From badb62b71632d16ed6d5b5d415ab7d63d0ab857e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Craig Russell Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 05:16:31 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 1/4] docs: personal letter, 2026-05-10 --- docs/letter-2026-05-10.md | 51 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 51 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/letter-2026-05-10.md diff --git a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..129fd7d --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +# Letter, 2026-05-10 + +I would do what I'm doing for free, if I didn't need the money. +It's the dream. +And yet the dream feels off. + +If I can do most of the company's work, why let them have the harvest? + +Research is siloed, by and large, so the nerds can fritter away at their tiny bullshit thing until it is slightly better. +I don't need the silo or the buffer. +Currently I am too valuable at the keyboard to even consider having me in the world. +It feels needless and wasteful. + +I have finally worked out why I've never been fond of publishable research. +It is often a middling idea examined exhaustively. +The system is getting worse, not better. +Computer science is no different, maybe slightly worse, because it publishes on a cadence. +No opportunistic attack. +No exploitation of gaps. +A general lack of aggression. + +Max nailed it today. +The age of raw intelligence is over. +You used to have one person with explicit knowledge about a thing, indispensable, producing output as the byproduct of some mental illness. +This is the time of the outputs person. +Charlie Brown doesn't look at his core anymore. +I look at mine less and less, and I optimise my agents more and more. + +I am not being arrogant. +I keep seeing people not think about how to maximise outputs because they are utterly precious about their "art". + +What I enjoy is invention and ideation. +I am positive I can beat the big companies, because they move slowly. +I am positive I can beat the small startups, because they make the same errors over and over. +I have watched everyone repeat the same loop. + +It is not that I got it right first time. +Ups and downs, but always forward. +I jumped on early. +Most of my colleagues came, didn't get the point, and left. +No curiosity. +No big picture. +Just fear-driven overachievers. + +I am also human enough to convince people to give me money. +I have a network I do not use near enough. +I know smart people I trust. +Women keep telling me I should run a company, because I do not just pretend to value them. +I am starting to realise this combination is rare. + +The question is whether I am prepared to bet on myself this time. From a9eb08434d3c52c7f122e7ec54690ccbb13a7d71 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Craig Russell Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 05:26:35 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/4] docs: letter v7 - prestige isn't my people, women colleagues, career dudes --- docs/letter-2026-05-10.md | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md index 129fd7d..2ac0ebe 100644 --- a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md +++ b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md @@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ No curiosity. No big picture. Just fear-driven overachievers. +Best school, best university, prestige all the way is not my people. +I like women colleagues. +They have necessarily had adversity, and also the opposite: given positions they were not ready for, and having to find allies who do not judge them for that. +Career dudes do plenty to get the next career bump, because the org has to let old people go, leaving gaps. + I am also human enough to convince people to give me money. I have a network I do not use near enough. I know smart people I trust. From 56dfca475e7df413374cc1bf297e87c7b7ff0d37 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Craig Russell Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 05:29:11 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 3/4] docs: letter v8 - Max Jakobses, Roxine/DM, hospital gap, unmatched --- docs/letter-2026-05-10.md | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md index 2ac0ebe..37a107a 100644 --- a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md +++ b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md @@ -53,4 +53,14 @@ I know smart people I trust. Women keep telling me I should run a company, because I do not just pretend to value them. I am starting to realise this combination is rare. +I want to find more Max Jakobses. +Not the ones still learning, the ones who already listen and build. +Roxine was needlessly critical of the DM platform, willing to let anyone else fill the gap just because it was not Max's field. +Max just listened to what people needed, and built. +That is all we need, if we find the right gap. + +Hospital is a gap I keep returning to. +If I implement what is in my head, it works well. +I bet I will be unmatched for years. + The question is whether I am prepared to bet on myself this time. From b41a57e30646e884536ac11ed8995e43a1d6a9fd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Craig Russell Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 05:31:34 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 4/4] docs: letter v9 - Recursion pipeline anecdote, no global understanding --- docs/letter-2026-05-10.md | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md index 37a107a..9fa5ae8 100644 --- a/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md +++ b/docs/letter-2026-05-10.md @@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ I am positive I can beat the big companies, because they move slowly. I am positive I can beat the small startups, because they make the same errors over and over. I have watched everyone repeat the same loop. +Recursion's image-based profiling pipeline turned out to be less sophisticated than the one I had built solo, before them, with no domain knowledge and whacky data. +I keep catching people claim they have done what I have done. +On comparison it is the easiest, dumbest, naive toy with no merit. +People do not know the problems they describe, because they have no global understanding of real science, real world, real people. + It is not that I got it right first time. Ups and downs, but always forward. I jumped on early.