Auction at Sotheby’s www source code will be auctioned

Status: 23.06.2021 12:35 p.m.

It is basically the founding document of the World Wide Web: 9550 lines of programming code. Now the original files of the inventor Tim Berners-Lee come under the hammer.

From Peter Mücke, ARD Studio New York

“This changed everything” is what Sotheby’s calls the auction quite immodestly. Which, for once, shouldn’t be an exaggeration – because who would deny that the World Wide Web has actually changed almost everything. Even if its inventor Tim Berners-Lee was probably not aware of this when he presented his proposal for a system for the exchange of information on March 12, 1989.

It started at CERN

At that time, the British computer scientist was working at the European nuclear research center CERN and had the problem that parts of the laboratories are located on Swiss territory and other parts on French territory. Because the two countries had different network infrastructures, he developed a system that was supposed to facilitate the exchange of information across borders. This original programming code comprises 9550 lines and has since dictated the basic structures of the Internet: the page description language HTML and the transfer protocol HTTP and the identifier URI. A revolution – not just for the scientific world for which the project was actually intended.

Invented the Internet code: the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Image: picture alliance / dpa

Digital collector’s item

Even if the code has long been “open source” – that is, freely accessible to everyone – it is now going under the hammer: the original files, provided with a time stamp and a signature from Berners-Lee, together with a digital poster that visualizes the source code and a letter from the scientist from 1989 in which he describes his project. Everything is conveniently packed in a so-called NFT – a “non-fungible token”. This is a kind of digital certificate of authenticity that is stored on a so-called blockchain. It should prove that the virtual object is unique – even if any number of digital copies can exist. The collector’s item of the digital age, so to speak.

Minimum bid $ 1000

As a computer scientist, it is only logical to auction his invention as such an NFT, says Berners-Lee. It feels right to put your signature under an all-digital artifact. The online auction lasts a week and starts with a minimum bid of $ 1000. The proceeds will go to a foundation.

After the auction houses had long blocked the auctioning of such NFTs, they have been doing this for some time good sales with digital art . Most recently, the auction of works by crypto artist Pak at Sotheby’s raised $ 17 million. At Christie’s, an NFT of a collage by digital artist Beeple changed hands for just under $ 70 million

A reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from Huangpu District that on the eve of July 1st, the Shanghai Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the May 30th Movement Memorial and the May 30th Massacre, the former site of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China were located in Huangpu District. The lights of red landmarks such as the former sites of Shanghai institutions will also be upgraded and upgraded to welcome the centenary of the party with a new look.

“Shanghai Huangpu” WeChat public account map

Built in 1993, the Monument to the People’s Heroes was built in memory of the revolutionary martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Shanghai since 1840. It has always been a red landmark for citizens and tourists to pay tribute to the martyrs.

At 6:30 in the evening on June 23, the lights came on, and the Bund International Buildings also lit up. On the same day, the People’s Heroes Memorial Tower located at the starting point of the Bund was displayed in front of citizens and tourists with brand new red themed lights.

The three optimistic pillars rising from the ground are like silent monuments, remembering the immortal martyrs who have sacrificed honorably since the Opium War, the May Fourth Movement, and the Liberation War. The original lights of the entire memorial tower were replaced by brand new red wall washer lights, which symbolizes the blood shed by the revolutionary ancestors in order to liberate the cause. From time to time, the tower body also shows the golden laser flashing upwards, looking from a distance as if the flames are dotted, symbolizing A single spark can start a prairie fire. On the pedestal of the memorial tower, in addition to the red wall washer, thousands of point light sources filled the entire wall. The golden point light sources flickered with the wind, like a five-star red flag waving in the wind.

(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the “The Paper” APP)

The first episode of the five-episode large-scale political film “The Look of You” in the centenary of the founding of the party “Faith” Faith is the spiritual “calcium” of communists. From the bloody revolutionary war period to the arduous new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, for centuries, the Chinese Communists have always strengthened their ideals and convictions, united and led the people to overcome difficulties and invincible. This kind of power travels through time and space and becomes stronger over time, illuminating the way forward and enlightening the future. At the beginning of the 20th century, China was dying and distressed. In the days of wind and rain, the first full Chinese translation of the “Communist Manifesto” was published, like a flash of lightning, piercing the dark night. The founding of the Communist Party of China promoted Marxism toward factories and mines. In the face of heavy oppression, more and more workers have picked up the “Communist Manifesto”, took the initiative to absorb progressive ideas, and draw on the strength of struggle. People also brought pamphlets with the head of the “big beard” to the countryside. The seeds of faith began to take root in the fields. In those days, no matter where they were, many people were using their own methods to pursue the brightest in their beliefs. In 1927, the Kuomintang, which betrayed the revolution, blatantly “cleared the party against the Communist Party” throughout the country. Zhang Chaoxie, then the head of the organization of the CCP’s Yongxiu District Committee, was killed by bandits. Wang Jingyan, who studied far away in Moscow, resolutely returned to China and continued his revolutionary career where her husband had struggled before his death. Wang Jingyan and the male comrades travelled through the mountains and rivers to carry out rural work. Within a year, the county’s Communist Party members grew to more than 400. On a rainy night full of thoughts, she lightly chanted the lyrics “I and You” that she and her husband wrote together, “Great ideals and common ambitions, let us live and die together, I am you.” In June 1928, 26-year-old Wang Jingyan died after being arrested. When Fanghua was 25 and 26 years old, why did Zhang Chaoxie and Wang Jingyan take care of their lives and revolutionize them at their own expense? Later generations tried to understand their beliefs and choices from the letters. Countless young soldiers of the Red Army have traded their young lives for the hope of the Chinese revolution. And most of them couldn’t even leave their names. In 1934, when the Red Army assembled, the 17 brothers in Ruijinhuawu Village, Jiangxi once planted 17 pine trees, telling their families that “seeing the pine is like seeing the person”. They rushed to the battlefield and never returned. Today, these 17 “trees of faith” are still thriving. At the beginning of the founding of New China, one was poor and the other was in vain, and a hundred waste was waiting for prosperity. People embark on a new Long March road. The 26-year-old “Han of Coal” Ma Wanshui responded to the call of the state and came to Hebei Longyan Iron Mine, which supplies much-needed resources for large-scale construction across the country. Yu Changqing, former member of the “Ma Wanshui Group” recalled, “He wielded a 12-pound sledgehammer, and later hit 800 and 1,000. Others won’t work for three or two minutes, and Ma Wanshui’s eye is five or six minutes. His strength is too great.” The real and imminent sense of crisis pushed Ma Wanshui forward. This persevering Communist Party member firmly believes that the hands of workers will eventually build a modern socialist China. Sixty years have passed, and the Ma Wanshui team, which initially had only 18 people, has stepped forward step by step, went abroad, and developed into a company with an annual output value of nearly 300 million yuan. The journey of the road is consistent. The river of history continues to rush forward. In 1977, 19-year-old Huang Danian went all the way north from Guixian, Guangxi to Jilin University. On the days when the snow was flying, he wandered in the sea of ​​knowledge in the thin clothes, hungry and thirsty, not feeling cold at all. When graduating from undergraduate, Huang Danian wrote a farewell message in the notebook of his classmates. Just 9 words, it’s as heavy as possible. The scorching faith, supporting all the efforts and fatigue of these years, has long been melted into the core of his life. Huang Danian’s return to China promoted China’s entry into the “Deep Earth Era” and took five years to complete the 20-year road of developed countries. The hero has no regrets, this Communist Party member who pursues ideals and sticks to his faith all his life dedicated his most precious life to the motherland where his dreams started. Several generations of communists have succumbed to the road, worked hard, and passed on from generation to generation, never giving up. This belief originates from the scientific theory of Marxism. Today, the same belief is resonating in the “back wave.” Time flies, the world on the map has undergone profound changes in a century. The gleams of light in the long chaotic night have now converged into a dazzling galaxy. The vicissitudes of Linggu, the original intention remains the same. No matter what era, the Communists’ determination to pursue their ideals and serve the people has never changed, and their beliefs have become stronger over time. Producer: Sun Chengbin and Liu Gang Planning: Li Keyong and Li Zhongfa Producer: Sun Zhiping Executive Producer: Zhang Pingfeng and Li Jie Director: Li Yaguang Main camera: Guo Gang and Li Haiwei Camera crew: Fan Junwei, Jiang Mingming, Rao Rao, Kong Linghang, Li Yuhui, Tan Guanghua, Yang Fan, Yue Wenting Huang Hexun, Cen Zhilian, Liu Bin, Wang Yiwen, Li Xiaobo, Wu Feizuo, Pan Xu, Feng Yuan, and Li Tao Camera Assistant: An Feiyang Tan Yifan Yang Yuhua Liu Jiajun Academic Advisor: Jin Minqing Luo Pinghan Feng Lixia Lai Desheng Vision: Xia Yong Commentary: Wang Shuailong Calligraphy: Huang Qiuyuan Special thanks to Central Party School Central Party History and Literature Research Institute Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Thanks Wang Jingyan Organization Cadre College China Huaye Science and Industry Group Co., Ltd. Filming Xinhua News Agency Audio and Video Department