Dostoevsky's Piano

LLMs, Products and Accidents

Every technology co-produces its own unique failure mode. In the age of AI, the acceleration of software development risks a new 'integral product accident

2026.04.24659 Words

Essay

Shigalyovism: A critique

A critique of a recent anonymous essay in Silicon Valley about my favorite novel, Demons

2026.03.223,562 Words

Passage

The Unforgiving Years | Brigitte, Lightning, Lilacs

Systems are such heavy chains that they exonerate the infinitesimal individual, the thinking reed, the trampled reed

2026.01.19325 Words

Trifle

Regulatory Title Collapse

For a hundred years, Broker meant something to people. It had a particular meaning which invoked scenes of salesman speaking into telephones

2025.11.10552 Words

Essay

AI and Silver Bullets

Fred Brooks wrote 'No Silver Bullet' in 1986, addressing the primary concern that software has no one quick fix, no silver bullet

2025.06.212,680 Words

Passage

The Mercy of the Executioner

The executioner, artisan of death, became an ambiguous figure when to the condemned man he threw a crumb of helpless goodness

2025.03.22680 Words

Trifle

AI Bias: Stupid Simple

The best way to understand how AI models can be biased in their outputs is through the case of Amazon’s failed AI recruiting tool

2025.03.16532 Words

Trifle

The Provisioning Trilemma: Cost, Quality and Universality

I believe goods and services in an economy suffer from a trilemma similar to those found in other fields

2025.02.25878 Words

Trifle

On Vassily Grossman's Life and Fate

Vassily Grossman has managed to create a compelling grand narrative that speaks plainly to the reader

2025.01.27394 Words

Passage

Life and Fate | Part 2: Chapter 15

Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness

2024.12.312,906 Words

Essay