up new worlds for them to explore.
www.nature.com
July 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
My feature for @nature.com on the impact of the proof of the geometric Langlands conjecture is out today!
David Ben-Zvi: It gives us the strongest evidence yet that something we’ve believed in for decades is true. Now we can finally ask: what does it really mean? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
David Ben-Zvi: It gives us the strongest evidence yet that something we’ve believed in for decades is true. Now we can finally ask: what does it really mean? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"A portrait as contradictory and volatile as the man himself—a mind in constant motion, a life lived inside the blast radius of 20th-century science."
"Definitive."
My review of @nevalalee.bsky.social's excellent Luis Alvarez biography 'Collisions' for @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"Definitive."
My review of @nevalalee.bsky.social's excellent Luis Alvarez biography 'Collisions' for @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The boundless energy, and ego, of Luis Alvarez
A new biography offers a definitive portrait of the intellectually restless physicist
www.science.org
July 15, 2025 at 11:26 AM
"A portrait as contradictory and volatile as the man himself—a mind in constant motion, a life lived inside the blast radius of 20th-century science."
"Definitive."
My review of @nevalalee.bsky.social's excellent Luis Alvarez biography 'Collisions' for @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"Definitive."
My review of @nevalalee.bsky.social's excellent Luis Alvarez biography 'Collisions' for @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
“There’s proof by induction, proof by contradiction, and then proof by intimidation,” Prof. He says. “If you say something with enough authority, people just get scared. I think o4-mini has mastered proof by intimidation.”
www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...
Inside the Secret Meeting Where Mathematicians Struggled to Outsmart AI
The world's leading mathematicians were stunned by how adept artificial intelligence is at doing their jobs
www.scientificamerican.com
June 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
“There’s proof by induction, proof by contradiction, and then proof by intimidation,” Prof. He says. “If you say something with enough authority, people just get scared. I think o4-mini has mastered proof by intimidation.”
www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...
Fantastic package of articles on the impact of AI on science and mathematics including this one, on mathematical beauty in the age of AI. What will mathematicians do once AI can come up with conjectures and find proofs? 1/
quantamagazine.org/mathematical...
quantamagazine.org/mathematical...
Mathematical Beauty, Truth and Proof in the Age of AI | Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians have started to prepare for a profound shift in what it means to do mathematics.
quantamagazine.org
May 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Fantastic package of articles on the impact of AI on science and mathematics including this one, on mathematical beauty in the age of AI. What will mathematicians do once AI can come up with conjectures and find proofs? 1/
quantamagazine.org/mathematical...
quantamagazine.org/mathematical...
What’s the smallest number of pieces that an equilateral triangle can be cut into and still be rearranged into a square? It’s taken over 120 years to prove the answer… www.scientificamerican.com/article/math...
March 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM
What’s the smallest number of pieces that an equilateral triangle can be cut into and still be rearranged into a square? It’s taken over 120 years to prove the answer… www.scientificamerican.com/article/math...
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
NEW: LibGen contains millions of pirated books and research papers, built over nearly two decades. From court documents, we know that Meta torrented a version of it to build its AI. Today, @theatlantic.com presents an analysis of the data set by @alexreisner.bsky.social. Search through it yourself:
The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem
Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here.
www.theatlantic.com
March 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
NEW: LibGen contains millions of pirated books and research papers, built over nearly two decades. From court documents, we know that Meta torrented a version of it to build its AI. Today, @theatlantic.com presents an analysis of the data set by @alexreisner.bsky.social. Search through it yourself:
Stephen Wolfram has a blogpost about a half-century of innovation—as seen through the lens of engineered structures (like clocks, logic gates etc) in Conway's Game of Life!
Cellular automata rock! writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/03/what...
Cellular automata rock! writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/03/what...
March 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Stephen Wolfram has a blogpost about a half-century of innovation—as seen through the lens of engineered structures (like clocks, logic gates etc) in Conway's Game of Life!
Cellular automata rock! writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/03/what...
Cellular automata rock! writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/03/what...
Available now to stream! @bbcradio4.bsky.social looks at the thinking of scientists involved or decisively not involved in the Manhattan project-including Johnny von Neumann!
Great to see von Neumann in his rightful place alongside Oppenheimer, Einstein et al. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Great to see von Neumann in his rightful place alongside Oppenheimer, Einstein et al. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
March 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Available now to stream! @bbcradio4.bsky.social looks at the thinking of scientists involved or decisively not involved in the Manhattan project-including Johnny von Neumann!
Great to see von Neumann in his rightful place alongside Oppenheimer, Einstein et al. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Great to see von Neumann in his rightful place alongside Oppenheimer, Einstein et al. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
For #PiDay the talk at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences is of observing 9.2 seconds of silence at 1500 hours today.
The question is can any of us shut up for that long?
The question is can any of us shut up for that long?
March 14, 2025 at 11:17 AM
For #PiDay the talk at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences is of observing 9.2 seconds of silence at 1500 hours today.
The question is can any of us shut up for that long?
The question is can any of us shut up for that long?
33-year old mathematician Hong Wang has proved the century-old Kakeya conjecture in in 3D, with collaborator Joshua Zahl! The problem is rooted in the old question: what's the smallest area that an infinitely thin needle can sweep out if it has to be turned to point in every possible direction?
March 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
33-year old mathematician Hong Wang has proved the century-old Kakeya conjecture in in 3D, with collaborator Joshua Zahl! The problem is rooted in the old question: what's the smallest area that an infinitely thin needle can sweep out if it has to be turned to point in every possible direction?
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
📈 New post from me about Labour’s growth problem 📈
I argue that there isn’t a clear ‘theory of growth’ that Starmer and Reeves share. So there is a risk of a Frankenstein’s monster of incommensurate ideas. 🧵
benansell.substack.com/p/grasping-f...
I argue that there isn’t a clear ‘theory of growth’ that Starmer and Reeves share. So there is a risk of a Frankenstein’s monster of incommensurate ideas. 🧵
benansell.substack.com/p/grasping-f...
Grasping for Growth
Labour claim to be 'single-minded' about economic growth. But do they have a theory of it?
benansell.substack.com
January 15, 2025 at 8:05 AM
📈 New post from me about Labour’s growth problem 📈
I argue that there isn’t a clear ‘theory of growth’ that Starmer and Reeves share. So there is a risk of a Frankenstein’s monster of incommensurate ideas. 🧵
benansell.substack.com/p/grasping-f...
I argue that there isn’t a clear ‘theory of growth’ that Starmer and Reeves share. So there is a risk of a Frankenstein’s monster of incommensurate ideas. 🧵
benansell.substack.com/p/grasping-f...
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
Anyone who relished @ananyo.bsky.social 's superb book about John von Neumann should read Alec Nevala-Lee's COLLISIONS, about Luis Alvarez. Coming in June from @wwnorton.bsky.social
"Outstanding!"-Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
"Outstanding!"-Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
January 12, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Anyone who relished @ananyo.bsky.social 's superb book about John von Neumann should read Alec Nevala-Lee's COLLISIONS, about Luis Alvarez. Coming in June from @wwnorton.bsky.social
"Outstanding!"-Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
"Outstanding!"-Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
Just finished a wonderful tour of John von Neumann's life & ideas, "The Man from the Future." Can't recommend it highly enough! Author @ananyo.bsky.social Bhattacharya is a tremendous tour guide.
JVN's contributions were staggering. Hard to comprehend what our world would be like without his ideas.
JVN's contributions were staggering. Hard to comprehend what our world would be like without his ideas.
January 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Just finished a wonderful tour of John von Neumann's life & ideas, "The Man from the Future." Can't recommend it highly enough! Author @ananyo.bsky.social Bhattacharya is a tremendous tour guide.
JVN's contributions were staggering. Hard to comprehend what our world would be like without his ideas.
JVN's contributions were staggering. Hard to comprehend what our world would be like without his ideas.
I've written up my thoughts on who did NOT invent the modern computer for my substack, 'Confections & Reputations', part of a series of posts on the true genealogy of the stored-program devices we nearly alluse today! Free for now, link ⤵️
January 7, 2025 at 11:24 AM
I've written up my thoughts on who did NOT invent the modern computer for my substack, 'Confections & Reputations', part of a series of posts on the true genealogy of the stored-program devices we nearly alluse today! Free for now, link ⤵️
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
Is this the year you make a career change? I've gone from lab scientist to science communicator to freelance writer to agency founder, and told the story of my journey to @ananyo.bsky.social earlier this year: sciwri.club/archives/13336
Kat Arney on Science Communication and Entrepreneurship
Dr. Kat Arney is a multi-award-winning science writer, broadcaster, and public speaker. She is also the founder and Chief Creative Officer of the science communication agency First Create The Media…
sciwri.club
January 6, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Is this the year you make a career change? I've gone from lab scientist to science communicator to freelance writer to agency founder, and told the story of my journey to @ananyo.bsky.social earlier this year: sciwri.club/archives/13336
Whenever I have pressed the case that John von Neumann should be considered the father of the modern stored-program computer ie the one that nearly everyone uses and carries around in their pockets, I've been met with hurt rebukes. So let's lay out von Neumann's claim properly...
January 4, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Whenever I have pressed the case that John von Neumann should be considered the father of the modern stored-program computer ie the one that nearly everyone uses and carries around in their pockets, I've been met with hurt rebukes. So let's lay out von Neumann's claim properly...
Reposted by ananyo.bsky.social
You should of course read @ananyo.bsky.social’s “The Man from the Future,” which is one of the best scientific biographies I’ve read.
The Man from the Future
A <em>Scientific American</em> 2023 Staff Recommendation<br /><br />An electrifying biography of one of the most extraordinary scientists of the twentieth century and the world he made., The Man from ...
wwnorton.com
December 28, 2024 at 5:53 PM
You should of course read @ananyo.bsky.social’s “The Man from the Future,” which is one of the best scientific biographies I’ve read.
Beautiful Roma! What luck that ‘L'uomo venuto dal futuro’ has been so well received in Italy! What fun it was to talk about John von Neumann with Paolo Giordano at the Rome book fair and be interviewed by Rai Italia!
December 12, 2024 at 2:14 PM
Beautiful Roma! What luck that ‘L'uomo venuto dal futuro’ has been so well received in Italy! What fun it was to talk about John von Neumann with Paolo Giordano at the Rome book fair and be interviewed by Rai Italia!