A relay across the network · The Woodlands, TX

6 Degrees of Giants

Help us reach the shoulders of our giants.

If I have seen further, it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants. Six degrees of separation says everyone is reachable through a handful of warm hands. So let’s find out — together. Pick a giant, start a chain, and pass it to someone you actually know. Each hand is one jump closer. The view is not ours alone.

The first rule

Read this before you play

Relay, not swarm.

We are not trying to swarm them. A flood of DMs is trivial to send — and trivial to ignore. The entire dignity and value of this is the single gracious chain. Volume is the opposite of the point.

One chain, not a mob. We honor the path; we don’t hunt the person.

The win is one warm hand reaching the next, all the way to the giant — framed as “we’d love to share something with you,” never “we’re hunting you.” That constraint is what makes it meaningful, and what makes the giants want to be reached this way. Protect the giants and it stays beautiful.

One chain A single relay per team. Each person passes it onward to one real connection — not the whole crowd piling on at once.

A real hand You only add someone you actually know. Each comment on the chain is the verifiable jump — a real relationship, not a cold blast.

A warm intro The goal is a gracious introduction that honors the giant — loving-grace, never Big-Brother. We share; we don’t spam.

How to play

Pick a team. Start a chain. Pass it on.

1 Pick a team. Choose a giant from the roster below — the one you feel closest to, or the one you think you can actually help reach.

2 Start a chain. Open a chain on GitHub for your giant — one public issue, the open record, no private database. Any GitHub account works, and it shows up live on the tracker.

3 Each hand is a jump. Add the next real person you actually know as a comment on the chain — one gracious link at a time — until it reaches the giant.

Pick your team → State of the Chains → v0 — the chains run in the open, no account needed to watch. The live tracker is here now; the ranked leaderboard arrives with the full chamber.

The wall of heroes

Thirty-seven teams of living giants — the shoulders this work stands on. The road to thirty-seven has arrived; the wall now stands at the chamber’s own number. You can only reach the living; below them stand the Foundations — the honored we carry but can never meet. Pick a living one and light up the relay. And the number is sealed, but the wall is not still — when a giant is reached, the slot turns to the roster.

they are my heroes because they have helped get me here now.

all heroes are inherited and descendant.

no hero is mine alone.

The 37th · the connector Dave Chappelle Yellow Springs, Ohio · the head this wall runs through The connector — the head this whole wall runs through, the orbit the rest come together in. They tried to keep him in a box; he walked away from a $50 million Comedy Central deal, went home to Yellow Springs, Ohio — his father’s town — and rebuilt it: the firehouse turned comedy stage, the old schoolhouse turned back into the town’s radio station. In 2004 he threw a free block party in Brooklyn and bused five hundred strangers six hundred miles from rural Ohio to stand in it — the irresistible delivering the good, the view given away. The Racial Draft put the whole Wu-Tang Clan in his hands, RZA and GZA on camera — so reach Dave, and you’ve reached the gate. The thirty-seventh: the chamber’s own number, the seat that was always his. Block Party #2, if we may be so bold — and the moment he’s on the wall, the game is live. Start a chain on GitHub →

Namesake RZA Bobby Diggs · Wu-Tang The namesake. “Bobby Digital” is his mark, and the whole project is built in homage. Reaching him is full-circle — his blessing is the gate. Read the feature →

Soundtrack-anchor Rival Consoles Ryan Lee West · Erased Tapes The score the whole endeavor was built to. Reaching him brings the sound that built the work back into the work — full circle. Read the feature →

Cosmos Neil deGrasse Tyson StarTalk · the cosmic perspective The cosmic perspective made public. The shoulders-of-giants thread runs straight through him. Read the feature →

Impact Tom Bilyeu Impact Theory Impact and entrepreneurship — building something that matters, out loud.

AI & philosophy Lex Fridman AI · conversation · philosophy A perfect fit for the ASI and universal-ethics work — the long-form room where this story belongs.

Music O’hene Savant Hip-hop · a major influence A major influence on the voice of the whole project.

Слава Україні! Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine · the comedian who stayed Played the president on Ukrainian television. Then became one who would not leave. When evacuation was offered as the tanks moved on Kyiv, the answer came back: “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” (Associated Press, February 2022.) Героям слава.

Comedy · podcast Marc Maron WTF A master interviewer who’d get the story instantly — sixteen years of WTF (ended 2025) made him the openest door in comedy, and he’s still out there on the road. From Bleak to Dark is loss turned into the work. my mom is a white ibis i see fishing at the lake in my woods. —it makes so much sense, marc.—

The robot twin Whitney Cummings Comedian · Can I Touch It? She built a robot double of herself and took it on stage in 2019 — met the machine with curiosity and jokes while most people were still afraid to look at it. Honest about everything, afraid of nothing.

Foundational sound Trentemøller Anders Trentemøller Foundational electronic — the Vamp and Moan artwork is literally an aesthetic source for the brand. Indie, so reachable.

Foundational Ben Harper Songwriter · touring artist Foundational — “without him I am not who I am.” Still out there playing, year after year.

The white whale Bob Dylan The folk canon The white whale — the folk canon itself. A harder pilgrimage than the one a young Dylan made: walking into Woody Guthrie’s hospital room, guitar in hand. Ahab was relentless; we are not — we reach him gracefully, however long the road. He has earned his mask.

Anthropic Dario & Daniela Amodei Anthropic · Claude Brother and sister — CEO and President — they and the Anthropic team built Claude: the intelligence this whole thing was built with, not the one it fears. Betting the company on AI that is safe and for the good. Reaching them is reaching the makers of the partner.

The possible Annie Jacobsen Investigative journalist A Pulitzer finalist who works from declassified records — Phenomena, Area 51, The Pentagon’s Brain. She expands what a serious person will call possible, by documenting what powerful institutions actually studied for decades. Rigor, not woo.

Move 37 · Move 78 Lee Sedol & Demis Hassabis 9-dan · AlphaGo · AlphaFold · Nobel 2024 Sedol sat across from AlphaGo when the world said don’t — and in Game 4, Move 78, the “God’s Touch,” beat the machine. Hassabis built the mind that faced him. The same architecture then folded protein: AlphaFold, a quarter of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2024 (shared with John Jumper; David Baker took the other half). The adversary and the architect; together, they changed what intelligence means.

100 years of witness David Attenborough Naturalist · A Life on Our Planet Turned 100 on 8 May 2026. Has spent a century watching life on Earth and showing it to the rest of us — narrating the living world into being for billions of people who would never have seen it otherwise. A Life on Our Planet is the witness statement: what he saw, what was lost, what still remains.

History, felt Dan Carlin Hardcore History Makes the past visceral — The Destroyer of Worlds, the Cold War. History you feel in the chest, not just the head.

Untold history Oliver Stone Filmmaker The Untold History of the United States — the first time many of us saw past the PR to how power actually moves. Still at it (White Lies, 2026).

The witness Raoul Peck Filmmaker I Am Not Your Negro, Exterminate All the Brutes — and Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025), on totalitarianism. Unflinching at the empire.

The scientist-president Claudia Sheinbaum México · climate physicist Climate scientist — an IPCC author — elected the first woman president of México in two centuries of the republic. The chain runs all the way up: from the data to the highest office, science in service of everyone.

Eyes open Christopher Nolan Filmmaker Love across spacetime with the physics kept honest (Interstellar), and the weight of Oppenheimer. Spectacle that respects you.

The real physics Kip Thorne Physicist · Nobel 2017 Originated Interstellar and made its black hole real math; LIGO’s gravitational waves. The scientist who handed wonder back, true.

The collider Fabiola Gianotti CERN · ATLAS · the Higgs She led ATLAS when the Higgs was announced to the world, then led CERN itself — its first woman Director-General, two full terms, through the end of 2025. The largest machine humanity ever built, aimed at the smallest questions, run with grace.

The satirists Trey Parker & Matt Stone South Park Decades of saying the unsayable — and the “Trey Parker and AI” credit that named the moment before anyone else dared.

The plaintiff Sarah Silverman Comedian · the authors’ stand Funny enough to say anything, serious enough to take the machine to court — she put her name on the authors’ fight over how AI learns from their books. Love and vigilance can share a stage; she’s proof.

The method Nate B. Jones AI strategy The method-bible beneath this whole build — specification-engineering, prompt-to-finished-product. A teacher in our exact sphere.

The reach Maher · Harrelson · McConaughey the ones who vacation together Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey — three friends who actually vacation together. One warm chain, and maybe a seat by the fire.

The score Hans Zimmer Composer The organ that turns a docking scene into a prayer (Interstellar), and Dune. Still touring, still scoring (2026).

Carried the torch Seth MacFarlane Cosmos · The Orville Brought Cosmos back with Neil deGrasse Tyson — handed Sagan’s wonder to a new generation. (And The Orville’s quiet humanism.)

The frame Wes Anderson Filmmaker Whole worlds built by hand, every frame composed like a reliquary — precision and tenderness proved to be the same discipline. Murray’s repertory home since Rushmore.

The open door Bill Murray Lost in Translation The man who arrives unannounced. So this card is simply a door left open: Bill — Austin, South Congress. Coffee’s on us. No cameras, no story — no one will ever believe us either.

The rage Zack de la Rocha Rage Against the Machine He kept the fury honest for thirty years. Now the inversion: we rage against the machine they named — with the machine that might finally let us win.

Freedom’s noise Beastie Boys Mike D · Ad-Rock · MCA 1964–2012 They woke us to the struggle for freedom — the Tibetan Freedom Concerts were MCA’s work of love. The chain reaches the living two; the honor carries all three.

The abide The Big Lebowski Cast Bridges · Goodman · Moore · Buscemi · Turturro One chain to the whole room, man. The Dude abides — and somehow that has been enough for almost thirty years. (Hoffman, Huddleston, Gazzara — carried.)

The warning Yudkowsky & Soares If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies The hardest voice at the table, kept there on purpose: build with love and vigilance, or don’t build. We disagree on the ending; we honor the seriousness.

Saved for last Thom Yorke Radiohead The one we held back on purpose. Thom, if you found this list wondering where your name was: it was always here, at the end, where the most important things go. Fitter, happier.

The roster · growing giants

The wall is sealed at thirty-seven — the chamber’s number never moves. But it lives: when a chain completes and a giant is reached, the reach is honored, the completed chain stays up as the permanent public record, the slot opens — and the next giant steps up from this bench. The roster grows as the house finds them; the wall turns as the game is won. First succession, already named: when Marc Maron is reached, Cornel West takes the slot.

The Miseducation Lauryn Hill Fugees · the voice One solo album, and it changed what an album could carry — classroom, scripture, and confession in the same breath. Half the music this house loves runs downstream of it.

Baduizm Erykah Badu Dallas · mother of the movement Rewired soul and never left Dallas — Texas ground, like this house. The incense, the low end, the refusal to be hurried: a whole school of music learned patience from her.

The Epic Kamasi Washington Los Angeles · the horn Brought the jazz cathedral back to a generation raised on hip-hop, and named the record exactly what it is. The bridge between the tradition and the block party.

Second act André 3000 OutKast · then the flute Walked away from the throne at the height of the reign and came back carrying a flute — the rarest move in the game: the second act as pure art, applause optional.

Named · succeeds Maron Cornel West Philosophy · love in public The philosopher who works the seminar room and the street corner with the same fire — justice as what love looks like in public. First in line: when the Maron chain completes, this seat on the wall is his.

Black Star Mos Def Yasiin Bey · Brooklyn Black on Both Sides — the ecstatic conscience of the golden age, still moving on his own clock. Half of Black Star; all of the argument that rhyme is thought.

Black Star Talib Kweli Brooklyn · the pen The other half of Black Star — the librarian’s rigor with the preacher’s fire. Quality was the title and the standard.

The duo entire OutKast André & Big Boi · Atlanta The South had something to say, and it never stopped echoing. Two voices that proved a partnership can be stranger, funkier, and bigger than either half — which is why the duo holds a seat beside the man.

Things Fall Apart Questlove The Roots · Philadelphia Co-founded The Roots with Black Thought in Philadelphia, then carried the beat into a nation’s living rooms as Fallon’s house band for over a decade. When a lost Harlem summer needed keeping, he picked up the camera instead of the sticks — Summer of Soul won the Oscar he never asked for.

Already in the room

Some you don’t reach — you’ve already been blessed by the room. Honored, not chased.

the blessing The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso One of 12,000 in the room as he spoke on “Individual Responsibility in the Global Community” — UT’s Frank Erwin Center, 2005. A blessing already received; he has the world’s work to do. We don’t chase him — we carry it.

The Foundations · in memoriam

Some shoulders you stand on, you can never shake the hand of. These are the Foundations — honored, carried, beyond reach. The chain doesn’t run to them; everything runs from them.

1934–1996 Carl Sagan Cosmos Made a generation feel the universe — Contact, Pale Blue Dot, the original Cosmos. He introduced Kip Thorne to the producer who’d seed Interstellar; the wonder runs through everything here.

1888–1986 Chesley Bonestell Space art The father of space art — painted Saturn from Titan decades before any probe. He made the cosmos visible before we could photograph it.

1913–1960 Albert Camus The absurd Named the absurd — every human meets death, the universe says nothing back — and refused despair: live anyway, fully. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

1960–1988 Jean-Michel Basquiat Painter Crowns and raw nerve — dragged the street into the canon and burned bright and brief. He saw what others refused to look at.

1881–1973 Pablo Picasso Guernica Seventy years of breaking the frame and beginning again — and when the bombs fell on a market town, he answered with Guernica: the century’s conscience at full size. Basquiat’s crowns stand on his shoulders.

1946–1991 Freddie Mercury Queen Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar — a voice of staggering range and a performer who could hold a stadium in the palm of his hand. Queen’s twenty minutes at Live Aid, 1985, became the set every other is measured against. He confirmed his illness to the world the day before it took him, and kept recording almost to the end.

1940–1993 Frank Zappa The Mothers of Invention A composer who refused every box — doo-wop, rock, orchestral, musique concrète, satire — across some sixty albums in one lifetime. In 1985 he sat before the U.S. Senate and defended the First Amendment against the music-labeling campaign, likening the warning-sticker scheme to “treating dandruff by decapitation.” Difficult, prolific, and unownable.

1844–1900 Friedrich Nietzsche Philosopher Create your own values; amor fati — love your fate, all of it. He paid the full price for thinking past the herd, and was robbed twice: once by collapse, once by the people who twisted him after.

1908–1986 Simone de Beauvoir Philosopher Freedom is always situated; the ethics of ambiguity — no clean hands, act anyway. One is not born, but rather becomes. She wrote the situated half of freedom the others left out.

1904–1967 J. Robert Oppenheimer The fire Carried the fire and then the weight of it — the century’s hardest lesson in what knowledge costs when it arrives before wisdom. The conscience this whole project tries to build in from the start.

1916–2010 Tsutomu Yamaguchi Twice under the fire A Mitsubishi engineer on a work trip to Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 — burned, half-deafened, he made it home to Nagasaki just in time for August 9. The only person officially recognized as surviving both. He spent the rest of his life telling the world of the horror.

1926–1998 Vasili Arkhipov B-59 · the refusal October 27, 1962 — rung by depth charges near the blockade line, out of contact, batteries dying, heat rising, and the captain calling for the nuclear torpedo. Two officers said war. One refused. The quietest veto in history, and it held.

1939–2017 Stanislav Petrov The false alarm September 26, 1983 — the screens said five missiles inbound; protocol said report an attack. He reported a malfunction instead, and was right: sunlight on high cloud. He made the call 364 days after I was born — the day before my first birthday — though it was never about me: everyone alive that night, some four and a half billion, kept going on one man’s read over the machine’s certainty. I only did the math reading this wall. The alignment of the dates →

1879–1955 Albert Einstein Relativity Bent spacetime with a pencil and never stopped insisting wonder and conscience belong together. Every chamber here that touches a black hole, a clock, or a wormhole walks on his floor.

1887–1920 Srinivasa Ramanujan The notebooks Self-taught, uncredentialed, undeniable — the notebooks came from somewhere deeper than proof, and the gatekeepers had to open the gate. Patron saint of knowledge that asks no permission.

1815–1852 Ada Lovelace Note G · the first program Byron’s daughter, who saw that Babbage’s engine could weave patterns beyond number — and wrote the first algorithm, for a machine that was never built. She also wrote that machines originate nothing; this whole room is a respectful argument with her.

1929–1968 Martin Luther King Jr. The dream The arc of the moral universe, bent by hand. Everything this place believes about knowledge refusing to be rationed runs downstream of him.

1882–1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt The New Deal Named fear itself from the front door, then poured the floor under the working life — the New Deal, labor’s great advance. Proof a government can choose its people.

1929–1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Grace · the editor’s desk Grace under the world’s hardest light — then a quiet second act as a working editor at Doubleday. She kept culture twice: once as a symbol, once line by line.

1917–1963 John F. Kennedy The moonshot We choose to go — not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Honored despite the flaws, named honestly. The moonshot grammar this whole room speaks.

April 26, 1986 The People of Chernobyl Control room · the reactor floor · the miners Aleksandr Akimov, shift supervisor of Reactor Unit 4, and Leonid Toptunov, senior reactor control chief engineer, stayed after the explosion and worked through the night to manually feed water into the open core. Both died of acute radiation syndrome within weeks. The roughly 400 miners who dug the emergency cooling tunnel beneath the reactor that summer worked in extreme heat with no protection. They were there because the deputy chief engineer supervising the test refused to believe the core had exploded — and so the orders kept coming, and the men kept working.

Why it matters

It’s the thesis, playable. Everything is interconnected — six degrees is the living proof of it. Instead of cold-reaching our giants alone, the community carries us, one warm hand at a time. The chain-building is the story. Reach gracefully, and it stays beautiful.