A Beautiful

BY BIANCA BOSKER

Sebastian Thrun Wants to Change the World Photographs by WINNI WINTERMEYER

“ Let’s see if I can get us killed,” Sebastian Thrun advises me in a Germanic baritone as we shoot south onto the 101 in his silver Nissan Leaf. Thrun, a pioneer of the self-driving car, cuts across two lanes of tra!c, then jerks into a third, thread- ing the car into a sliver of space between an eighteen- wheeler and a sedan. ¶ Thrun seems determined to halve the normally eleven minute commute from the Palo Alto headquarters of Udacity, the online univer- sity he oversees, to X, the secretive Google re- search lab he co-founded and leads. A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

He’s also keen to demonstrate the urgency of replacing human drivers with the autonomous au- tomobiles he’s engineered. “Would a self-driving car let us do this?” I ask, as mounting G- “ I’ve never seen forces press me back into my seat. a person fail “No,” Thrun answers. “A self- driving car would be much more if they didn’t careful.” Thrun, 45, is tall, tanned, and toned from weekends biking and fear failure.” skiing at his Lake Tahoe home. More surfer than scientist, he smiles frequently and radiates serenity—until he slams on his brakes at the sight of a cop idling When Thrun "nds something he in a speed trap at the side of the wants to do or, better yet, some- highway. Something heavy thumps thing that is “broken,” it drives him against the seat behind us and “nuts” and, he says, he becomes when Thrun opens the trunk mo- “obsessed” with "xing it. ments later, he discovers that three Over the last 17 years, Thrun sheets of glass he’s been shuttling has been the author of, or a pivot- around have shattered. al force behind, a list of solutions Once we reach Google X, he re- to a entire roster of “broken” gains his stride, leaving me trotting things, making him a folk hero of by his side as he racewalks to his sorts among Silicon Valley inno- o!ce. Motion is a constant in his vators, though hardly a household life. A pair of black roller skates sit name elsewhere. While he’s in a by his desk. Twelve years ago, he hurry in almost every other aspect borrowed his wife’s sneakers to run of his life, he embraces a slow- the Pittsburg marathon, without cooking approach to invention and bothering to train for the race. He product-building that sets him got his son on skis before most oth- apart from many of the create-it- er kids his age got out of diapers. fund-it-and-#ip-it whiz kids and veterans who populate the Valley. Thrun’s resume is populated with seismic e$orts, either those A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

already set in motion or others just is "rmly in the tradition of the best around the corner. There are vari- sort of innovators. ous robotic self-navigating vehicles “What’s unique about Sebastian, that guide tourists through mu- and all innovators, perhaps, is that seums, explore abandoned mines, they don’t start with the current and assist the elderly. There is the situation and try to make incremen- utopian self-driving car that prom- tally better based on what’s been ises to relieve humanity from the done in the past. They look out and tedium of commuting while help- say, ‘Given the current state of tech- ing reduce emissions, gridlock, nology, what can I do radically dif- and deaths caused by driver er- ferently to make a discontinuity— ror. There are the “magic” Google not an incremental change, but put Glasses that allow wearers to in- us in a di$erent place?’” says Dean stantly share what they see, as Kamen, the inventor of the Segway. they are seeing it, with anyone “He is a true innovator…And he has anywhere in the world—with the a fantastic vision.” blink of an eye. And there is the Many Silicon Valley standouts free online university Udacity, a have succeeded by making radi- potentially game-changing educa- cal improvements to products that tional e$ort that, if Thrun has his already exist. Facebook, for ex- way, will level the playing "eld for ample, did social networking bet- learners of all stripes. ter than any of its predecessors. “While everyone is running Smartphones were around well around saying ‘I’m going to do a before the iPhone, but Apple came better mobile photo thing so I can up with a gadget far slicker than defeat Facebook and suck out more the competition. of their market cap to me,’ Sebas- Thrun likes creating new things tian is going around saying, ‘I think from scratch and invents for a driving is totally screwed up and world that should be, for an au- there should be autonomous cars,’” dience that may not yet be out says venture capitalist George there, for conditions that may Zachary, an investor in Udac- never be met. “I have a strong ity. “He thinks much more boldly disrespect for authority and for about the problems.” rules,” he says. “Including gravity. Other observers say all of this Gravity sucks.” To that end, and for all of his bravado, Thrun also says that he distrusts even his own be- A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

liefs and theories, calling them and teachers are as famous and Nick Roy, William “traps” that might ensnare him well-paid as Hollywood celebri- Shatner, Mike in a solution based more on his ties. He grouses that we don’t Montemerlo and Sebastian own ego than logic. wear devices to monitor our Thrun with the “Every time I act on a fear, I feel health twenty-four-seven instead “Nursebot.” disappointed in myself. I have a of relying on symptoms to diag- lot of fear. If I can quit all fear in nose what ails us. He can spot in- my life and all guilt, then I tend to e!ciencies everywhere he turns, be much, much more living up to and in most cases, sees technology my standards,” Thrun says. “I’ve as the magic bullet. never seen a person fail if they When he talks about his mis- didn’t fear failure.” sion to “look for areas that are Thrun imagines a future where just intolerably broken where even cars #y, news articles are tailored small amounts of technology can to the time you have to read them, yield a fundamental sea change,” Thrun makes it clear that his goal isn’t to make us high-tech, but to make us high-human. A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

“I have a really deep belief that and all that stu$.” we create technologies to empower Thrun responded by retreat- ourselves. We’ve invented a lot of ing into a solo world of calculators, technology that just makes us all computers and code. faster and better and I’m gener- “I reacted a lot by just insulat- ally a big fan of this,” Thrun says. ing myself from this and so men- “I just want to make sure that this tally, emotionally I wasn’t that technology stays subservient to connected,” he says. “I learned to people. People are the number one basically pull my own weight, just entity there is on this planet.” do my own thing. I spent a lot of time alone and I loved it. It was Simple and Streamlined actually really great because to Though Thrun says his adult life the present day I love spending revolves around trying to "nd ways time alone. I go bicycling alone, that technology can help people, go climbing alone, and I just love his childhood and adolescence were being with myself and observing mainly about self-help. myself and learning something.” The youngest of three children, Thrun befriended an inven- Thrun was born in 1967 in Solin- tor in his neighborhood who gave gen, . His parents, devout him spare parts and a soldering Catholics, told him he was an un- iron, then let him tinker. As an planned baby. Thrun recalls hav- eight-year-old, he’d come home ing little contact with his parents, from school, shut himself up in his and especially his father. His sib- room, turn on Pink Floyd, AC/DC, lings “required a lot of attention Mozart, or Bach, and spend hours and there was almost no attention sitting on his bed programming his le& for me,” he says. Texas Instruments TI-57 calculator His father was a construction to solve math problems and play company executive and more o&en games (These days you can "nd than not his "rst order of business him blasting a mix of classical con- was disciplining Sebastian or his certos and Rihanna). one of siblings with a beating, at The calculator had no mem- the request of his wife. Thrun says ory, of course, so every time he his stay-at-home mom was “heavy switched it o$, he lost all his code. into punishing people and sins Eventually, he graduated from his calculator to a display model computer at the local department store, but basically, he was still A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

dealing with the same problem: his junior who would become his Thrun is pictured here a&er four or "ve hours building girlfriend when he was 18, and, in October of games on the store machine, he’d eventually, his wife and colleague 2007 with the rest of be kicked out and all his work at . He also the Carnegie vanished. He took this inconve- played the piano, improvising his Mellon University nience as a challenge to perfect own songs as a way to study and team working on the his code so that he could re-enter express his emotions. “Groundhog,” it in the fewest possible steps. Thrun was a gi&ed student and a robot which traverses This fastidious dedication to terrible pupil with a self-imposed mines too simple, streamlined programming homework ban that lasted from toxic for humans stayed with him, and he would seventh grade through high school to enter. later require his students to write graduation. In college, the unprec- straightforward, elegant code. edented freedom to choose his own When not sitting at a screen, coursework sparked a newfound Thrun sang in a "ve-person choir passion for his academic work. He with Petra Dierkes, a girl two years combined a major in computer sci- ence with an unorthodox double minor in medicine and economics, a combination that would eventu- A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

ally help him design a “nursebot” to assist elderly patients. When he graduated from the with a Ph. D. in computer science and statistics in 1995, he leaped at the chance to join the Thrun says faculty at Carnegie Mellon Uni- his stay-at- versity—what then seemed like “paradise” to Thrun—and spent home mom was eight years there before moving to Stanford, where he was computer science guru. “heavy into Out in the Valley, Thrun struck up an acquaintanceship with punishing Google co-founder Larry Page, who asked him to see a robot Page people and had built in his spare time. The two men met for dinner at a ca- sins and all sual Japanese restaurant in Palo Alto and Thrun returned to Page’s that stu!.” house to see his creation. The robot’s hardware was in decent shape, but Page “got stuck on the so&ware side of it,” according to driverless car, a blue Volkswagen Thrun’s diagnosis. He borrowed Touareg SUV named , that the robot, #ew in a few friends, managed to navigate 132 miles and returned Page’s bot within a of desert terrain on its own, be- day a&er giving it the ability to coming the "rst self-driving car localize itself. A&er another two in history to win the Defense Ad- or three days of work, the robot vanced Research Projects Agency could navigate. Thrun said Page (DARPA) Grand Challenge — a was “blown away.” race through the sands of Nevada In 2005, Thrun’s engineering organized by the United States team at the Stanford Arti"cial Department of Defense. The pre- Intelligence Laboratory built a vious year, not a single one of the 15 entries from some of the most powerful engineers in the world had managed to com- The culmination of Thrun’s efforts studying computer science and medicine in college: the “Nursebot” designed to care for elderly patients. A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

plete more than eight miles of the signs warning Googlers to stay course. Thrun won the "rst year vigilant of “tailgaters.” he competed, just 15 months a&er For a visitor, it’s like stepping deciding to enter the race. into the labs of a mad, hipster Page, who professes self- scientist. Floors are made of con- driving cars have “been a pas- crete, wires hang from ceiling, sion of mine for years,” watched tubing covered in foil gleams from Stanley’s triumph in the Mojave the ra&ers, and row a&er row of desert. Soon a&er, Google hired black metal desks "ll the wide- Thrun to sire the sons of Stanley. open space. Thrun’s desk stands In 2010, Thrun helped Page and in the center of a vast space, at Sergey Brin, Google’s other co- the end of a long row of identi- founder, launch Google X, a top- cal workstations. His is tidy and secret and closely-guarded lab spare, save for a nametag, an un- that the search giant tasked with opened cardboard box, a DVD making the impossible possible. about the DARPA Grand Chal- The following year, Thrun relin- lenge, a white Japanese humanoid quished his tenure at Stanford. robot and The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner’s history of Bell Labs— Xtreme engineering AT&T’s legendary innovations Google X’s engineers are housed incubator that won seven Nobel in a low structure covered in prizes and helped usher in the in- squares of dark, mirrored glass formation age. that o$er a mercury-tinted re#ec- Thrun says he rarely reads books tion of the parking lot, bikes and (they’re “too long”), but Gertner’s trees that surround it. There are tome is particularly "tting in a jails less secure than this research place that aspires to be the heir to lab. Employees need a key card to the Bell Labs throne. Its mission, unlock the entrance, and then are according to Thrun, is to work admitted to a small waiting area on areas of innovation that have furnished with two chairs and a “hard scienti"c challenges” and foosball table. From there, em- “can in#uence society in a massive ployees must swipe their badges way.” Thrun had considered work- again to enter any of the labs ing with the government to deploy within, each door plastered with self-driving technology to help sol- diers in the "eld, but the military’s stipulation that he not publish his results killed the collaboration. He HUFFINGTON A BEAUTIFUL MIND 8.19.12

Junior is a self-driving car built by Stanford University that is much like its predecessor Stanley, except this car had to navigate through moving objects in a simulated city environment for DARPA’s Urban Challenge in 2007. A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

instead brought his autonomous vehicles to Google, where they pro- vided the inspiration for Google X and, in Thrun’s view, would get the support they needed to “impact large, large numbers of people.” Google X’s Thrun crouches down to strap engineers are on his roller skates, but is dis- tracted by a Google X-branded housed in a low skateboard produced by a col- league. He grabs the board and structure covered starts wheeling around the room. “Sergey fell on this? Awesome,” in squares of dark, Thrun remarks with a smile on his second lap. The cavernous mirrored glass… area, nearly empty at 9 A.M., echoes with his chirps — “Aah!” “Whee!”— as he loops the room, There are jails narrowly missing the edges of the desks, bookcases and fridges less secure stocked with free food. “Don’t fall, we need you,” a than this Googler shouts at Thrun. A fascination with images as research lab. facilitator for human relation- ships infused Thrun’s work on , which allows train Stanley—technology Thrun people to digitally meander the nearly used to start his own com- streets of Mumbai, trace a nature pany, Vutool. hike in Yosemite, or tour New Page tasked Thrun with apply- York’s Times Square—all from ing the so&ware to scaling Google the comfort of their homes. In Street View as quickly as possible. 2007, Google acquired mapping “I always felt that if countries technology which Thrun’s team knew each other better, there at Stanford had developed to would be less war,” says Thrun. “O&en con#ict goes with demon- izing other countries and cultures. A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

I "gured if we could bridge the gap run. A small row of icons appears between cultures with images, that with the option to share it. would not be a bad thing to do.” Google Glasses’ creators have Two years ago, Thrun assem- taken pains to design a device that bled a team of Google X engineers won’t isolate people from their and tasked them with another as- surroundings. For example, the signment, one also rooted in the speaker sits above the wearer’s ear, future: to reinvent the computer. not in it, and the cube rests above The result is Project Glass, the eye, not in front of it. The sus- a.k.a. Google Glasses, an endeavor pended square of glass lights up Thrun makes a point of asking from both sides, so a person speak- me to note is now being led by ing to someone wearing Google his colleague Babak Parviz. Thrun Glasses can tell if the wearer has hands me a pair of the “glasses,” the device switched on. which will be available for $1500 Thrun’s deep investment in to a limited group of tech indus- the project seems to come from try insiders in early 2013. Worn a personal aversion to the madly like a pair of lens-less spectacles, proliferating gadgets that stand the device suspends a glass cube between people and the world around half an inch wide just far around them. The inspiration is to enough to the right of my retina “get technology out of your way” that I can still make direct eye so people “spend less time on contact with Thrun, who all but technology and more time on the hovers with excitement in the real world,” he says. chair across from mine. And for someone who hopes to A video of "reworks begins to see us endowed with an all-seeing play on the cube and the screen electronic third eye, Thrun is re- glows purple, pink and blue, both markably hostile to his devices. from my vantage point and Th- Cellphones are a distraction that run’s. A faint soundtrack of the make us socially “cut o$” from an explosions hums from a speaker environment, he gripes. He’ll "n- just above my ear. The image on ish a two-hour meal without once the glass shi&s as I tilt my chin glancing at his phone. To him, and move my gaze, and without phone calls are a “super negative” realizing it, I snap a picture of Th- experience because they interrupt what he’s doing. “I once saw a family of "ve chil- dren and two parents in a Lake LARRY BUSACCA/WIREIMAGE FOR WIRED us to other people. Technology is love andconnections thatbring me: having thetechnology that we it’s areally bigemotional thingfor if Google Glass hassucceeded, but other,” Thrunrecalls. “Ican’t tell ily andthey shouldjust enjoy each of momentof timewiththeirfam so sad because they have this brief ing dinnertogether. Thatmade me their phonewhile they were hav single person was just lookingat Tahoe restaurant, where every MIND ABE A UTIFUL

- - pervasive aswell inaworld fullof mentation—will become more present. Surveillance—and docu directly to thepeoplewho aren’t thus connecting ourselves more of them andshare more of them, all butguarantees we’ll take more it easier to snapandshare photos or onsomeone else’s face. Making level and constantly inyour face, sight. Google Glasses are ateye pocket andbetemporarily outof other people.” synonymous for connection with A cellphone can slipinto a Maybe. - 8.19.12 HUFFINGTON on May 1st. Conference Business a Wired Wired, editor of New York Tanz, the with Jason Thrun speaks at A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

Google Glasses. run’s vision for a device that brings Does Thrun worry that omni- people together, the house he’s present Google Glasses will make building near Palo Alto is a wish us more likely to disconnect from for a home that does the same. people around us? The frame of the house tops a “All the time,” he says, explain- gold, grassy hill on a $5.9 million, ing that he and other Google X nine-acre plot of land in Los Altos engineers have been wearing the Hills. Seen from afar, it might be device as much as possible to see mistaken for a red #ying saucer what dinner table conversation is that has descended on Silicon Val- like once the novelty of the gadget ley. Designed by Eli Attia, former has worn o$. “Maybe the outcome chief of design for Philip Johnson, will be socially not that accept- the building is a squat, single- able, we don’t know.” story cylinder with exterior walls So far, he’s felt “amazingly em- made entirely of #oor-to-ceiling powered” by the ability to take glass. A glass cone protrudes from pictures, share pictures, and the roof at the center of the circle bring people into what he’s doing and directly below it, a spiral at that very moment. To Thrun, staircase leads to a garage. Thrun Google Glasses’ primary appeal says with a touch of pride that at is as a camera. He predicts we’ll 5,000 square feet, the three-bed- share ten times as many photos room home is a fraction the size of as we do now and that the images its neighboring mansions. There we share will be “uglier”— more are also no corridors or load-bear- personal, more authentic, and ing walls in the #oor plan, and more of the moment. These inti- much of the eco-friendly home is mate images of what we’re seeing given over to common areas. right this instant — a baby’s face, “It’s really compact,” Thrun the steak we’re about to bite into says. “The idea to make as com- — will allow a kind of elementary pact as possible so family stays as teleportation that lets us each close together as possible.” bring everyone along for the ride. During the tour, a neighbor Your mind can be closer than stops by to ask if Thrun will join ever to mine. him at this year’s Bohemian Club If Google Glasses embody Th- retreat. Like Thrun, he’s a mem- ber of this elite society where men—and only men—with big checkbooks and big roles to play A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

in life get together to schmooze, into foolish fears. Thrun sees a Thrun in the Google self- booze, sing and pee in the woods, very real and important place for driving car according to accounts. Thrun says technology that advances clarity, earlier this month. it isn’t likely. Later, he tells me he eliminates obfuscation, and gives wouldn’t want to go on vacation people all the help they need to without his wife and son. solve problems on their own. Thrun approaches problems The Laws Of Motion armed with facts and cool hard Even as Thrun seeks to get gadgets logic, and seems troubled by peo- out of our way, his vision sug- ple who do otherwise. He has an gests an e$ort to make humans impressive number of statistics a bit more like computers: more at his "ngertips: the energy e!- rational and less inclined to give ciency of planes versus trains, the fraction of materials shipped to a construction site that go to waste, the number of years required to A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

#y to Mars and the percentage of Americans who don’t believe in evolution (a number irksomely large, in his view). He imagines a device more instantaneous, per- sonalized and melded with our “ We as a society mind than a smartphone, one that don’t wish would elevate conversations by allowing user to more easily re- to engage in search and surface facts during a discussion. No more messy specu- lation or faulty memories. rational “We’ve stopped thinking. We’ve really stopped thinking,” he says. thought.” “We don’t look at problems logi- cally, we look at them emotionally. We look at them through the guts. We look at them as if we’re doing memorizing them in a classroom. a high school problem, like what is Thrun also believes that connec- beautiful, what makes me recog- tivity is fundamental to learning. nized among my peers. We don’t It’s through interactions with as go and think about things. We as many good minds as possible that a society don’t wish to engage in good ideas take hold. rational thought.” Conversations with people Thrun blames the sorry state like Dean Kamen, Elon Musk and of our minds on an education Google’s co-founders are crucial to system that raises students “like Thrun’s problem solving process. robots” and trains them to “fol- He listens, debates, and tests ideas low rules.” Thrun’s pedagogy, at out on people to see how they re- Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and act. Being around Page and Brin now Udacity, leans heavily on makes Thrun feel “stupid,” like “a learning by doing. He advises schoolboy,” and he says he can’t get that I take up snowboarding so I enough of it. can understand the laws of mo- “For me these are the high points tion by living them rather than of my life: When I go in and some- body just shows me how dumb I am and how little I know. That’s what I live for. Just to learn something A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

new,” he says. ing Udacity courses. Enrollment On a recent a&ernoon, Thrun is is down, Thrun acknowledges, at Udacity’s headquarters in Palo though he doesn’t say by how Alto, just blocks from Stanford’s much. campus, rallying the troops. He But Thrun is undaunted. has called an all-hands meeting “If we do a really good job here, and the company’s 30-odd em- then we’re going to shape society, ployees, mostly 20-somethings in together with our partners and jeans, are gathered in a semi cir- other entities in the space, to re- cle around him leaning on desks, ally, really rede"ne education,” squished onto couches, or sit- he says. “That’s pretty cool for a ting cross-legged on the #oor. His mission. That’s much better than two co-founders, being Instagram.” and Mike Sokolsky, former mem- Thrun predicts education will bers of Stanford’s self-driving car radically transform in the next team, have also joined. ten years. Like blockbuster "lms, “The purpose of this week has blockbuster online classes will been for me to think about where command huge audiences and cost the focus is and I know all of you millions of dollars to produce. have been asking me for this and Many alma maters will shutter it’s obviously something I’ve been their doors as low-cost, high- slacking to do and not doing really quality online courses put sec- well, so score me on the perfor- ond-tier schools out of business. mance review and make sure that Learning won’t stop the moment you put a check mark on ‘Sebas- careers begin, and instead co-exist tian is not particularly fast,’” he with work throughout life. He tells his sta$. hopes to see teens start working Since Udacity launched in 2011, earlier. Books will play a reduced "rst under the name Know Labs, role in teaching and short-but- over 730,000 students have en- comprehensive, quiz-intensive rolled in classes—including the lessons will replace them. 160,000 that registered for Th- Udacity marks Thrun’s e$ort to run’s "rst online course, Introduc- make all of the above come true. tion to Arti"cial Intelligence—and He’s a&er an audience of people 150,000 of them are actively tak- from 18 to 80 years old, from Sacre- mento to Shanghai, from novice to knowledgeable. Thrun calls Udacity the “Twitter of education,” in keep- A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

ing with his vision that universities to properly answer the problem. Ommos pari consequatur, “will go from mammoth degrees to Unlike traditional universities, voloris 140-character education.” Udacity plans to turn a pro"t. For invelitios seque volupta Shorter, more digestible units a fee, the company will provide tataspernam hiliasi magnit created by professors concerned o!cial certi"cation to students harchil with teaching, not tenure, will who pass course exams at an in- lenducim seamlessly “"t” in students’ person testing center. Udacity dolum aut lives. Udacity’s lessons—YouTube also plans to play matchmaker videos split into segments three between students and compa- to "ve minutes in length—feature nies looking to hire them, and, a professor narrating principles like LinkedIn, will charge "rms to or equations as they are sketched browse its database of resumes. out by a disembodied hand. Upsetting the status quo in Each lesson ends with a quiz, lecture halls around the coun- followed by an explanation of how try has become big business and Udacity faces a growing number of competitors, most of which have, unlike Udacity, partnered A BEAUTIFUL HUFFINGTON MIND 8.19.12

with existing universities to pro- duce their courses. Coursera, a company that’s the brainchild of two Stanford professors, boasts a dozen partners from Princeton to Penn. EdX is a not-for-pro"t ini- tiative founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide instruction online. And 2tor is working with a growing roster of universities to o$er online graduate degrees in business, law and nursing, among other "elds. Thrun says he welcomes these rivals because more choice is the best thing that could happen to students. gramming physics, math, statis- Ommos pari consequatur, Udacity looks to be a breed- tics and arti"cial intelligence. voloris ing ground for cultivating the “It’s opening up the chances invelitios seque volupta talents of the young Thruns of for other people to also become tataspernam the world: motivated individu- innovators,” Zachary, the venture hiliasi magnit harchil als who want to learn, know what capitalist, says of Udacity and lenducim subjects they care about, seek a Thrun. “It is passing forward his dolum aut braniac community and are de- spirit of innovation.” termined to teach themselves, no Thrun considers Udacity his matter what. It’s the experience most important undertaking and Thrun didn’t have growing up, it will perhaps prove his most but would have wanted. Classes challenging one. Regardless, he are structured around solving a doesn’t think about his legacy problem—building a search en- and he doesn’t imagine he’ll be gine, programming a robotic car— remembered in a generation. Af- rather than mastering theory or ter all, he’s only human. reviewing a canon. The thirteen- “I screw up every day,” he says. courses o$ered so far cover pro- “I have a broken piece of glass in my car. I almost got a ticket this morning.” In the mean- time, he plans to keep