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Writers

Shaun Raviv

History Tech

The Secret History of Facial Recognition

Sixty years ago, a sharecropper’s son invented a technology to identify faces. Then the record of his role all but vanished. Who was Woody Bledsoe, and who was he working for?

Shaun Raviv Wired Jan 2020 25min Permalink

Tech

How a Phone Glitch Sparked a Teenage Riot

When Swedish teenagers hacked the phone system and turned a state-owned telecom system into a proto-Internet.

Shaun Raviv Medium Dec 2018 15min Permalink

Science

The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI

Karl Friston’s free energy principle might be the most all-encompassing idea since Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

Shaun Raviv Wired Nov 2018 30min Permalink

Crime

Cashgate

How a scandal started with a poor housemaid and ended up taking down the most powerful woman in Africa

Shaun Raviv Latterly May 2018 40min Permalink

Sports Movies & TV

The Hateful Life and Spiteful Death of the Man Who Was Vigo the Carpathian

“Norbert Grupe—a Nazi soldier’s son, boxer, professional wrestler, failed actor, criminal, and miserable human being who was never so happy as when he could make someone hate him—was once a man so beautiful that other men wanted to paint him.”

Shaun Raviv Deadspin Oct 2015 25min Permalink

Crime World

The Killers of Swaziland

Bringing a serial killer to justice reveals the country’s other sources of death and suffering.

Shaun Raviv The Big Roundtable Mar 2015 1h20min Permalink