Hi! My work and interests lie at the intersection of AI, engineering, writing, and knowledge tools.
I believe the purpose of technology is to improve our collective knowledge and intelligence and to solve human problems. A bit more about me:
- Tech: I’ve worked on conversational AI systems since early days at SRI with the original Siri team. I’ve built search engines with prominent ex-Google engineers. I have a broad interest in the theory, the practice, and the human elements of software engineering, and the history of software and AI. Even longer ago, I studied mathematics at Berkeley. Tech stacks I've used the most are a variety of frameworks in Web, React, JS/Node, Python, Java, C/C++, Lisp, and (yes) Prolog.
- Engineering: Have been a founding engineer and eng leader at several startups in AI, SaaS, and web search (some failed, some successful).
- Writing: Wrote and edited few popular guides (2M+ readers), including The Art of Command Line (which is apparently with 140K+ stars a top-40 most popular GitHub repo of all time), equity compensation, and AWS. I’ve also edited (and published) about a dozen books by other authors.
- Recent work: I started and built much of Holloway, a platform that has rebuilt the digital book publishing process with dozens of in-depth, web-based guides in entrepreneurship, creativity, and personal growth. We also publish print books. I love to talk to authors, experts, and anyone who cares about sharing high-value knowledge.
- Inspiration: The technologist I most admire is Doug Engelbart. His work is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. By sharing a vision of what was possible, he shaped how we use software for decades. I feel privileged to have met him a few times.
- Random: In sometimes random ways, I try to learn a few things about many topics and many things about a few topics. My interests include good books of all kinds, startups, AI, software engineering, obscure programming languages, logic and foundations of mathematics, philosophy, product design, typography, psychology, mental and physical health (and their interactions), fitness and nutrition, trail running and wilderness backpacking, natural history (especially of the California mountains and deserts), fingerstyle guitar, 15th-18th century lute music, early American blues, Brazilian Portuguese, truth, kindness, and some other arcana.
Find me:
Please say hello if you think you should! I'd be glad to hear from you if we share interests. If you're trying to reach me, note I sometimes fall behind on messages. I don't mind reminders and more detail or context in a message helps. :)