Benjamín Labatut

Benjamín Labatut is a Chilean novelist, born in The Hague. In 2021 he stormed the book charts with his When We Cease to Understand the World, which was nominated for the International Booker Prize. In his latest book, The MANIAC (2023), Labatut explores the mind and world of the physicist and mathematics genius John von Neumann, who built the mathematical framework of quantum physics and created the MANIAC (Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator and Computer), the fastest computer at the time. In his work, Labatut inquires into the true nature of man, asks what technological progress entails and wonders about the effects of artificial intelligence.