Yoda Yo Grandma, Wilson Fisk & Zero Employees

StoryFile is not the only company indulged in such morbid tech. It in fact, represents a broader trend by tech companies to resurrect the deceased with the power of AI.

Earlier this year Amazon showcased a new Alexa feature. A late grandmother's voice reading a bedtime story to a child. 

But in this case, the grandmother hadn’t recorded the story recitation before dying. Instead, Alexa’s AI used short audio clips of the grandma to create longer speech audios by replicating the cadence of her voice and intonation of her speech. 🗨️

We’re blurring the lines between reality and simulation. And not everyone is a fan of it. Here are some of the comments users have expressed for the Alexa feature.

There's no doubt that as more of this becomes mainstream, the psychological process of mourning is going to change fundamentally. 🧠 Whether for good or for bad, that is to be seen. 

Here’s a quick story of another solopreneur, Alexandre Cazes, founder of AlphaBay. Only this one is a blackmarket crime lord. 

About AlphaBay? 

AlphaBay, the eBay-style underworld marketplace, officially launched on December 22, 2014. It saw a steady growth, with 14,000 new users in the first 90 days of operation alone. By October 2015, AlphaBay had over 200,000 users and more than 21,000 product listings for drugs. By mid-2016, it was selling $350,000 a day, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon. 

It had become not only the biggest black market on the dark web, but the biggest cryptocurrency black market of all time. 🏪

About the Founder

Alexandre Cazes, the young Canadian founder, was a Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin type of character. He juggled multiple identities while living a life of luxury in Bangkok, Thailand. 

There was his public persona as that of an early Bitcoin investor and owner of a tech company. Under this identity, he flaunted his wealth with fancy cars, multiple properties, and $40,000 dinners. 

He had another strictly-business identity as Alpha02, the criminal mastermind running AlphaBay's day-to-day operations. 🦹‍♂️

How did that pan out? 

It took the cooperation of law enforcement agencies from several different countries to apprehend him. In the month leading up to his arrest, nearly 20 agents, analysts, computer forensic experts, and prosecutors from the FBI, DEA, IRS, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police convened in Bangkok to complete the mission.

Eric Barone has made $300M+ (yes, that's not a typo) in revenue in 6 years with 0 employees.

He developed a game that has sold 20M copies to date. At this rate, he can easily become the first one-person founder to do 1B+ in sales.

Here's how he did it:

In 2011, Eric made the FarmVille-type video game called Stardew Valley to improve his chances of getting a job.

The premise was simple: You inherit a large farm. You grow crops, raise livestock, and build relationships with the villagers. 🌾