ENTAUS

C elebrity and showcase usually don’t mix well with knowledge and the pursuit of truth. When you throw into the mix both money (a lot of it) and power (in this case, of the Silicon Valley sort) you’ve ordered up for yourself a potent brew both seductive and intoxicating. The following paragraphs are written in the wake of my experiences—my encounter, if you will—at the new Nolan-inspired “Sol Foundation” inaugural symposium. It must surely be the new talk-of-the-town, exploding on Twitter/X and everywhere else on the blogo/vlogosphere, which I personally tend to shun. What I am about to recount is only impressionistic. Why it is so (at least for me) is in itself worth remarking upon. Let’s begin the story, which is surely an excellent set-up for a science fiction plot. For a few days leading up to the event, which was to take place in Silicon Valley, at none other than Stanford University, over two days in mid November (a Friday and a Saturday, the 17 th and the 18 th ), weather f