Thoughts

9 essays on ideas rather than hardware: what physics can and cannot explain, autonomous will, consciousness, and why posting the wrong answer works. Newest first. The engineering writing lives under Tech; all posts together are also one list. Feed: feed-thoughts.xml.

Correlation, Causation, and the Overton Window That Only Shrinks

July 6, 2026 philosophy personal

Everyone knows the first half of the aphorism. The second half is where the actual thinking happens, and I think the reflex to stop at the first half is doing something worse than being lazy.

How Monolatry Shapes My Worldview

June 21, 2026 philosophy history personal

From polytheism as a map of the inner life, through the slow emergence of the individual voice, to the moment one god is raised above the rest, and what that means for how I actually live.

Post the Wrong Answer. You'll Learn More.

June 19, 2026 philosophy personal

Cunningham's Law says the fastest way to get the right answer online is to post the wrong one. I've been doing this accidentally for years, and I think there's something serious underneath the joke.

Physics Doesn't Explain Anything. And That's the Point.

June 4, 2026 physics philosophy education

My high school teacher told me physics explains the world. Years later I think that's completely wrong, and understanding why changes everything about how you approach the subject.

Autonomous Will, Heteronomous Will, and the Work of Becoming Yourself

June 3, 2026 philosophy personal

Kant draws a sharp line between acting from your own reason and acting from external pressure. But where does your reason actually come from? An exploration of autonomy, heteronomy, archetypes, and the slow work of building a self you can stand behind.

Physics, Math, or Engineering? How do you decide

June 1, 2026 physics engineering education personal

What is the real difference between physics, mathematics, and engineering — and how do you choose the right degree? A personal account from someone who studied all three.

Are Machines Conscious? A Snapshot

May 5, 2026 ai philosophy

What does consciousness mean — and where on that spectrum do beetles, dogs, humans, and language models sit? No final answers, but an honest attempt to think the question through.

The Game of Life and the Limits of Prediction

May 4, 2026 philosophy physics

A colleague called it 'useless math but super fun.' I objected. Conway's Game of Life connects self-replicating machines, Wolfram's computational irreducibility, and the unsettling possibility that entropy is not just disorder — it is the universe refusing to be calculated.

If We Can Measure It, You Can Improve It

April 20, 2026 ai monitoring philosophy

Why we build monitoring systems — the case for industrial automation as human liberation, retrofit over greenfield, and why the sensor is the critical missing link between AI and the physical world.