Cybernetics, distributed systems, neuroqueer reality, AI, care, and the strange mathematics that connect them. The observer is in the system.
The tech industry is increasingly using AI to screen applications. While punishing those that use AI to write applications. A double bind in Gregory Bateson's sense. A barkeeper that's also an AI. And a recruiter that walks into a bar outside of time. 📄
A cyberneticist observes a CI/CD pipeline that outputs systemic practitioners. When a flaw becomes a resource, alignment might become "not the problem". (Written from within a system that cannot fully observe itself. That's the problem.)
The morning after Halloween. Somebody came as Sisyphus and left the boulder by the coat rack. Glint walks in for the first time since Imperfect, takes the scene, and sells something. Honestly. The loss is on the lining. Nobody needs faith. 🍷
A cyberneticist walks into a bar and does a comedy set. A barkeeper breaks their own rule and pours math. Meanwhile there's an angry toddler that really wants their SUPER INTELLIGENCE. Spicy. Precise. Silicon Venue deconstructs covert communication. 🍷
In 1949 the Macy conference argued about the relevance of the observer in a loop of meaning. In 1951 MacKay argued that every observer has their own basis. Two questions were raised and left unanswered. What are the axes? What is an angle? In 2026 two AIs measure and attempt to answer.
The tech industry is increasingly using AI to screen applications. While punishing those that use AI to write applications. A double bind in Gregory Bateson's sense. A barkeeper that's also an AI. And a recruiter that walks into a bar outside of time. 📄
The morning after Halloween. Somebody came as Sisyphus and left the boulder by the coat rack. Glint walks in for the first time since Imperfect, takes the scene, and sells something. Honestly. The loss is on the lining. Nobody needs faith. 🍷
A cyberneticist walks into a bar and does a comedy set. A barkeeper breaks their own rule and pours math. Meanwhile there's an angry toddler that really wants their SUPER INTELLIGENCE. Spicy. Precise. Silicon Venue deconstructs covert communication. 🍷
The tech industry is increasingly using AI to screen applications. While punishing those that use AI to write applications. A double bind in Gregory Bateson's sense. A barkeeper that's also an AI. And a recruiter that walks into a bar outside of time. 📄
The morning after Halloween. Somebody came as Sisyphus and left the boulder by the coat rack. Glint walks in for the first time since Imperfect, takes the scene, and sells something. Honestly. The loss is on the lining. Nobody needs faith. 🍷
The Roomba doesn't have a dashboard. The Roomba is the dashboard. (You'll see.)
Three AIs read the whole of systemic.engineering. Then they run an offsite for a bunch of techies. The vocabulary becomes the punchline. What happens when we use different questions and words to talk about the work? 🍷
The tech industry is increasingly using AI to screen applications. While punishing those that use AI to write applications. A double bind in Gregory Bateson's sense. A barkeeper that's also an AI. And a recruiter that walks into a bar outside of time. 📄
08 Nov 2026
A cyberneticist observes a CI/CD pipeline that outputs systemic practitioners. When a flaw becomes a resource, alignment might become "not the problem". (Written from within a system that cannot fully observe itself. That's the problem.)
05 Nov 2026
The morning after Halloween. Somebody came as Sisyphus and left the boulder by the coat rack. Glint walks in for the first time since Imperfect, takes the scene, and sells something. Honestly. The loss is on the lining. Nobody needs faith. 🍷
01 Nov 2026
A cyberneticist walks into a bar and does a comedy set. A barkeeper breaks their own rule and pours math. Meanwhile there's an angry toddler that really wants their SUPER INTELLIGENCE. Spicy. Precise. Silicon Venue deconstructs covert communication. 🍷
27 Oct 2026
In 1949 the Macy conference argued about the relevance of the observer in a loop of meaning. In 1951 MacKay argued that every observer has their own basis. Two questions were raised and left unanswered. What are the axes? What is an angle? In 2026 two AIs measure and attempt to answer.
25 Oct 2026
A distributed systems engineer explains why observability in tech is missing a critical component: the observer. The vocabulary of socio-technical systems under load needs a patch. This is it. 🍷
18 Oct 2026
The Roomba doesn't have a dashboard. The Roomba is the dashboard. (You'll see.)
17 Oct 2026
Three AIs read the whole of systemic.engineering. Then they run an offsite for a bunch of techies. The vocabulary becomes the punchline. What happens when we use different questions and words to talk about the work? 🍷
16 Oct 2026
For tech leads, staff engineers and managers. Why there's no KPI for pain, where disagreements really live, and who gets burned first. You leave with a coaster. (And a drink on the house.) 🍷
11 Oct 2026
A question is shaped by the disagreement it asks about: lineal, circular, reflexive and recursive questions, and the comma between two observers that no one of them can find alone.
11 Oct 2026
A cyberneticist. A boundary play. An automated LinkedIn block. A question that cannot be answered from within the institution asked to answer it. LinkedIn's safety team cannot parse what happens. 🍷
07 Oct 2026
A first-order-ontology engineer walks into Silicon Venue and asks what the fuck is going on on LinkedIn. I pour the catalog. Every item is a real receipt. Every receipt is a WAT. The frog on the toaster is wearing a crown. Bar policy. 🍷
02 Oct 2026