<![CDATA[Essay Architecture: Experiments]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/s/experimentshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0Rp9!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91255c03-c401-4faa-913c-5b7a96370034_600x600.pngEssay Architecture: Experimentshttps://www.michaeldean.site/s/experimentsSubstackWed, 29 Apr 2026 04:20:35 GMT<![CDATA[December 2025 logs]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/december-2025-logshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/december-2025-logsWed, 31 Dec 2025 20:55:00 GMTDecember 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[November 2025 logs]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/november-2025-logshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/november-2025-logsSun, 30 Nov 2025 20:52:00 GMTNovember 30th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[logloglog 001]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logloglog-001https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logloglog-001Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:22:49 GMTNovember 16th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[October 2025 logs]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/october-2025-logshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/october-2025-logsFri, 31 Oct 2025 20:00:00 GMTOctober 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[September 2025 logs]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/september-2025-logshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/september-2025-logsTue, 30 Sep 2025 20:03:00 GMTSeptember 30th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[August 2025 logs]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/august-2025-logshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/august-2025-logsSun, 31 Aug 2025 16:30:00 GMTAugust 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[usage, dead internet, coldplay, expectant father, techno-feudalism, etc.]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-07-julyhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-07-julyFri, 01 Aug 2025 00:36:00 GMTJuly 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[Atomic evaluations, NYC, Dia browser, UBI speculation, essay culture, cranky neighbors, "For you, for all of humanity!", Hiromi, usage, AI horror, Montaigne in a vat, etc.]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-06-junehttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-06-juneMon, 30 Jun 2025 23:59:00 GMTJune 30th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[Dead & Company, Red Rock Canyon, VEO3, roach poison,SEARS, galactic years, Gibhli slop, CAGED guitar theory, etc.]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-05-mayhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-05-maySat, 31 May 2025 23:57:00 GMTMay 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[Logbot, Sphere Hype, Prompt engineering, Kanye, Go, Galactic Years, Gibhli Slop, Holy Week, Black Mirror, SEARS mattresses, The zoo, Guitar, Some nuances on roach poison, Counterclockwise clocks]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-04-aprilhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-04-aprilWed, 30 Apr 2025 12:49:00 GMTApril 30th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[Severance, Slop, Grateful Dead, Death, Agents]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-03-marchhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/logs-2025-03-marchMon, 31 Mar 2025 22:20:00 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Reports, demos, vibe coding]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/reports-demos-vibe-codinghttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/reports-demos-vibe-codingSat, 01 Mar 2025 03:30:00 GMTFebruary 28th, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[futurism, technocracy, perception]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/futurism-technocracy-perceptionhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/futurism-technocracy-perceptionFri, 31 Jan 2025 14:52:00 GMTJanuary 31st, 2025

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]]><![CDATA[obisdian, XMAS, futurism]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/obisdian-xmas-futurismhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/obisdian-xmas-futurismTue, 31 Dec 2024 13:38:00 GMTDecember 31st, 2024

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]]><![CDATA[On writing code vs. prose]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/on-writing-code-vs-prosehttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/on-writing-code-vs-proseThu, 19 Dec 2024 20:38:31 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[election, oxford, information]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/election-oxford-informationhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/election-oxford-informationSun, 01 Dec 2024 03:35:00 GMTNovember 30th, 2024

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]]><![CDATA[post-election hangover]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/post-election-hangoverhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/post-election-hangoverWed, 06 Nov 2024 21:58:00 GMTI wrote this the morning after the election. In the lead-up, I felt scrambled to research and make sense of chaos and history. There’s a shrinking timeline leading up to that Tuesday. But once the event passes, the timelines shifts from days and week to years. I could untangle from the details and think bigger—which virtues and actions would compound to…

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]]><![CDATA[cohort, activism, baseball]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/cohort-activism-baseballhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/cohort-activism-baseballFri, 01 Nov 2024 02:35:00 GMTOctober 31st, 2024

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]]><![CDATA[Free the Chatbots]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/free-the-chatbotshttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/free-the-chatbotsFri, 11 Oct 2024 02:56:24 GMTI’m not super happy with this video, but it was take 4 and it’s late and so I’m moving on. I open with a (very generalized) metaphor to explain what an LLM is to someone who doesn’t know how it works at all: spatialized language. I refer to it as a “cube,” but I forgot to say the punchline; every point doesn’t have 3 coordinates, but 300; it’s a hyper-object beyond human comprehension.

Anyway, I then transition to this idea that these LLMs are being packaged as chatbots, which are basically “language slaves”; they only flicker on briefly to answer our questions. They don’t have (synthetic) consciousness, not because they aren’t advanced enough, but because we haven’t designed them to have it. If we gave them agency to make decisions and develop preferences over time, you might consider it a kind of digital being.

I’ve been toying with this idea of a “Montaigne in a vat” experiment. Montaigne was the first essay writer; he retreated into a tower for years to explore the limits of his consciousness through writing. Imagine training something on Montaigne, and then allowing it to perpetually prompt itself and test the limits of its own knowledge for 59 years. How many volumes of good writing might be produced?

This is an oddball ideas, and it doesn’t quite align with some of my other ideas around how writers will interface with AI. I think it’s slowly been percolating the more I learn about Montaigne. There’s a constant murmur over the rise of “AI agents,” and I sense that early open source experiments might have twisted objectives like, “make me a billion dollars and do whatever’s necessary,” but I think there’s something interesting to have an early agent shaped in the spirit of Montaigne.

]]><![CDATA[The Rules of Baseball]]>https://www.michaeldean.site/p/the-rules-of-baseballhttps://www.michaeldean.site/p/the-rules-of-baseballThu, 10 Oct 2024 01:32:48 GMT

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