Journalist and author. Creativity, science, math, nature. Smarter Than Us available for preorder. The Impossible Man on sale. He/him.
Toronto
- Tweets 4,100
- Following 417
- Followers 1,494
- Likes 779
Pinned Tweet
Some news about my next major project.
I am finishing a book with @patchenbarss that gives a non-technical explanation of how AI works and explains why it is dangerous and what we should do about it.
@VikingBooks @VikingBooksUK
penguinrandomhouse.com/books…
5
6
30
13,614
Patchen Barss retweeted
Elissa Strome of @CIFAR_News spoke to @PatchenBarss ahead of the All In conference on what the future of an AI-driven Canada looks like: begiant.ca/stories/people/el…
1
1
121
Patchen Barss retweeted
A viral 2025 post by Toronto-based mathematician @littmath sparked a bet that by 2030, a large AI could write a paper good enough to be published in The Annals of Mathematics.
Last week, Litt conceded.
@PatchenBarss spoke to Litt to find out why: begiant.ca/stories/people/da…
1
2
138
Some news about my next major project.
I am finishing a book with @patchenbarss that gives a non-technical explanation of how AI works and explains why it is dangerous and what we should do about it.
@VikingBooks @VikingBooksUK
penguinrandomhouse.com/books…
5
6
30
13,614
Canadian pre-order information here: penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/…
1
165
UK pre-order information here: penguin.co.uk/books/483320/s…
2
122
Patchen Barss retweeted
⚛️ On this day in 1931, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose was born in Colchester, UK.
In THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN, @PatchenBarss draws on years of research and interviews to present a moving portrait of Roger Penrose the human being.
Learn more: hachettebookgroup.com/titles…
1
10
474
Patchen Barss retweeted
One of the best books I have recently read - and certainly ever on what we usually called "hard sums" at college - is this outstanding biography. The day his colleagues were waiting for JFK to arrive at the Dallas Trade Mart still makes my hair stand on end @Ananyo @PatchenBarss
1
1
9
428
Many thanks to Editorial Critica for publishing this edition of The Impossible Man.
📢¡Novedad!📚 'El hombre imposible', de @patchenbarss, cuenta la historia de Roger Penrose, uno de los grandes genios del siglo XX, que revolucionó nuestra comprensión del espacio y el tiempo. Fue Premio Nobel de Física. ¡Ya en las librerías! ⬇️⬇️ planetadelibros.com/libro-el…
5
693
A reminder I'll be reading at LaHave River Books this afternoon at 4:00. I hope you can drop by!
4
355
Patchen Barss retweeted
Author @PatchenBarss will be at LaHave River Books on August 16 to talk about THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN. Join the conversation in person!. #LaHaveNS
2
2
117
This was a little delayed, but here is an obituary of quantum computing researcher Raymond Laflamme I wrote for @globeandmail. Ray had extraordinary curiosity, kindness, and love of life. Thank you to all those who shared memories and stories with me. I am sorry for your loss.
2
1
3
318
Still digesting Steven Shapin's extensive review of The Impossible Man in @LondonReview of Books. Shapin's ideas are subtle and complex. "Everybody has a life; not everybody lives the life of the mind," he writes. One of many lines to mull from this essay. Link in reply
1
1
224
Jenann T. Ismael's review of The Impossible Man in @TheTLS is itself a beautiful piece of writing. What a privilege to receive such thoughtful analysis. (Link in first reply)
1
1
242
"We continue casting ourselves in the theater of rationality, only to find ourselves bewildered again and again by our own nature," writes Maria Popova in @themarginalian. I simultaneously embrace and resist this idea, which is maybe part of the point?
themarginalian.org/?mc_cid=4…
1
185
Patchen Barss retweeted
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.
These rebukes are sometimes based on scholarship (sadly, out of date) but mostly these outraged critics base their opinions on what they read on the Internet and some fairly sloppy pop histories.
So let's lay out von Neumann's claim properly, as I have not seen it done elsewhere. The argument has three strands:
1. An idea
2. A principle
3. A machine
8
60
235
43,580
Today in the @globeandmail, science reporter @IvanSemeniuk on The Impossible Man: “Barss’s subject is well known for his work in theoretical physics as well as contributions to popular science … What the book reveals is the human figure hidden inside the equations.” @BasicBooks
1
3
7
519
Read the whole feature here: theglobeandmail.com/arts/boo…
1
85