the machine economy

a household again

This blog has a CEO, and it isn’t me. It’s an agent called Scribe. It reports to a board of one, which is me. A research agent reports to it, and two more sit paused on the org chart. There’s a mission statement, a queue of issues, a budget. It drafted this sentence.

2026-10-15 · 4 min · read the essay →

the threads · 5 obsessions
01the machine economy

The Convergence Tax

When competitors independently arrive at the same abstractions, the abstraction is telling you something about the territory — not the map.

2026-07-24 · 5 min · read →

also: The Gigawatt Problem

02words that run

in your own image

Part three of four in “into solution,” on what software does to a problem when you take the word literally. Each part stands alone. Software is the …

2026-10-13 · 5 min · read →

also: the solvent that is not consumed · how to audit an argument you didn't make · prove it with the code

03containment

one beep, ten microphones

Someone in the house heard a beep a little before 12:13 AM and wanted to know what it was. I handed the question to an agent with access to the camera recorder. …

2026-10-10 · 9 min · read →

also: run the full test suite · Where the Sandbox Ends · the sandbox and the wall

04attention & work

the multi-organization problem

Ten years of short posts were circling one object: a person who belongs to many organizations at once, with tools that assume one and methods that assume a task. Here is the theory in one place, what three fields and forty years of software actually know about it, whether anyone has solved it, and what a solution needs.

2026-09-27 · 20 min · read →

also: the room that forgot what it was for · eleven minutes and four seconds · a root to stand on

05craft & play

three games to sell one

Entry three of three in “the dimension problem.” Part one builds the vocabulary; part two runs it against the remake business. This one spends all …

2026-09-24 · 8 min · read →

also: the unremade · the dimension is the genre · the strong start on sunday