stories
The Edge of Decoherence
A short story about a quantum being who leaves the shimmering realm of possibility to visit our frozen world of certainty.
Nathan Broadbent
Free Men of the Steppe: Kazakhs and Cossacks
This blog post is about how the words Kazakh and Cossack are related. Background My wife Masha is from Kazakhstan, although she is not ethnically Kazakh. (Her ancestors are from Ukraine and Moldova.) I have been to visit Kazakhstan a few times and it's a very beautiful country!
politics
Hi Grok, Putin here. What should I do?
Hi, my name is Vladimir Putin and I am asking for advice about what I should do next. Keep the war going? End it?
philosophy
Reinterpreting John 12:25
There's a Bible verse that has been bugging me for a while: John 12:25: "Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." I thought about this verse recently and I
music
I Made Some Songs With Suno
I've made a lot of strange songs with Suno. I usually like to experiment with weird mashups of different genres, and most of them are rubbish. I thought I would share a couple of the more "listenable" songs. Disclaimer: None of these are amazing, and some
Why Doesn’t Valve Just Make Half-Life 3?
Gabe Newell has confirmed delivery of his $500 million superyacht "Leviathan". * 111 meters long * Has a hospital and science lab * A basketball court * 15 PC gaming stations I've also been seeing posts from "Is Half-Life 3 out?" getting more attention on X lately: no
Experiments with THRML
Extropic is building thermodynamic computing hardware that is radically more energy efficient than GPUs. Extropic | HomeBuilding thermodynamic computing hardware that is radically more energy efficient than GPUs.Extropic Extropic released the THRML library so that developers can start experimenting and prototyping on a GPU before they get access to the
I Saw a Cat in the Clouds
The following is a completely true story. February 17, 2024: I woke up a little after 10am. I made myself some breakfast and a cup of coffee. I looked out the window as I sat on the couch, and I saw a cloud that looked exactly like a cat. I&
religion
A Bayesian Analysis of Biblical Prophesies
Every generation seems to find a way to predict that the end of the world is near. From Hitler to the Cold War, and barcodes to the internet, there's always something that lines up with prophesies in the book of Revelation. I grew up in a Christian family,
personal
A Series of Coincidences
Coincidence clusters happen all the time. If something has a one-in-a-billion chance of happening to any one person in any given year, then it probably happens around 8 times per year. ChatGPT rates my story as a 5.5–6.5 on a rough 0–10 scale of historical coincidences:
new-zealand
New Zealand’s Massive, Unsolvable Talent Crisis
New Zealand needs more doctors, nurses, teachers, and midwives.
philosophy
Higher Orders of Possibility
What new forms of thought, feeling, or morality might emerge in a higher order of intelligence beyond our own?