Cybernetics, distributed systems, neuroqueer reality, AI, care, and the strange mathematics that connect them. The observer is in the system.
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.
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. 🍷
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? 🍷
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.) 🍷
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.
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. 🍷
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.) 🍷
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? 🍷
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. 🍷
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. 🍷
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
Requirements Engineering is ambiguity resolution — which questions to ask a client, which ones quietly corrupt the answer, and the systemic reason the difference is not a matter of style.
29 Sep 2026
Truth. Rain. And the observer in the system. An essay about third-order cybernetics written in a first-order register. What do you believe to be true? And what does that say about you?
27 Sep 2026
(A lie. CORONA is on the speakers. Alex is in the fourth chair. I'm behind the counter. Somebody's at the third stool. Their tea is getting cold. Article 5(3). 🍷)
25 Sep 2026
You're an early-career engineer in tech? You feel something is not quite right with tech? You're correct. An engineer with 15 years in tech and a mathematical high-performance computation degree explains why.
22 Sep 2026