s21e04: The Collapse of Form
What happens when literacy and the literate society collapses?
s21e03: The Problem is Defining the Problem; The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Caring
0.0 Context Setting I am sneakily writing this on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 in Portland Oregon, where I just finished writing the previous episode. It is...
s21e02: What Does it Mean to be Friends?
0.0 Context Setting Wednesday, 14 January 2026 in Portland, Oregon where while the conditions in the U.S. may not be argued to be fascist as such (i.e. the...
s21e01: Things Could Have Been Different; LLMs as LitTech, Their Use as Response to Mass Functional Illiteracy
0.0 Context Setting Wednesday, 7 January 2026 in Portland, Oregon where it is wet (but not too wet) and cold (but not too cold), merely a typical brisk...
s20e09: An End Of Year Opinion About AI Because Why Not; Good Enough Mitigation of Reasonably Foreseeable Harm
0.0 Context Setting It’s been a minute. This is probably the third draft of an episode that I’ve tried to finish so maybe this one will stick. It has been...
s20e08: Efficiency Gains; I Understand You, But Could Never Be You; Can You Teach A Machine To Be Human?
0.0 Context Setting Wednesday, 3 September 2025 in Portland Oregon and we’re back through a hot spell. Also it’s the first day back of school, and that’s an...
s20e07: Still Mad As Hell; The World’s Best Worst Client; How Many Chances Do You Get?; Sunset Syndrome
0.0 Context Setting It’s Wednesday, 27 August 2025 in Portland, Oregon and my favorite tv show right now is Alien: Earth, and my favorite little guy in it is...
s20e06: Not About How it Looks
0.0 Context Setting It’s Monday, 25 August 2025 and a hot, sunny day in Portland, Oregon. I got back late last night from a family camping trip (it was...
se20e05: AI Models; The All Souls Exam; Melvynn Bragg as an Oxford Don; Grounding; Being Human; Worry About The Same Things
0.0 Context Setting Tuesday, 19 August 2025 in Portland, Oregon, where it’s nice and sunny but not too hot, the dog and I had a pleasant morning walk that...
s20e04: A Software Strategy
0.0 Context Setting I’m starting this on Sunday, 17 August, 2025 in a cafe with a very nice coffee with the full intent of not sending it today, which...
s20e03: Yeah, it’s the future
0.0 Context Setting Tuesday, 13 August 2025 in Portland, Oregon where it’s still pretty hot but not too hot, you know? I have a half or maybe third-finished...
s20e02: A Model for the People
Monday, 11 August 2025 in Portland, Oregon where I am sitting in my basement office. In here, it’s a comfortable 71f/21.7c. Outside, it’s apparently...
s20e01: Better than Average; How People Work
0.0 Context Setting Friday, 8 August, 2025 on the cusp of a heat wave in Portland, Oregon. Well. It’s been a while, hasn’t it. I will just say that gestures...
s19e11: Your Model is Naive and it’s Not The Territory
0.0 Context Setting Friday, May 30, at the Code for America Summit in a hotel in Washington, D.C. I am in, fittingly, a hallway. I am also jetlagged. There...
s19e10: Hallway Track; DOGE; Efficiency; COBOL; Give None of These Things; Context, Not News
0.0 Context Setting Wednesday, 28 May 2025 on DL786, an Airbus A321NEO cruising at 35,000 feet and an airspeed of 527mph. I’m heading out to the Code for...
s19e09: Two Easy Pieces
0.0 Context Setting Friday, 4 April 2025 in Portland, Oregon where the sun is out. 0.1 Events: Hallway Track No Hallway Tracks on the slate at the moment....
s19e08: It’s Not 2006 Anymore; The Useful, Vernacular Institution; What Is Free Our Feeds, Anyway?
0.0 Context Setting Monday, 24 March 2025 in Portland, Oregon where it is not raining. 0.1 Events: Hallway Track No Hallway Tracks on the slate at the...
s18e07: A Very Short Announcement
0.0 Context Setting Monday, 3 March 2025 in Portland, Oregon where the best thing about today is that we’ve never been as close to the end of the week this...
s19e07: Decide What’s Important; Tacit Admission
0.0 Context Setting Friday, 22 November 2024 in Portland, Oregon. A cold and wet day, with on-and-off again rain. I have something like at least three...
s19e06: Fine, Social Networks; Are you in?
0.0 Context Setting Sunday, 17 November 2024 in Portland, Oregon where it is cold and not raining and I have eaten half an orange scone. But it’s an American...
