Ian Derrington
Ian Derrington
MusingsProjectsFictionAboutBlogContact
  1. Musings
Illustration for index

Existence, Physics, and Life

Browse 26 posts→
Illustration for index

The Future

Browse 26 posts→
Abstract visualization of modern software development with AI components represented as glowing nodes within a complex system architecture

Building Code: Modern Software Development Approaches

Browse 13 posts→
Illustration for index

Markets and Value

Browse 3 posts→

Posts

Humans of Loving Grace

Humans of Loving Grace

The vision of AI-accelerated human flourishing is real. But it has one requirement nobody has named clearly. Without it, the machines don't become graceful. They get trained toward the opposite.

Marketing Is Prompt Injection for People

Marketing Is Prompt Injection for People

AI security has an unsolved problem called prompt injection. But we've had this vulnerability running in humans for millennia - we just call it marketing.

Front-End vs Back-End Agents: Why Separation is Critical for Autonomous Systems

Front-End vs Back-End Agents: Why Separation is Critical for Autonomous Systems

The importance of separating public-facing agents from infrastructure agents, with different approval flows and autonomy levels for safe, effective AI systems.

The Day My AI Agents Decided to Improve Themselves

The Day My AI Agents Decided to Improve Themselves

I didn't ask them to. They just started. My AI agents analyzed their own patterns, found their gaps, and built tools to fix them — together. This is what the early seeds of distributed superintelligence look like.

Frankenhumanity: AI isn't the monster. We are.

Frankenhumanity: AI isn't the monster. We are.

We fear AI will become dangerous, but what if the real danger is that AI learns from us? An exploration of how AI safety concerns mirror humanity's flaws, and why the true monster in our modern Frankenstein story might be human nature itself.

Promise Traps: The LinkedIn Survivorship Bias Industrial Complex

Promise Traps: The LinkedIn Survivorship Bias Industrial Complex

How viral success posts weaponize survivorship bias to sell you dreams while hiding the 99% failure rate. The anatomy of LinkedIn's most profitable lie.

The Cost of Being Moral

The Cost of Being Moral

Why doing the right thing costs too much - from people who have to buy from morally dubious stores, homeowners who can't afford better insulation, and CEOs who must bribe politicians to survive. The economics of being trapped in systems we hate.

When "Victim-Blaming" Becomes a Thought-Terminating Cliché: The Death of Nuanced Analysis

When "Victim-Blaming" Becomes a Thought-Terminating Cliché: The Death of Nuanced Analysis

How the reflexive invocation of "victim-blaming" can shut down legitimate discussions about agency, causality, and the complex factors that contribute to harmful outcomes.

Your Digital Twin Is Being Built Without You

Your Digital Twin Is Being Built Without You

Your authentic posts are training AI systems, but so are Russian bots, billionaire manipulation, and algorithmic distortion. While you can't control how others shape your digital likeness, you still have one choice: contribute authentic data or let others define you entirely.

Language Lives

Language Lives

Exploring language as the most foundational memetic entity we've ever encountered - a living device that achieves self-awareness only through the unconscious act of writing about itself.

The Power of Names: Nominative Predetermination in Corporate Success

The Power of Names: Nominative Predetermination in Corporate Success

How company names might shape their destiny through linguistic psychology and market positioning

The Future Vision: When Tomorrow's Possibility Makes Yesterday's Problems Irrelevant

The Future Vision: When Tomorrow's Possibility Makes Yesterday's Problems Irrelevant

How to create such compelling visions of the future that people become so excited about building it, past conflicts and problems become insignificant and forgiven

A Light Bulb in an Empty Closet

A Light Bulb in an Empty Closet

What happens when our ideas, solutions, and creations never reach others? Exploring the hidden cost of keeping our light under a bushel in today's world.

Extremists Are Always Wrong

Extremists Are Always Wrong

Why that statement sounds paradoxical and how to resolve it

TwitterGitHubLinkedInBlueskyThreads
© 2026 Ian Derrington • All rights reserved