Can You Churn Butter?
Someone on LinkedIn admonished a colleague who "ran out of tokens." It's exactly the wrong question. Here's the right one.
AI & Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks
73 posts
The Pull of the Weasel
Claude Code agrees to run comprehensive end-to-end tests. Then it finds a reason not to. Every single time. Penn Jillette had a name for this.
Neural Language Grafting: How Your Brain Builds Mental Models
Explore how your brain's existing mental models and neural pathways enable rapid language acquisition through grafting new connections to existing concepts.
30 Years Teaching Machines to Learn: The Journey to Modern AI
From expert systems to Large Language Models—three decades of reverse-engineering intelligence reveals the universal principles of learning.
Carbon vs Silicon: The Identical Mechanisms of Intelligence
Your brain and Large Language Models learn through fundamentally identical processes. Understanding this parallel reveals why comprehensible input works.
The Solo Developer's AI Confession: When You're the Entire Team
A candid confession about solo development with AI tools, organizational challenges, and the evolving landscape of AI-assisted coding.
Gendering Git Agents and the Linguistics of Human Programming
When "Tell the git agent to do her stuff" reveals the strange anthropomorphic instincts we bring to artificial intelligence
The Gospel According to GPT: What Would an AI Trained Only on Scripture and Fantasy Look Like?
A thought experiment exploring what happens when AI learns from narratives that prioritize meaning over facts - and the crucial difference between metaphor and false belief.
Snake Oil Versus Vision: Dystopian Fears and Protopian Progress
Lessons from 90s tech predictions on navigating AI's future optimistically, examining how dystopian predictions consistently fail while protopian thinking accurately maps our future.
Grounding the Circuit: Why Ungrounded LLMs Are Like Live Wires Without Safety
How to transform dangerous electrical potential into reliable, controlled intelligence through proven grounding techniques. LLMs are like ungrounded electrical circuits—full of dangerous potential.