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Lachlan Kermode

@ohrg.org
156 followers 208 following 257 posts

PhD Candidate at Brown University / software at liminal-lab.org. Freeing computers one terminal at a time.

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Reposted by Lachlan Kermode
Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal @ranjodhdhaliwal.com · 11h
And this Friday at contralab.online, a closed workshop (funded, in part, by SNSF) on what might count as explanatory knowledge of/after large language models, ...
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dan @danabra.mov · 14/09/2026
i still don't fully understand how to use them correctly but i just tell llm "make this shit monadic" and it does exactly what i want
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 21/09/2026
Can't sleep at night for want of knowledge gardens (Zettelkasten-style) in Typst? Stay awake no longer because rookery is here: rookery.ohrg.org
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 15/09/2026
I do love the FT: "if Anyhropic causes an extinction event, obviously that's bad for investors"
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 06/09/2026
More sage thinking about LLMs and the symbolic function of writing from Cantrill: "to use an LLM to write is to void the social contract between writer and reader: we readers shouldn’t be expected to labor to understand a sentence that the writer themselves didn’t work to create."
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 11/08/2026
I've been stewing on what to say about the discomforting industrial metaphorics of Steve Yegge's beads and gastown for a while, and here it is: www.ohrg.org/birdkeeping
ohrg.org
Birdkeeping
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 06/08/2026
I've just released github.com/freecomputin..., an extension set for your coding agent to work effectively with jj and beads.
github.com
GitHub - freecomputinglab/soroban: Work with beads and jj effectively in a coding agent
Work with beads and jj effectively in a coding agent - freecomputinglab/soroban
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Sophie Moullin @sophiemoullin.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Struggling to diversify your panel? Use our humanoids.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 17/07/2026
Wrote up my current context engineering setup (seeded with a few thoughts about LLM hysteria): www.ohrg.org/taming-jagge...
ohrg.org
Taming jagged intelligence with beads and jj
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 03/07/2026
You know you've been coding too long when you get up and, as you walk to the kitchen, start thinking about what should be included in the the prompt you're about to write to prepare dinner
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Gabriella "Biella" Coleman @biella.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Does anyone have any opinions on these paperless drywall products? Please share. I doubt I will get much traction here, but it never hurts to check.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 30/06/2026
Let's bring back Weizenbaum's excellent phrase and accusation "the artificial intelligentsia"
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Seny Kamara @senykamara.com · 27/06/2026
This is a fantastic essay from @jessica.bsky.social about what it means to do real work/research open.substack.com/pub/letterst...
open.substack.com
on doing Real work
a working theory
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 23/06/2026
Does anyone know of an intro to CS that includes Weizenbaum's _Computer Power and Human Reason_? What with this AI business, it seems more essential than ever to get this in front of computer people as early as possible
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 17/06/2026
Coding workflow: 1. Have Anthropic's Opus family design a feature or fix as a set of beads issues: github.com/Dicklesworth... 2. Using either Anthropic's Sonnet family or GLM 4.7 (an open weights model), turn on caveman mode: github.com/juliusbrusse... 3. "br/jj pair": github.com/breezykermo/...
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 13/06/2026
Have just discovered github.com/chojs23/conc.... What a relief to be able to pare down the interface and navigate with Vi-style shortcuts
github.com
GitHub - chojs23/concord: A feature-rich TUI client for Discord
A feature-rich TUI client for Discord. Contribute to chojs23/concord development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 08/06/2026
Finally beginning to feel that I'm hitting a happy medium between 1) letting Claude Code run away with arbitrary design decisions in favor of functionality and 2) writing code through sharply scoped directives (or by hand) and thus developing real awareness of the codebase as I build it out
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 07/06/2026
Inspired by some folks at @eeg.cl.cam.ac.uk, I've started keeping research weeknotes. Rationale for the undertaking and link to the weeknotes are below
ohrg.org
And so, announcing my research weeknotes, started the day of this post—June 7th— which you can find publically available at:
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 05/06/2026
This advent of agentic humps by @anil.recoil.org is incredible: anil.recoil.org/notes/aoah-2.... Please academics and otherwise 'free' agents; do more of this kind of thing!
anil.recoil.org
2025 Advent of Agentic Humps: Building a useful O(x)Caml library every day
An exploration of agentic programming through building useful OCaml libraries daily using Claude Code while establishing groundrules for responsible development.
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
when I see people complaining about LaTeX
kool aid man busting through a door and saying "Have you heard of typst"
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a ton of crates @tonofcrates.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
a summer reading list for you sickos that still want to think together with the machine
cel.cs.brown.edu
CSCI 1377: Tools for Thought - S26
A course on the past, present, and future of software for augmenting intelligence at Brown University.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 13/05/2026
Drop in to hear about mathematical materialism id you're in Basel, Monday the week after next! contralab.online/lachlan-kerm...
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 07/05/2026
Forget LLMs: PowerPoint had already ruined our ability to think straight and seriously
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Mercedes 🤦‍♀️ Bunz @mrsbunz.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Looking forward to this! www.kcl.ac.uk/events/on-th... with @jeddobson.bsky.social, Leo Impett and Tobias Blanke and @dchavezheras.bsky.social
kcl.ac.uk
On the Semiotics of AI representations | King's College London
This workshop is a deep dive into contemporary model architectures and pipelines following the semiotic question of meaning making linked to text, images as well as the multimodality between them.
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Shriram Krishnamurthi @shriram.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
To make it easier esp. for junior folks (students, postdocs, jr faculty) to talk to me, I'm trying a new thing: open office hours at conferences! Come find me at PLDI 2026, using the public calendar linked to the page below. Please feel free to reshare! cs.brown.edu/people/sk/Co...
I want to try something new. At PLDI 2026 and ECOOP 2026, I'm going to hold “Office Hours”.

People said that asking folks to sign up might be intimidating, so there won't be any signup. Rather, anyone can join: all you need to do is show up! I'm especially looking forward to talking to younger folks: students, postdocs, junior faculty. Tell me about your research, get feedback on an idea, get advice on applying, ask me about postdocs, whatever. It's your time!

In terms of mechanics: I have created a public calendar in which I will list my availability. I don't know the lay of the land yet. Instead, just before the slot begins, I'll find a public place, then update the calendar entry to indicate where I am. Check the calendar to find me, and come on over!

At PLDI, I will have slots on June 17 and 18: evening-only on the 17th, evening of the 18th, and probably also some during the day of the 18th (check on 17th night). They will be at the conference hotel (Limelight Boulder). Once I test it out at PLDI, I'll update this page for ECOOP.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 28/04/2026
Some of the most lucid writing available on what the existence of LLMs does and doesn't change about being a speaking being
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M. T. Anderson @mt-anderson.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
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Louise Amoore @amoorelouise.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
We have an exciting PhD opportunity (22 year old me would have loved this 😊) - in collaboration with IWM. Supervised by me (a political geographer) & @eamonnbell.bsky.social (computer science, digital humanities) #data #war #memory #archives @leverhulme.ac.uk
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 15/04/2026
Dip in and work with Shriram if this applies to you!
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 12/04/2026
"appealing to perverse vanity metrics, perhaps, but at the cost of everything that matters" - Marx's critique of capitalism in a nutshell, brilliantly brought to bear on the agential problematic ushered in by LLMs in this stellar piece of writing.
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 10/04/2026
The translators' footnotes to the new translation of Capital vol I are an absolute contextual gold mine. Paul North and Paul Reitter did a stunning job. I'm sure they're great in context-- but they also work just one after the other, like a postscript or introduction
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 08/04/2026
Our first session with reading coming up this Sunday! "The Working Day", a must-read for everyone who has ever been subject to a wage
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Kastor @kastor.sh · 07/04/2026
Macos: i have no idea where your document is Windows: “your” document? These are onedrive’s documents Linux: /opt/fakevm/mounted/tmpfs/vmlinuz/ubuntu-36.0.01_x86_also-arm.0.21.013/snapd/docx-exporter.sx/0028492748901.txt.converted.bak/v/9/ms/1/0.out
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Shriram Krishnamurthi @shriram.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
My department is looking to hire a professor of practice in CS, with a focus on AI. Job posting below. If you have questions I'll do my best to answer them, else find someone who can! We are in Providence, easy commute access from Boston. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37970844...
jobs.chronicle.com
Professor of the Practice in Computer Science with a Focus on Artificial Intelligence - Providence, Rhode Island job with Computer Science | 37970844
The Department of Computer Science at Brown University is seeking applicants for a Professor of the Practice position at the assistant, associate, ...
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Maria Antoniak @mariaa.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
I'm lecturing about the "History of NLP" this week. What should I include? Any favorite anecdotes, images, people, methods? Slides, books, papers, or talks for inspiration or grounding? I've been maintaining a small collection here: www.are.na/maria-antoni...
are.na
🗄 history of NLP and the ACL | Are.na
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 04/04/2026
Worth getting your hands on this one! A properly useful account of the embedding as a cultural technique in computer vision
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
evergreen.
leftism leaving people's bodies as soon as you ask them to wear a mask
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Critical Inquiry @criticalinquiry.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
"That during their calculation words are not grounded by their extensions, however, does not necessarily mean that LLMs are to be dismissed—after all, it is also human to make mistakes." From our new issue, Mercedes Bunz's "On the Calculation of Meaning": www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 23/03/2026
If you're a tech worker who's interested in reading Marx's Capital with other tech workers, there's a free online course that's starting later this month cftw.ohrg.org
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 18/03/2026
Thinking about black holes in Rome in the next couple of days (join us): www.biblhertz.it/events/44861...
biblhertz.it
Black Hole | Black Box: Limits, Opacity, and the Unknown Across Art, Science, and Media
This conference examines limits, opacity, and the unknown by bringing together two notions from very different domains: the black hole of astrophysics and the black box of computation in which theoretical and empirical boundaries are reached.
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isabel @isabelroses.com · 16/03/2026
i am here in the nix store
tom scott superimposed over yazi in /nix/store showing a few nix store paths in the background
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Shriram Krishnamurthi @shriram.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Super excitedly looking forward to this workshop on Software, Community, Territory at Brown's humanities center @cogutinstitute.bsky.social : @biella.bsky.social , @steveklabnik.com , @ohrg.org , and all kinds of other amazing people. humanities.brown.edu/events/AILab...
humanities.brown.edu
[SCALE]: Software, Community, Territory
April 17 – 18, 2026
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 09/03/2026
'working' in 2026
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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Our call for entries for “Noisy Systems: Aesthetics, Epistemologies and Computation” is open through 16 March. Here’s a 🧵⬇️ #cfp #ml www.biblhertz.it/3773193/2602...
biblhertz.it
Call for PapersNoisy Systems: Aesthetics, Epistemology, and Computation
Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Villino Stroganoff, Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Rome, and online (Zoom),  4th and 5th June 2026
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 03/03/2026
Georg Cantor was born today in 1845. What a guy
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Lachlan Kermode @ohrg.org · 02/03/2026
There's a lot to make sense of in tech right now. Erika Bussman and I are organizing a new iteration of 'Capital for Tech Workers' this Spring to unpack the ethics and politics of the software world by reading Marx. Send any politically engaged (or better, disengaged) tech workers our way!
cftw.ohrg.org
A free, online course taught by Lachlan Kermode and Erika Bussman. Our next semester runs from March 27th to June 7th.
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maybe: leif weatherby @leifw.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
join the Digital Theory Lab Mar 9-11 for Cultural AI: An Emerging Field (RSVP required) as.nyu.edu/research-cen...
as.nyu.edu
Cultural AI: An Emerging Field
Presented by the Digital Theory Lab and hosted by the Remarque Institute A three-day conference
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