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...

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/...

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...

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...

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...

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?

The case for von Neumann summarised...

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 ⤵️

3. A machine. The *converted* ENIAC of 1948.
Relevant links:
On Klara Dan engelsbergideas.com/portraits/kl...
Haigh et al demo that computational power of converted ENIAC was equivalent to von Neumann’s 1945 design for EDVAC eniacinaction.com/the-book/sup...

2. A principle. Von Neumann insisted that the stored-program computer should not be patented. So the open source movement was born...

Now to von Neumann's claim. The argument has three strands:
1. An idea
2. A principle
3. A machine

First, the idea...

9. Turing
Relevant links:
Von Neumann and Turing’s Universal Machine dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
"Alan Turing’s Other Universal Machine." cacm.acm.org/opinion/alan...
"The fascinating war over the genealogy of the modern computer." ananyo.substack.com/p/the-fascin...

4. Mauchly & Eckert
5. EDSAC
6. Harvard Mark I
7. Atanasoff–Berry computer (ABC)
8. The Colossus

First, let's deal with the other figures and machines oft cited in this debate. All those below had key roles in the development of computing machines but none could be credited with sparking the development of the modern computer...
1. Zuse
2. Babbage & Lovelace
3. The Manchester Baby

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...

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!

I'm HUGELY looking forward to chatting about Johnny von Neumann with physicist and acclaimed writer Paolo Giordano this weekend. Maybe you're one of the million or so people who read 'The Solitude of Prime Numbers'?
If you're in Rome, join us! If not, the event will also be streamed plpl.it/eventi/

Less than four weeks to Xmas Day! This year, why not give your nearest and dearest the gift of unrivaled genius? 😜
'The Man from the Future' is available in a dozen languages.
AND those crazy folk at Amazon Italia have cut the price of the Kindle edition to €3.99! 😅 www.amazon.it/Luomo-venuto...