Comment by tjansen
14 hours ago
Damn. I've loved Bob and his writings ever since I read Accidental Empires as a kid. He went through some crazy shit over the last few years (lost his house, almost blind). And when he started blogging again this year (https://www.cringely.com/2026/05/27/where-the-heck-have-i-be...), the stories got even worse (lost his son, heart attack, stroke). RIP.
He went through some crazy shit over the last few years (lost his house, almost blind)
https://www.jeremyreimer.com/rockets-item.lsp?f=true&p=272 makes it sound like the "crazy shit over the last few years" wasn't rue.
The post makes a strong case that the cataracts story and the losing his house story were false, among others.
If you're wondering why someone would make things like this up, it appears that they were cover stories for his Mineserver Kickstarter never shipping despite him saying "[i]n terms of development, this project was almost finished before the Kickstarter campaign began", "[a]ll these Mineservers will ship this week. Software is complete and SD cards are being duplicated. T-shirts are being printed every night", etc.
If it sounds unbelievable that someone would make these things up to have something to blame for a failed kickstarter, I recommend reading the post. The evidence against the house burning down is hard to argue with (later Google Maps/Street View imaging shows no apparent damage, in a later post he accidentally revealed that he used the exact laptop that he said he replaced because it was lost in the fire) and there's even stronger evidence that a number of his other claims are fabricated.
> I was the chief architect, in over my head despite starting at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab back in 1978.
I used to read his articles back a decade ago. I really enjoyed them. This quote from the article resonated with me. It’s a sobering feeling having dedicated a career to the field to struggle keeping up.
RIP. He seemed to face a lot of struggles both physically and emotionally towards the end of his life.
"The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) has been a center of excellence for Artificial Intelligence research, teaching, theory, and practice since its founding in 1963."
https://ai.stanford.edu/
Reminded me of John C Dvorak, same generation, had a heart attack in April then died in July...
This is heart breaking. I can't imagine going through all of this. I wish the best for his family now <3
I hope they're both sitting and reading and learning together now, wherever they may be. I never caught this update but remember thinking about what he was up to some year ago, really sad all around. Rest in peace and I hope they're both remembered for a long time, I sure will.
Jesus. That is gut wrenching.