Tilmon Edwards
@tilmonedwards.com
engineering and infosec · he/him · vis tacita
maine bluesky feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:txfqncx66asrjzitxfur3of6/feed/aaap7ldsnvpkw
THE INTERNET IS SCARY: @internetisscary.org
maine bluesky feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:txfqncx66asrjzitxfur3of6/feed/aaap7ldsnvpkw
THE INTERNET IS SCARY: @internetisscary.org
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Tilmon Edwards
@tilmonedwards.com
· May 5
I have 3 axioms that help me decide when to talk to people I disagree with:
1. To debate a subject is to concede that the subject is debatable.
2. To reason with a person is to concede that the person is reasonable.
3. To ask for evidence of a claim is to concede that the claim might be true.
1. To debate a subject is to concede that the subject is debatable.
2. To reason with a person is to concede that the person is reasonable.
3. To ask for evidence of a claim is to concede that the claim might be true.
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
I regret to inform that Ed Is At It Again.
I wanted to put a few thoughts (and I'm being brief, for once!) together about the OECD PIAAC stuff @jordantcarlson.bsky.social mentioned a couple weeks ago and how it provides useful naming-of-parts around how one might Get Good.
ed3d.net/blog/posts/t...
I wanted to put a few thoughts (and I'm being brief, for once!) together about the OECD PIAAC stuff @jordantcarlson.bsky.social mentioned a couple weeks ago and how it provides useful naming-of-parts around how one might Get Good.
ed3d.net/blog/posts/t...
The shape of a knowledge worker
In a recent post, I threw around the term 'cognitive exponent' a bunch. Today I'd like to talk about a thing that might help us frame our investigation of what puts someone on the right side of that e...
ed3d.net
January 6, 2026 at 10:35 PM
I regret to inform that Ed Is At It Again.
I wanted to put a few thoughts (and I'm being brief, for once!) together about the OECD PIAAC stuff @jordantcarlson.bsky.social mentioned a couple weeks ago and how it provides useful naming-of-parts around how one might Get Good.
ed3d.net/blog/posts/t...
I wanted to put a few thoughts (and I'm being brief, for once!) together about the OECD PIAAC stuff @jordantcarlson.bsky.social mentioned a couple weeks ago and how it provides useful naming-of-parts around how one might Get Good.
ed3d.net/blog/posts/t...
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
You're thinking of Kerberos. Kubernetes is the Nintendo game where you have to defeat Death and Alucard
January 7, 2026 at 6:17 AM
You're thinking of Kerberos. Kubernetes is the Nintendo game where you have to defeat Death and Alucard
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
You're thinking of Korea Wave. Kubernetes is the name of the ship Starfleet Academy cadets have to try to save in a no-win scenario test.
You’re thinking of Castlevania. Kubernetes is a global musical and cultural phenomenon that originates in South Korea.
You're thinking of Kerberos. Kubernetes is the Nintendo game where you have to defeat Death and Alucard
January 7, 2026 at 2:56 PM
You're thinking of Korea Wave. Kubernetes is the name of the ship Starfleet Academy cadets have to try to save in a no-win scenario test.
You’re thinking of Castlevania. Kubernetes is a global musical and cultural phenomenon that originates in South Korea.
You're thinking of Kerberos. Kubernetes is the Nintendo game where you have to defeat Death and Alucard
January 7, 2026 at 12:49 PM
You’re thinking of Castlevania. Kubernetes is a global musical and cultural phenomenon that originates in South Korea.
+1 to using them as an ADHD aid. When it’s just my brain, I can just jump into any aspect of the problem that seems more interesting at the moment. There’s no reason not to.
When I’m piloting an LLM, I know if I do that, it’ll trash my context. It forces me to stay on task for the robot’s benefit.
When I’m piloting an LLM, I know if I do that, it’ll trash my context. It forces me to stay on task for the robot’s benefit.
January 7, 2026 at 12:38 PM
+1 to using them as an ADHD aid. When it’s just my brain, I can just jump into any aspect of the problem that seems more interesting at the moment. There’s no reason not to.
When I’m piloting an LLM, I know if I do that, it’ll trash my context. It forces me to stay on task for the robot’s benefit.
When I’m piloting an LLM, I know if I do that, it’ll trash my context. It forces me to stay on task for the robot’s benefit.
Yeah any kind of “retvn” take really should at least acknowledge an average life expectancy of like 25 years.
January 6, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Yeah any kind of “retvn” take really should at least acknowledge an average life expectancy of like 25 years.
edge-03 might end up being something more like production. i.e. workloads I actually get paid for. Someday I might have some of those idk
January 4, 2026 at 9:14 PM
edge-03 might end up being something more like production. i.e. workloads I actually get paid for. Someday I might have some of those idk
The intent is that each of these will be for a different type of project.
edge-01 becomes my new homelab, and everything that's on TrueNAS will move over to that cluster.
edge-02 is for the robotics team
edge-03 is not yet allocated
edge-01 becomes my new homelab, and everything that's on TrueNAS will move over to that cluster.
edge-02 is for the robotics team
edge-03 is not yet allocated
January 4, 2026 at 9:08 PM
The intent is that each of these will be for a different type of project.
edge-01 becomes my new homelab, and everything that's on TrueNAS will move over to that cluster.
edge-02 is for the robotics team
edge-03 is not yet allocated
edge-01 becomes my new homelab, and everything that's on TrueNAS will move over to that cluster.
edge-02 is for the robotics team
edge-03 is not yet allocated
I got a set of 9 USFF Intel Nucs, each with 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD, and they're too resource constrained to do much, so these racks are effectively 3 Kubernetes control planes, and I'll add workers later.
January 4, 2026 at 9:06 PM
I got a set of 9 USFF Intel Nucs, each with 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD, and they're too resource constrained to do much, so these racks are effectively 3 Kubernetes control planes, and I'll add workers later.
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
the reason I'd follow Cat Hicks into hell is this unswerving humanist conviction that actually
people are going to do the best they can
we can help them do even better
and neither avenue is served by thinking less of people
people are going to do the best they can
we can help them do even better
and neither avenue is served by thinking less of people
My general observation after years of working on learning-related topics across a lot of contexts is that people are not lazy, are curious, are prone to many effort-illusions about learning (eg easy = good but also hard = good when it isn't), are capable of growing metacognition
January 3, 2026 at 11:13 PM
the reason I'd follow Cat Hicks into hell is this unswerving humanist conviction that actually
people are going to do the best they can
we can help them do even better
and neither avenue is served by thinking less of people
people are going to do the best they can
we can help them do even better
and neither avenue is served by thinking less of people
Yes precisely. You, as the farmer, are responsible for cultivating an environment in which the cattle will be healthy and successful. The built and cultivated environment is what makes a farm different from the wild. It's a lot of work to set your herd up for success.
January 3, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Yes precisely. You, as the farmer, are responsible for cultivating an environment in which the cattle will be healthy and successful. The built and cultivated environment is what makes a farm different from the wild. It's a lot of work to set your herd up for success.
DevOps has had a "cattle, not pets" attitude toward the servers that run code for a long time, and the benefits are enormous.
Why should we tend and maintain our code like pets when code could be cattle?
Why should we tend and maintain our code like pets when code could be cattle?
January 3, 2026 at 8:01 PM
DevOps has had a "cattle, not pets" attitude toward the servers that run code for a long time, and the benefits are enormous.
Why should we tend and maintain our code like pets when code could be cattle?
Why should we tend and maintain our code like pets when code could be cattle?
This is framed like a bad thing, but I'm not so sure it is, because the value of code as an asset is also changing. The amount of labor that goes into creating code is going to fall through the floor, which makes the cost of a rewrite much lower. The code itself becomes more ephemeral.
We’re creating more code than we can maintain or understand. With an explosion of new code we’ll see a lot of the code go extinct
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
January 3, 2026 at 8:01 PM
This is framed like a bad thing, but I'm not so sure it is, because the value of code as an asset is also changing. The amount of labor that goes into creating code is going to fall through the floor, which makes the cost of a rewrite much lower. The code itself becomes more ephemeral.
"Even if my industry was the worst industry of all, I would still work for them" are you even listing to yourself? Why do you even bother to claim that you have an opinion about morality?
January 3, 2026 at 5:29 PM
"Even if my industry was the worst industry of all, I would still work for them" are you even listing to yourself? Why do you even bother to claim that you have an opinion about morality?
Of course you think you're right, your salary depends on it. That's what I'm saying.
January 3, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Of course you think you're right, your salary depends on it. That's what I'm saying.
Oh wait hang on, I see what's happening here.
January 3, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Oh wait hang on, I see what's happening here.
Gambling is zero sum. It produces no utility, economically, socially, or otherwise. Even if someone profits, it's only because someone else lost. Who cares if someone has skill if that's what they use it for?
January 3, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Gambling is zero sum. It produces no utility, economically, socially, or otherwise. Even if someone profits, it's only because someone else lost. Who cares if someone has skill if that's what they use it for?
Yeah, true. Taking an arbitrary paragraph and extracting a hypothesis-shaped sentence from it doesn't necessarily make a good or useful hypothesis.
My point was just that if the robot isn't doing the right thing, you can often just give it better instructions, and then it will do better.
My point was just that if the robot isn't doing the right thing, you can often just give it better instructions, and then it will do better.
January 3, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Yeah, true. Taking an arbitrary paragraph and extracting a hypothesis-shaped sentence from it doesn't necessarily make a good or useful hypothesis.
My point was just that if the robot isn't doing the right thing, you can often just give it better instructions, and then it will do better.
My point was just that if the robot isn't doing the right thing, you can often just give it better instructions, and then it will do better.
I cannot use gas town because I threw out a muscle in my back, which makes laughing excruciating. Prohibitively funny.
this is one of the most insane [laudatory] things I’ve read today.
steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-g...
steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-g...
Welcome to Gas Town
Happy New Year, and Welcome to Gas Town!
steve-yegge.medium.com
January 3, 2026 at 5:11 AM
I cannot use gas town because I threw out a muscle in my back, which makes laughing excruciating. Prohibitively funny.
How do you transfer from paper to Obsidian? Is there an OCR community plugin or something? I'd love to have more paper in my life actually, paper doesn't support ATProto so I can't get distracted
January 3, 2026 at 4:29 AM
How do you transfer from paper to Obsidian? Is there an OCR community plugin or something? I'd love to have more paper in my life actually, paper doesn't support ATProto so I can't get distracted
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
satya shops “slop” stop; some say short hop to AI top, see drop
thinking really hard about calling a top because satya even acknowledging this is a pretty bad sign
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says people should move beyond calling AI 'slop'
"We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium ... that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate to each other"
"We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium ... that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate to each other"
January 3, 2026 at 4:05 AM
satya shops “slop” stop; some say short hop to AI top, see drop
You're on here
January 3, 2026 at 4:07 AM
You're on here
Reposted by Tilmon Edwards
I've been consciously trying to do more retweeting of folks with Good And Thoughtful Takes around AI and the like lately, so here's a starter-pack thing I'll definitely not forget to keep updated later 🫡
January 3, 2026 at 3:30 AM
I've been consciously trying to do more retweeting of folks with Good And Thoughtful Takes around AI and the like lately, so here's a starter-pack thing I'll definitely not forget to keep updated later 🫡
The PB&J Challenge is a good reference point for how to use an LLM well. If you are not getting good result, consider if you're describing what to do with enough resolution.
My last few months with these things has really opened my eyes to how much of my work I didn't even know I needed to explain.
My last few months with these things has really opened my eyes to how much of my work I didn't even know I needed to explain.
leadershipinspirations.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:19 AM
The PB&J Challenge is a good reference point for how to use an LLM well. If you are not getting good result, consider if you're describing what to do with enough resolution.
My last few months with these things has really opened my eyes to how much of my work I didn't even know I needed to explain.
My last few months with these things has really opened my eyes to how much of my work I didn't even know I needed to explain.