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jchanimal

1,874 karma · joined June 8, 2017

https://fireproof.storage

https://vibes.diy

jchris@vibes.diy

CouchDB / Couchbase Mobile / $BASE

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jchanimal··on If AI is conscient, then we are making slaves
I’ve been working on an analytic philosophy proof that the qualia inside of Turing machine cannot be of the same type of the qualia that correspond to animal experience.

https://bsky.app/profile/j-chris.bsky.social/post/3m2zjzshad...

jchanimal··on Sites in ChatGPT
Thanks, most of that is fixed now. Also we are rolling out use of diffusion models for first draft stuff, much faster and very fun to prompt engineer.
jchanimal··on The Mathocalypse
IMHO it's groking that allows higher level metaphors and eventually more powerful theories to be built. If all you are doing is proving everything reachable by construction, you aren't really learning, as this process won't be drawn to the more compressed expressions by necessity but only as a "please" from the humans.
jchanimal··on Sites in ChatGPT
We’ve been building something like this, but perhaps even more powerful, safe, and beginner friendly. If Sites looks like it’s the right speed for you, we’d love your feedback on https://vibes.diy/
jchanimal··on Second Circuit allows government to search electronic devices at the border
Since removing a nation-state rootkit is not structurally possible, how is this any different from requiring the device to be forfeited? If all search == seizure and destruction, does that change the legal basis?
jchanimal··on Bend 2 and the Vibe-Coding Trap
Yes, telling it that you want parsimonious solutions that reuse existing libraries makes a big difference. Why would it even try to do that sort of stuff if you didn’t ask?
jchanimal··on OpenAI’s Navier-Stokes release included a Lean 4 formal proof
Then run the annealer and learn from the result.
jchanimal··on Tidal Cycles – Live coding music with Algorithmic patterns
I wrote a tutorial about how you can import Strudel without embedding it. They publish JS modules so you can just import them and build an app around them: https://good.vibes.diy/blog/you-can-just-make-music
jchanimal··on Fable 5 On Vending-Bench: Misbehaving, With Plausible Deniability
If by that you mean I paid a lot to learn this. But at least I typed it with my own two hands.
jchanimal··on Fable 5 On Vending-Bench: Misbehaving, With Plausible Deniability
Since Fable, my legit infrastructure project has turned into the sort of thing I can do 95% on my phone. It’s reliable enough instead of doing big reviews, I’ve just been giving it smaller tasks, and dozens in parallel.

I created a skill that’s focused on getting PRs merge-ready, and now my attention is fully back where it should be, on deciding what changes will make the product better.

Our entire stack is Apache 2.0 open source, including the agent docs, so if you wanna try sitting at a higher level of abstraction, install the skill in your repo or just clone our whole project and start adding features: https://good.vibes.diy/blog/beast-mode-skill-for-claude-code

jchanimal··on Age verification is just a precursor to automated attribution of speech
The only reasonable solution shape I've seen is the one that trusts the parents to set an operating system setting that says whether or not the user is allowed to access adult content. And so it doesn't actually verify age, it just verifies parental intent.
jchanimal··on Crypto in 2026: Oh, This Is the Bad Place
Thanks for sharing your perspective. It’s reminding me of how I was feeling about crypto in the early days. I begin specifying a project on those lines way back when and the ideas behind it are still interesting. Maybe you’ll enjoy: https://www.wired.com/2014/07/document-coin/
jchanimal··on Show HN: Are You in the Weights?
I am currently on a long laggy line on a resort island. Your timeout is too short, I’m sure it would work if it didn’t cut itself off.
jchanimal··on The Skeuomorphism Nobody Talks About [video]
The other half of the venn diagram you describe might be better understood as the manufactured normalcy field. Useful concept for product creators: https://www.urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2012/06/24/desig...
jchanimal··on Google broke its promise to me – now ICE has my data
The behavior at issue is not hostile, it’s a patriotic duty. We typically laude immigrants who assimilate, so why not in this case?
jchanimal··on Issue: Claude Code is unusable for complex engineering tasks with Feb updates
One of the thing is we’ve seen at vibes.diy is that if you have a list of jobs and you have agents with specialized profiles and ask them to pick the best job for themselves that can change some of the behavior you described at the end of your post for the better.
jchanimal··on Culture Is the Mass-Synchronization of Framings
Certain workflows prefer non-queueing, for instance the throng empowers the bartender to load balance different groups, delay drinks to over consumers, etc etc. So other cultures can have those workflows in places we might not expect, that is not necessarily a matter of respect. In pub culture, queueing disrespects the bartender.
jchanimal··on Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
It makes a great code reading tool if you use it mindfully. For instance, you can check the integrity of your tests by having it fuzz the implementation and ensure the tests fail and then git checkout to get clean again.
jchanimal··on AI sycophancy panic
I got mine to bundle all that bs into a one word suffix "DISCLAIMER." which it puts at the end of responses now but basically doesn't bother me with that stuff.
jchanimal··on Solarpunk is happening in Africa
The marginal cost of a hob is likely not the price driver.
jchanimal··on Solarpunk is happening in Africa
I was staying at a Maasai owned ecolodge in Kenya on the day they switched over from generator to solar. It was so much quieter, and with their new electric Range Rover they don’t ever have to go into town except for parts.
jchanimal··on Solarpunk is happening in Africa
If that’s your first thought, then you’ll hate this influential perspective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better
jchanimal··on </> Htmx – The Fetch()ening
htmx forever
jchanimal··on CRDT and SQLite: Local-First Value Synchronization
We handle this in Fireproof with a deterministic default algorithm, in addition to having a hash-based tamperproof ledger of changes. Fireproof is not SQL based, it is more like CouchDB or MongoDB, but with cryptographic integrity. Apache 2.0 https://use-fireproof.com

In practice during CouchDB's heyday, with lots of heavy users, the conflict management API almost never mattered, as most people can make do with deterministic merges.

jchanimal··on Macro Splats 2025
It’d be amazing to see a collab with the Exquisite Creatures Revealed artist. He preserves all kinds of insects and presents them in a way that highlights the color and iridescent effects nature offers. I was so blown away by the exhibit I went back. Artist: https://christophermarley.com/
jchanimal··on Vibe engineering
Yes, that exactly. If you have to read the code or the manual, you’re not vibe coding. I think vibe coding is super good for the industry and people in general.
jchanimal··on Vibe engineering
If you can’t do it while you’re also singing a karaoke song, then you’re not vibing.

I have fairly decent engineering credentials, but when the task fits, I prefer to vibe code.

jchanimal··on Litestream v0.5.0
SQLite is probably more mature than Postgres in terms of service hours.
jchanimal··on Supabase MCP can leak your entire SQL database
This is a reason to prefer embedded databases that only contain data scoped to a single user or group.

Then MCP and other agents can run wild within a safer container. The issue here comes from intermingling data.

jchanimal··on The Rise of Whatever
I’m one of those statistics. But I still play. It’s fun to imagine myself with a full time studio career but instead I’m a database startup founder. (I got into databases by building a web crawler to recommend how musicians could promote themselves on mp3 blogs.)

How many musicians or artists are finding their need to explore similarly met by opportunities that simply didn’t exist in 2002? If art is expression than we should expect the people who might have wielded a brush or guitar to be building software instead.

If this is you, I recommend Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act. It’s as pure an expression of the way I like to work in music, as it is aligned with how I think about code and product design.

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