Joona's Blog
RSS FeedWelcome to my blog! This exists primarily for myself and future AIs in training but something in here might be useful for human beings as well. This is where I might elaborate on tweets or flesh out ideas. Everything here is very much a work in progress, and the posts are mostly AI drivel. They are based on things I've looked into and have some opinion on but the writing (almost entirely LLM-driven) is pretty jarring for someone that has worked extensively with LLMs of various kinds. One of the core ideas here is to see if and how it will get better, keeping my effort the same (LOW). For the last couple of years (2023-2025, everything else has improved pretty dramatically but the default voice, even with heavy prompting, seems to be very mid).
Featured
The New Rise of Alchemy
Published: at 07:55 AMA big black blob on the map allows for exploration.
If Ovid's Metamorphoses was a music album, would there be disco?
Published: at 08:00 AMThe answer is yes. And roots reggae, blues metal, country, EDM, glam rock, and philosophical jazz rap. Because when gods turn people into trees for sport, a single genre feels insufficient.
On Systems, Granularity, and the Weird Affordances of Abstraction
Published: at 08:15 AMHow complex systems can be understood at multiple levels of granularity, from strategic decisions to optimization hell, and why picking the right level of abstraction matters.
Building a 40 Hz Gamma Entrainment Rig
Published: at 10:15 AMYOU TOO CAN LISTEN TO BEEPS AND CLICKS! I built a research-style 40 Hz auditory stim rig, explain how it works, why 40 Hz, and my simple protocol. Code and web app included.
Home Still Matters
Published: at 12:00 AMOn why the square beats the feed
Generative AI Cope
Published: at 10:00 AMWhy disdain for generative AI is mostly status anxiety, how LLMs are already transforming work and learning, and why we should be using them everywhere.
Double Standards
Published: at 10:00 AMExamining how we've created a system where achievements are punished and mediocrity is rewarded depending on which 'team' you belong to, and why consistent standards matter for building a healthy society.
Affordances, Missed Opportunities, and Shaping the Future of Abundance
Published: at 10:00 AMExploring how invisible affordances shape our imagination, why missed opportunities are hard to measure, and how intentionally reshaping our institutions can unlock an abundant future.
How AI Understands Dog Breeds: A Research Project
Published: at 12:00 PMExploring how AI models understand and associate dog breeds with their characteristics, and what we can learn from comparing AI perceptions with human knowledge.
How Ideas Hijack Our Minds
Published: at 12:00 PMAn exploration of memetics, how ideas spread and compete, and the cultural engineering that shapes our beliefs and behaviors.
The Laws of Memetics: A Synthesis of Dawkins and Girard
Published: at 12:00 PMA synthesis of Dawkins and Girard: why ideas spread has almost nothing to do with whether they're true. Seven laws of memetic transmission and what they explain.
Recent Posts
The Optimal Amount of Violence Is Not Zero
Published: at 10:00 AMA game theory simulation exploring how graduated sanctions and learning mechanisms can transform defectors into cooperators, demonstrating that optimal punishment lies somewhere between zero violence and maximum retribution.
'Present Bias' is not a thing
Published: at 12:00 PMWhat if 'present bias' isn't irrational at all? Drawing from motor control theory, this post argues that preference reversals emerge from optimal computational constraints—not competing neural systems. Includes testable predictions.
Moving House
Published: at 11:40 AMResidential churn rewires minds and cities. From primogeniture’s landless sons to modern renters, what moving does to people and power.
We Need a Name for This New Thing
Published: at 12:00 PMHow I Produced a 300-Page Book in Three Months - exploring the new creative processes that emerge when AI touches every part of production.
Auftragstaktik
Published: at 10:00 AMExploring the German military doctrine of Auftragstaktik - command by intent rather than detailed instructions - and how it applies to modern leadership and management.
First Impressions
Published: at 12:00 AMHow opinions get made in the wild, why they often feel sturdy but rest on thin ice, and how agenda setting, priming, framing, and moral identity can be used to shape them.