fastwired
Hi, I'm Max and I like computers and math.
I write mostly to learn and putting something into words is the fastest way I know to find out whether I actually understand it. The act of writing forces me to slow down, dig into a topic, and rethink things I'd assumed were settled.
I've spent a lot of time reading software and math writing from people doing the same, and this is my attempt to add to that.
Want to stay fastwired
Articles
Grug tells Tale of thinking Rock
3 articles
· 2026-05-01
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Grug tells Tale of thinking Rock
3 articles
· 2026-05-01
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Why grug tells Tale
grug not smart grug just want to know. grug want to know what computer is. all the way down. from rock with wire on it, up through gate and clock and instruction, until program do thing in world. grug want…
01
Tale of big brain dreams
Bug demon in number table Long time ago, men do math by hand. Math slow. Math wrong a lot. Men on big boat need number to know where boat is. Number wrong, boat hit rock, boat man go to ancient…
02
Tale of logic become algebra
Leibniz dream sit on shelf End of last tale, old big brain Leibniz have dream. Two big brain club each other, everyone hurt, no one win. Leibniz say: what if argue could be like sum? Two big brain disagree, both…
Abstraction
2 articles
· 2026-03-23
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Abstraction
2 articles
· 2026-03-23
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Decomposing Abstraction Failure
Endless arguments are fought over whether a given abstraction is good or bad. ORMs versus raw SQL. Microservices versus monoliths. Thin wrappers versus thick frameworks. The debates generate heat, not resolution, because the participants are talking past each other. One…
01
The Cognitive Price of Abstraction
The case for abstraction is well-rehearsed. Dijkstra called it the only mental tool by which finite reasoning can address a multitude of cases (Dijkstra, 1972). Functions, modules, types, interfaces: these compress complexity into chunks a finite mind can manipulate. Every…