This is the list of people I deeply admire. In their work, I find inspiration, courage, and motivation to do what I am supposed to do a day after day.
- Alan Turing - A cryptographer ahead of its own time. I consider him to be the most important computer pioneer in history. He had a huge impact in the world we have now and I think that he will have a huge impact on the future too. (ever heard of the Turing test?)
- Aaron Swartz - A genius who I have to thank for a lot of things I'm using regularly, like Markdown (the thing I'm using to write these notes and my blog), RSS, reddit, Creative Commons etc.
- Edward Snowden - There are no words in which I could explain my gratitude towards Edward Snowden. He managed to change entire world in just two years, raising some important and difficult questions. He's probably the main reason why I started using open source software almost exclusively and why I have such a huge desire to learn as much as I can about cyber security.
- Chelsea Manning - There's something terribly wrong with this world. Chelsea Manning managed to prove us just that. In return, he got 35 years in prison, emphasizing the fact that there is something terribly wrong with this planet, our society, and our way of conducting democracy.
- Barrett Brown - A man who unwittingly broke barriers between a journalist and a spokesperson. In jail for copying a link.
- Ray Kurzweil - One of the AI prodigies. AI specialist and futurist. He managed to get a lot of predictions right a few decades earlier, and if his future predictions prove to be correct, we're only a quarter of a century away from a point of Singularity.
- George Carlin - A comedian who was not afraid to talk about any controversial topic. He managed to open my eyes in a wide range of subjects and he had a huge influence on what I am today.