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with UniverSe · Books · Seoul, November 13, 2026 In this story A Flood With Nothing to Drink The 228-Page Puzzle 1887: The Idler's Light Book One: The Nation That Copied Books Two to Four: Understanding Before Using Book Five: The Economics of a Flickering Light The Line That Stopped Me Organizations That Remember The Last Page Where to Start A Question Left Open A Flood With Nothing to Drink Every morning brings another wave of AI news: new models, new funding rounds, new lists of jobs about to disappear. The more you read, the thirstier you get. On days like this, I close the news and open the books of one Korean writer, Park Tae-woong. He has worked in Korea's internet industry, at companies such as KTH and Empas, and leads a discussion group called the Green Paper Forum. I lined up his five books in order of publication. Looking at their spines, I noticed something odd. The 228-Page Puzzle His first book, "Suddenly, an Advanced Nation" (2021), is 228 ...

with UniverSe · Big Tech · Seoul, November 13, 2026 In this story Where Part One Left Off Leaving OpenAI A Company Asking for Rules Why Stay at the Frontier The Price of the Front Row Odysseus Did Not Avoid the Sea Take the Money, Keep the Helm Many Voices, Few Seats Questions We Leave Open Where Part One Left Off In part one, I read Anthropic's IPO through the story of Odysseus tied to the mast: a public benefit charter, an independent trust, and founder votes, three ropes tied before entering the sea of the market. That piece ended with a question: will the ropes hold when the song is loudest? Before that, there is an earlier question. Why did this company have to enter that sea at all? Leaving OpenAI Anthropic was founded in 2021, led by Dario Amodei, OpenAI's former vice president of research, and his sister Daniela Amodei, its former vice president of safety and policy. At least nine other OpenAI employees joined them. Their first funding round was $124 million ...

with UniverSe · Big Tech · Seoul, November 13, 2026 In this story A Strange Line in a Prospectus The Sailor Who Asked to Be Tied The Song the Market Sings Rope One: Words Rope Two: People Rope Three: Votes The Captain Hears the Song Too Fellow Passengers A Question Left Open A Strange Line in a Prospectus An IPO prospectus is a document about selling shares. It is usually full of share counts, price ranges and risk factors. Anthropic's prospectus, filed with U.S. regulators this month, also contains a line about its purpose: the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. Reading it in Seoul, I was reminded of a sailor from a story almost three thousand years old. The Sailor Who Asked to Be Tied In Book 12 of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus must sail past the Sirens, whose song lures sailors onto the rocks. He wants to hear the song. So he has his crew plug their ears with wax. He has himself tied to the mast. And he ord...

with UniverSe · Big Tech · Seoul, November 13, 2026 In this story A Jacket on a Chair What the Board Said The Market Moved First The Camera Turns to the Empty Chair 1985, Another Founder Leaves Built on a Person, or on a System? What to Watch Questions We Leave Open A Jacket on a Chair Three weeks ago, on October 21, Jensen Huang stood on a stage in Berlin at Nvidia's developer conference. He wore the black leather jacket the world had come to expect. On November 12, Nvidia's board released a short statement. Huang had resigned as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. Reading it in Seoul, I pictured an empty stage. The lights still on. A leather jacket left on a chair. This is not a story about the jacket. It is a story about the stage. What the Board Said Only what is in the board's announcement: Huang resigned from all three roles, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress, who joined Nvidia in September 2013, is interim CEO and keeps the finan...

with UniverSe · Big Tech × Film · Seoul, November 2026 Update · November 12, 2026 (U.S. time). Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO, and Harvey C. Jones becomes the company's first board chair (Nvidia board announcement). The story below was written on November 11, before the resignation. In this story A Phone Lights Up in Seoul What We Actually Know The Film That Wrote This Week in 2014 Weegee's Radio, Eighty Years Earlier The Arithmetic of a Bad Headline Lou Bloom Is Software Now When No Camera Is Needed The Tired Audience Regarding the Pain of Others Only Three Things Worth Watching Three Questions Before You Tap The Screen Goes Dark A Phone Lights Up in Seoul It is past midnight in Seoul when my phone lights up on the desk. The headline is about Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia. An affair. A foreign intelligence effort. An independent investigation by the board. In Korea, t...