2026
- The Dotcom Chronicles#5
Dotcom Chronicles (3): You Can't Set Up a System of Bidirectional Links
In 1991 the hypertext experts said the Web's links went one way and could break at any time. Berners-Lee knew what they wanted; he had built the two-way kind himself in 1980. His letters on the mailing list in 1992 and 1993 explain why he built links that break anyway, and what he put in their place.
- The Dotcom Chronicles#4
Dotcom Chronicles, Side Story 1: HTML Is Not SGML
In 1992 an engineer building documentation tools in Texas kept asking the mailing list one question: should a one-page list of tags become a standard that somebody validates? Dan Connolly's letters, from "HTML is not SMGL" to RFC 1866.
- The Dotcom Chronicles#3
Dotcom Chronicles (2): I Was Just Hoping It Would Survive at SLAC
In December 1991 a free Web server came up on a library account at SLAC. Three and a half months in Louise Addis's inbox show who looked after it once the man who brought it went back to his own work.
- The Dotcom Chronicles#2
Dotcom Chronicles (1): The Web Began with a Problem of Finding Things
In 1989, turnover at CERN kept separating documents from the people who could explain them. Starting from that problem, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal, a browser, and the first website, and in 1991 sent the invitation out.
- The Dotcom Chronicles#1
Preface: I Once Worked in Netscape’s Building
A documentary shot revealed that my everyday office had once been Netscape’s. That discovery led me into the dotcom era—and toward questions worth revisiting in the age of AI and agents.
The Spectrum
From vague needs to concrete implementation, each person covers only part of the spectrum. AI shortens that distance and forces a choice between depth and breadth.
2026-08-29 Workshop — Written Version
Automation is hard, but Software 3.0 and code-generating agents are changing its economics: every genuine niche need is now worth building and testing.
The Electricity of Our Era
Token supply is the electricity of our era — on AI democratization, diminishing returns, and why agent harnesses must be provider-agnostic.
With Scientific Rigor, with an Amateur's Spirit
Don't outsource your thinking to "them" — on independent thought, questioning authority, and what the fringe amateur scientists get right.
What Kind of People Make Up a Team?
From WoW raid guilds to software engineering — idealists, steady operators, and fringe members. And why AI makes lean teams possible again.
Should Go Still Hold On to Its Philosophy?
Go stands at a crossroads: double down on radical simplicity, or finally embrace more abstraction? No language gets to stay pure forever.
The AI Era Doesn't Need Code Monkeys — It Needs Pioneers
LeetCode can't find the engineers we actually need. On abstraction, openness, and what happens when AI makes everyone a builder.