JA Westenberg
@joanwestenberg.com
Stop trying to exorcise your demons.
Start opening tickets for them.
www.joanwestenberg.com/how-to-debu...
Start opening tickets for them.
www.joanwestenberg.com/how-to-debu...
How to Debug Your Life
Date: 14/1/26
Tags: #productivity #mental-health #mental-model #bugs #debugging
I.
In 1947, Grace Hopper and her team at Harvard were working on the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator. The machine was massive, a deafening clatter of electromechanical relays, and it had stopped working. They opened the casing to find
www.joanwestenberg.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:28 AM
Stop trying to exorcise your demons.
Start opening tickets for them.
www.joanwestenberg.com/how-to-debu...
Start opening tickets for them.
www.joanwestenberg.com/how-to-debu...
Reposted by JA Westenberg
AI search can only be as good as its sources - and structured forum discussions beat ephemeral chat every time.
New post on why the deeper web might be exactly what the new web needs…
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/the...
New post on why the deeper web might be exactly what the new web needs…
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/the...
The AI Search Revolution's Hidden Dependency
AI search is only as good as its sources. As discovery shifts from keywords to synthesis, forums - with their structured threads and complete context - are becoming the most cited, most trusted knowledge infrastructure on the web.
blog.discourse.org
January 14, 2026 at 12:54 AM
AI search can only be as good as its sources - and structured forum discussions beat ephemeral chat every time.
New post on why the deeper web might be exactly what the new web needs…
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/the...
New post on why the deeper web might be exactly what the new web needs…
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/the...
"fail fast, fail forward, fail better" has been repeated so many times it's become meaningless.
What if we just stopped using the word entirely?
What if we just poked reality to see what happens?
What if we just...ran the experiment?
www.joanwestenberg.com/failure-vs-...
What if we just stopped using the word entirely?
What if we just poked reality to see what happens?
What if we just...ran the experiment?
www.joanwestenberg.com/failure-vs-...
Failure vs. Success is the Wrong Frame.
How many novels exist only as "I'm still outlining"?
How many startups live permanently in "stealth mode"?
How many paintings never get painted because the painter is waiting until they're good enough to not mess it up?
The obvious response is to tell these people that failure is fine, actually.
www.joanwestenberg.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:37 AM
"fail fast, fail forward, fail better" has been repeated so many times it's become meaningless.
What if we just stopped using the word entirely?
What if we just poked reality to see what happens?
What if we just...ran the experiment?
www.joanwestenberg.com/failure-vs-...
What if we just stopped using the word entirely?
What if we just poked reality to see what happens?
What if we just...ran the experiment?
www.joanwestenberg.com/failure-vs-...
Move a reading app to your phone's dock. Put it exactly where the app you reach for reflexively currently lives, Kindle, apple Books, Libby, whatever you prefer. The goal is to intercept an existing behavior at the last possible moment and redirect it.
youtu.be/BxLvuD79fH4
youtu.be/BxLvuD79fH4
How To Read More Books in 2026
Move a reading app to your phone's dock. Put it exactly where the app you reach for reflexively currently lives, Kindle, apple Books, Libby, whatever you pre...
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Move a reading app to your phone's dock. Put it exactly where the app you reach for reflexively currently lives, Kindle, apple Books, Libby, whatever you prefer. The goal is to intercept an existing behavior at the last possible moment and redirect it.
youtu.be/BxLvuD79fH4
youtu.be/BxLvuD79fH4
Started mentally adding a wet fart sound after everything Elon Musk says. Highly recommend. Improves the user experience by 1000%
January 10, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Started mentally adding a wet fart sound after everything Elon Musk says. Highly recommend. Improves the user experience by 1000%
Worried about ICE killing a woman in public? Don’t worry, Joe Rogan - the guy who said vaccine mandates were “one step away from dictatorship” - will be covering this any minute now. Any minute. He’s just finishing up a three-hour conversation about elk meat.
January 10, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Worried about ICE killing a woman in public? Don’t worry, Joe Rogan - the guy who said vaccine mandates were “one step away from dictatorship” - will be covering this any minute now. Any minute. He’s just finishing up a three-hour conversation about elk meat.
Reposted by JA Westenberg
AI can produce plausible code faster than you can read it.
But "plausible" isn't the same as "correct."
Here's Discourse dev Martin Brennan on how to survive as an engineer in the age of LLMs:
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/ai-...
But "plausible" isn't the same as "correct."
Here's Discourse dev Martin Brennan on how to survive as an engineer in the age of LLMs:
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/ai-...
AI Can Code (But It Doesn’t Care About Quality)
Every engineer now has a code-producing machine in their hands, but volume rarely equates to quality. How do individual contributors and tech leads maintain standards when it’s suddenly much easier to create than it is to edit?
blog.discourse.org
January 7, 2026 at 7:57 PM
AI can produce plausible code faster than you can read it.
But "plausible" isn't the same as "correct."
Here's Discourse dev Martin Brennan on how to survive as an engineer in the age of LLMs:
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/ai-...
But "plausible" isn't the same as "correct."
Here's Discourse dev Martin Brennan on how to survive as an engineer in the age of LLMs:
blog.discourse.org/2026/01/ai-...
I have no interest in surviving the apocalypse. All that leather looks frightfully uncomfortable. Just tell me when and where the big one’s hitting so I can have a last martini like the civilized sonofabitch I am.
January 5, 2026 at 11:46 AM
I have no interest in surviving the apocalypse. All that leather looks frightfully uncomfortable. Just tell me when and where the big one’s hitting so I can have a last martini like the civilized sonofabitch I am.
“all models are wrong but some are useful” i say about the model that just confirmed all my existing prejudices. extremely useful. love this model. Can I interest you in my course about this model
January 5, 2026 at 5:26 AM
“all models are wrong but some are useful” i say about the model that just confirmed all my existing prejudices. extremely useful. love this model. Can I interest you in my course about this model
I'm not going to talk about politics anymore. I'm just going to focus on the economy, the cost of living, rental prices, climate change and — DAMMIT
January 4, 2026 at 9:02 PM
I'm not going to talk about politics anymore. I'm just going to focus on the economy, the cost of living, rental prices, climate change and — DAMMIT
“think for yourself” always seems to end with “and arrive at my exact conclusions or you’re a sheep.” very liberating framework
January 4, 2026 at 3:28 AM
“think for yourself” always seems to end with “and arrive at my exact conclusions or you’re a sheep.” very liberating framework
When someone says 'punk is dead' they don't mean there are no punk bands. They mean there are no punk bands that meet their specific criteria for authentic punkness - criteria carefully constructed to exclude everything that currently exists...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_...
Everything Is Dead And It's All Our Fault
SaaS is dead. Punk is dead again, for approximately the four hundredth time since Sid Vicious actually died in 1979. Rock is dead. The novel is dead. Cinema ...
www.youtube.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:36 PM
When someone says 'punk is dead' they don't mean there are no punk bands. They mean there are no punk bands that meet their specific criteria for authentic punkness - criteria carefully constructed to exclude everything that currently exists...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_...
wake up at 4am to Get Ahead. ahead of what. ahead of whom. They will not say. just ahead. always ahead. never arriving
January 3, 2026 at 10:40 AM
wake up at 4am to Get Ahead. ahead of what. ahead of whom. They will not say. just ahead. always ahead. never arriving
galaxy brain is when you think so hard you loop back around to a position dumber than where you started but now you have to maintain a substack
January 3, 2026 at 12:04 AM
galaxy brain is when you think so hard you loop back around to a position dumber than where you started but now you have to maintain a substack
Reposted by JA Westenberg
"When people talk about the Enlightenment as if it were an intellectual garden party where everyone sipped wine and agreed about reason, they're missing the part where producing and distributing ideas was (in fact) dangerous and thankless work." - via @joanwestenberg.com
The Case for Blogging in the Ruins
In 1751, Denis Diderot began publishing his Encyclopédie, a project that would eventually span 28 volumes and take more than two decades to complete. The French government banned it twice. The Catholi...
www.joanwestenberg.com
January 2, 2026 at 5:34 AM
"When people talk about the Enlightenment as if it were an intellectual garden party where everyone sipped wine and agreed about reason, they're missing the part where producing and distributing ideas was (in fact) dangerous and thankless work." - via @joanwestenberg.com
I’ve already decided exactly how this conversation is going to go, and frankly, I am disgusted by what you’re about to say to me.
January 2, 2026 at 5:26 AM
I’ve already decided exactly how this conversation is going to go, and frankly, I am disgusted by what you’re about to say to me.
Cheers! Much appreciated
January 2, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Cheers! Much appreciated
I keep watching people who used to write 10,000-word explorations of complex topics now produce dozens of disconnected fragments per day, each optimized for immediate engagement.
It's like watching someone who composed symphonies decide to only make ringtones.
www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-fo...
It's like watching someone who composed symphonies decide to only make ringtones.
www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-fo...
The Case for Blogging in the Ruins
In 1751, Denis Diderot began publishing his Encyclopédie, a project that would eventually span 28 volumes and take more than two decades to complete. The French government banned it twice. The Catholic Church condemned it, Diderot's collaborators abandoned him, his publisher secretly censored entries behind his back, and he worked
www.joanwestenberg.com
January 1, 2026 at 10:58 PM
I keep watching people who used to write 10,000-word explorations of complex topics now produce dozens of disconnected fragments per day, each optimized for immediate engagement.
It's like watching someone who composed symphonies decide to only make ringtones.
www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-fo...
It's like watching someone who composed symphonies decide to only make ringtones.
www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-fo...
the marketplace of ideas is when 50 million people watch the same 3 guys have the same argument every week and everyone leaves more certain they were already right. economics
January 1, 2026 at 8:35 PM
the marketplace of ideas is when 50 million people watch the same 3 guys have the same argument every week and everyone leaves more certain they were already right. economics
I’m so good at cultural commentary they promoted me to Sheriff McLuhan
January 1, 2026 at 3:57 PM
I’m so good at cultural commentary they promoted me to Sheriff McLuhan
extremely fucked up that “Self Help” books are written by Other People. if i wanted Other People Help i would have bought an “Other People Help” book.
January 1, 2026 at 1:49 PM
extremely fucked up that “Self Help” books are written by Other People. if i wanted Other People Help i would have bought an “Other People Help” book.
Is this your first day on the Internet
January 1, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Is this your first day on the Internet
Wild that every “heterodox thinker” arrives at the same 12 conclusions. very hetero. extremely dox.
January 1, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Wild that every “heterodox thinker” arrives at the same 12 conclusions. very hetero. extremely dox.