Fourmilab – John Walker’s online laboratory
Fourmilab is a sprawling digital lab maintained since the 1990s by John Walker, founder of Autodesk and co-author of AutoCAD. It’s one of the web’s oldest personal knowledge hubs — offering simulations, articles, tools, and books that cover astronomy, cryptography, probability, artificial intelligence, spaceflight, and philosophical speculation. Key areas include: – 🔭 real-time astronomical simulators like Your Sky, Earth & Moon Viewer, and orbital calculators – 🔐 tools for encryption, random number generation, and fictional world building – 📚 full e-books including The Hacker’s Diet and The Autodesk File – 🧠 essays on technological singularity, digital autonomy, transhumanism, and future shock ...