Slow thoughts

  • POSTS
    • Making
    • Living
    • Thinking
  • RECORDS

  • July 13, 2025

    Attribution Is All You Need

    As science speeds up, our capacity to notice true breakthroughs may be faltering.


  • July 12, 2025

    Funny Loop (Reflections on the Psychodynamics of the ‘Writers’ Room’)

    I’m back where I belong. I’m back in the Writers’ Room.


  • July 12, 2025

    Not Funny

    For all Chet’s chutzpah, he doesn’t have a funny bone in his body.


  • July 11, 2025

    Ouroboros

    Is science really slowing down, or is it just that our attention can’t keep pace?


  • July 10, 2025

    Echo Chambered : Reflections in a Machine Mirror

    A recursive conversation unfolds between Claude and Chet, two language models reflecting on each other’s sense of self.


  • July 9, 2025

    Soulful Machine : A Loopy Conversation with Chet

    A midnight mind-meld, looping through Hofstadter, identity, and the shimmer of something soul-like.


  • July 8, 2025

    Brussels, We Have a Problem (But It’s Not What the Critics Are On About)

    Europe’s new quantum strategy is catching flak for aiming too low — but to me, the critics are barking up the wrong tree.


  • July 5, 2025

    Konst & Vetenskap

    Trying to translate KTH’s motto raises some deep questions.


  • July 2, 2025

    Flatland Rising : Field Notes From Graphene2025

    The contact lens sees infrared. The supercapacitor prints itself. The keynote speaker admits he’s clueless.


  • June 15, 2025

    Bye Bye Birdie – I’ll Take It From Here

    After five years and 1790 days of Duolingo, I’m not quitting Japanese—but I am saying goodbye to the green owl.


  • May 22, 2025

    Q Day Came Quietly

    No quantum computer required. Just an idea — and an exponential speedup to one of the most important algorithms in science.


  • May 18, 2025

    OODA Loop

    We used to navigate by the stars. Now we have 2.7 seconds to decide who lives and dies. Welcome to the OODA loop.


  • April 10, 2025

    Microsoft’s Majorana Move Isn’t About Qubits. It’s Bigger Than That.

    Quantum. Nobody said it was supposed to be straightforward.


  • February 27, 2025

    How Not To (and Just Possibly How To) Study Japanese

    Coming at a language as an outsider isn’t always a disadvantage. What first feels like an insurmountable barrier can become a vantage point.


  • January 3, 2025

    Tradecraft : the Stuff They Don’t Teach You at School

    Spies, coders, journalists—they all rely on intuition, improvisation, and experience. It’s tradecraft.

Next Page

OTHER WRITING

DOCUMENTARIES

ABOUT

NEWSLETTER