Christopher Wink

1 week ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Author Ursula Le Guin put it best: “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”Decades of brain science demonstrate why: Our world is too complex for our brains to process everything, and exchanging experience in the environment became a survival adaptation. Storytelling didn’t evolve from the development of language, one theory holds; instead, humans invented language to advance storytelling.

1 week ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Though the US already has more liquid capital than any other country, regions short on institutional money still chase outside investors with tactics like subsidizing direct flights and flying in VCs for 1:1 meetings. Research does show startups gain measurable innovation advantages (more patents and citations) when direct flights link them to VC centers — with effects far stronger on international routes than domestic ones.

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Python, quantum computing, home automation with data privacy in mind and sure, why not: the relationship between computing and poetry. The Technical.ly Developers Conference has long been a valuable afternoon of professional development for software builders. We’re back again on Wednesday, May 7, proudly part of the 15th annual Philly Tech Week presented by Comcast, which makes our developers conference possible. We’re hosted inside the sleek Comcast Technology Center product floor.

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Defined in the 2010s, civic technology describes efforts to use digital tools and design processes to improve the effectiveness of government, nonprofit and community efforts. Elon Musk’s DOGE is formally a rebranding of the US Digital Services, an Obama-era unit that sparked today’s civic technology efforts. From afar, Musk’s use of startup culture and engineers to “traumatize” bureaucrats might seem a part of civic technology.

1 month ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

The experienced AI programmer needed another beer. I was at a book agency party over the weekend. A friend introduced me to the programmer, who spent decades working on machine learning and what is now called artificial intelligence to make the bosses and investors happy. He had been in demand his whole career — until he was laid off last June. He hasn’t found work since. I’ve had at least a dozen other conversations like it over the last two years. The data tell the tale.