iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 27/10/2025

Talk to Me Human (my game) is done, out, released on Steam. I went unhinged with the bonus challenges in the second half to keep myself entertained. Spent so much time laughing hysterically in a room alone playtesting it you CANNOT convince Vincent he's in actual danger

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 16/09/2025

Your PhD advisor has at least five jobs. They’re probably really good at some and maybe bad at one or two. It surprised me how close (though abstract) the analogies are to traditional roles from industry. Except teacher, of course.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 03/09/2025

An emergent skill of mastering any craft—using software, cooking, even playing a game—is knowing what's actually important. An expert builds a precise workflow using a tiny fraction of the available control plane. At a deeper level, they know on which aspects to focus, and which to ignore.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 28/08/2025

Hello, last chance for 50% off Talk to Me Human! Early access ($4.99) — which includes the complete game — is ending. I’m releasing the full version soon on Steam and web, and the price will bump to $9.99.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 28/08/2025

My dream for Samin Nosrat's next book: Bitter Dank Umami Sweet. I have saved this stupid idea for literally years.

a fictional cover for a hypothetical book by Samin Nosrat called Bitter Dank Umami Sweet, similar in style to the cover of Salt Fat Acid Heat

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 26/08/2025

The most cursed word in talking about research is “interesting.” maxwellforbes.com/posts/intere... It means anything from "I don't understand" to "that's been done before" "this should be our focus for 6 months"

maxwellforbes.com

The PhD Metagame: The Cursed Word "Interesting" - Maxwell Forbes

People calling ideas "interesting" was perhaps the greatest challenge I regularly faced in communicating about research.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 10/06/2025

unabashedly into my new 404 page

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 02/05/2025

I’m pleased to announce the release of Weatherspread, a web app for visualizing recent weather and tourism data! I built this app with friends Tristan and Shelby to aid in planning travel and events. Usually you plan things far enough out (say, 3-6 months) that there’s no reliable forecast.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 11/04/2025

complete blog post is now live! more tips, and reframed into 2-step process: (1) get accepted by page 1, (2) avoid rejection with the rest. download both PDFs too. maxwellforbes.com/posts/how-to...

maxwellforbes.com

The PhD Metagame: How to Get Your Paper Accepted: Page 1 Accepts, the Rest Avoids Reject - Maxwell Forbes

In 2019, I submitted a paper that was rejected with review scores 2.5, 3, 3. One week later, I resubmitted it with minor...

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 07/04/2025

Exciting to zero people but me, I randomly tried putting an image in a sidenote and it JUST WORKED if it hadn't I would have assumed no quantity of toil would have fixed it

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 31/03/2025

four gpt-4o redesigns of my game, in styles "beautiful" / "stylized" / "cell-shaded" / "cyberpunk." it's like having an amazing but stochastic concept artist. it makes the need for *art direction* so obvious — by allowing any style, what choices do you make to achieve a vision?

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 20/03/2025

2025's 'The HTML Review' just dropped!! co-edited by friend and collaborator Shelby (shelby.cool). check it out for a dose of avant-garde web. congrats to MNC, Shelby, and the authors! (thehtml.review/04/)

shelby.cool

Shelby Wilson

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 12/03/2025

working on a post that's basically "how to get a paper accepted," using a case study one of my own that went from reject (2.5, 3, 3) to accept (4, 4.5, 4.5) with just one week of revisions

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 11/03/2025

Ahh, another day, another email from Google wanting to delete something I didn’t know existed

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 06/03/2025

don't make things actually work the next PhD metagame essay focuses on avoiding a bad (non-meta) strategy. here's what i mean: in fields like computer science, your research is temptingly adjacent to making a working, useful system.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 14/02/2025

PHD METAGAME - next essay out: "how to pick your phd school" (link below sorry) you gotta balance advisor match w/ school's prestige. what do you do? i don't know but boy I sure managed to write 1800 words about it

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 22/01/2025

props to the artist who made this sick glitch shader

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 21/01/2025

should you pick your phd school by advisor or prestige? cooking up a new post, one factor is tiiiiiiiime

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 20/01/2025

Place 4/100 is #Seville #Spain (travel recap) (new Spain thread) Immediately defeated (again) by Spain's Spanish. Years conjugating verbs went out my ears as I just tried to parse a single word. I eventually figured out one: "vale" ("OK").

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 19/01/2025

next PHD METAGAME entry live: "don't try to reform science" (link below) did you know there are two sciences? PhDs seem to attract a lot of smart, idealistic kids who are interested in doing Science 1 and don’t realize that they’ve signed up to do Science 2.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 18/01/2025

there are two sciences / this one is the almighty results table (~'science 1') / new phd metagame essay dropping tomorrow

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 16/01/2025

The swirling mass of knowledge: "the insiders of your field are having a collective, evolving conversation about what they know and care about."

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 10/01/2025

Hello PhD students, want to discuss strategies for the unwritten rules of academia? Published the first essay in a series covering the PhD metagame: 'Your Paper is an Ad' maxwellforbes.com/posts/your-p...

maxwellforbes.com

The PhD Metagame: Your Paper Is an Ad - Maxwell Forbes

Insiders to our social practice of science understand that a research paper serves several purposes. In increasing...

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 09/01/2025

I recently spent a couple years wandering the globe with my partner. I thought it'd be fun to share just one photo each from 100 places we visited.

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 07/01/2025

Working on another essay animation

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 06/01/2025

Paper-as-currency illustration for upcoming little essay series called "The PhD Metagame." Made with Rive

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 21/12/2024

My free demo is out! talktomehuman.com/demo (Play online, no login.) Talk out loud to play, test your skills of social persuasion, and NPCs talk back. Give it a shot if you haven’t played Talk to Me Human yet. I’d love to get your feedback!

talktomehuman.com

Talk to Me Human

The talking your way out of it simulator

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 20/12/2024

I created this multiplayer boat simulation in a 2 day hack/jam with my artist friend @spacefiller.bsky.social. There's not much game play right now per se, but it's been surprisingly soothing to boat around with friends in a big pool. Let us know if you have any ideas for features!!

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Max Forbes @maxwellforbes.com · 03/12/2024

The cozy web is alive and slow. I just posted my final monthly digest of the year maxwellforbes.com/blog/december-202… My website is a forever ode to owning your stack, gardening your content, and endlessly fighting CSS (it always wins)

maxwellforbes.com

The Plague of a Thousand Socials: December 2024 Monthly Digest - Maxwell Forbes

I See You (Seattle, USA — December, 2023) Hi all, It’s me, Max, endless website tinkerer and writer about stuff...

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