iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 08/03/2026

It will never stop being striking how quickly assumptions about the future can change. "Translating machines are very hard" "Wireless energy transmission by 2000 and interstellar probes by 2025, duh" and "Infinite energy+matter, finite brainpower" (From O'Neill's 2081)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 09/08/2025

We finished building the Millennium Falcon! #caturday

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 24/07/2025

(Re)published a piece on the Spectech Blog about how efficiency warps the types of ideas that get support, which ones get killed too early, and which ideas people choose to pursue in the first place. blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 07/07/2025

For some reason I get a lot of joy out of the flight path from Helsinki to Tokyo

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 01/06/2025

Testing gentle ways of reminding people in group chats to clean tracking information off of links

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 21/05/2025

I finally had a chance to search for "wirecutter wirecutter"

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 16/05/2025

Although curmudgeonly, the actual scientists who do takedowns of hype-y things have a great record I think the Heinlein quote holds — scientists saying “that is impossible” is often wrong. But “this actually existing work is not as exciting as you think it is” is often right.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 13/05/2025

Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities! spec.tech/ai-brains 1/

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 30/04/2025

"The problem with most people's writing is located between their ears" Lots of people think they need to get better at writing, but nobody thinks they need to get better at thinking, and this is why they don't get better at writing. Crucial observation from @mastroianni.bsky.social

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 25/04/2025

This attitude of "doing it right no matter what it takes" is what separates good work from great work. (From @antonhowes.bsky.social's recent excellent piece)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 22/04/2025

I find trees splitting rocks inspirational. Long game. (From a hike this past weekend)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 05/03/2025

Was going back through my blog for unrelated reasons and came across this nugget from 2013. At least I'm consistent.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 03/03/2025

Imagine if we kept making physical technologies whose form factors changed this much in 12 years. (Pictures from 1945 and 1957 respectively.)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 02/03/2025

Bring back this NASA energy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfsm...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 26/02/2025

A fun blast from the past (2018). I guess I've been going on about the same things for a long time.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 20/02/2025

I'm still pleased with this one

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 31/01/2025

This story has notes of a leitmotif I have heard over and over again - Genuine breakthrough - Takes VC money - Pressure to pivot because <market too small, research taking to long, etc.> - Failure to scale (From sarahconstantin.substack.com/p/whats-behi...)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 26/01/2025

I miss the serendipity of discovering other books you want to read because they’re on the shelf next to the book you were looking for.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 25/01/2025

This 1984 NASA report goes hard

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 18/01/2025

(Probably not helpful but...) 1. Just read all of fbswiki.org/wiki/index.p... in 24 hrs :-p 2. I just think of this picture, and then you get to play around with u so that what you want to happen happens ...

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 17/01/2025

People watching SpaceX (but also everybody).

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 09/01/2025

Please let this turn into real things

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 06/01/2025

(And the federal government isn't uniquely bad here)

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 05/01/2025

I'm excited about the coming week

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 01/01/2025

Happy new year everyone! Here's to a 2025 full of wonder, ambition, and adventure.

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Ben Reinhardt @benjaminreinhardt.com · 12/12/2024

It's always shocking how recently "the way it has always worked" was different. Government research used to happen mostly at government labs. Funding used to happen in "blocks" to people and organizations (as opposed to project-by-project) via trust relationships.