The author of the text is Ricky Robinett, and he's creating a basic mobile passwordless authentication system using Laravel and Twilio SMS. The system will allow users to authenticate without entering a complex password, instead receiving a one-time use token via SMS that they must validate before gaining access to their account. The system consists of two components: a client-side mobile experience built with Swift for iOS and Java for Android, and a server-side API built using Laravel. The API will handle tasks such as sending the authentication token to the user's phone number, validating the token, and authenticating the user. The author is sharing this project as part of a series on passwordless authentication, with future parts planned to cover integrating the API into iOS apps.