Old stories. New machines.
The Oracle, Prometheus, the Golem. The oldest stories about intelligence, read as field manuals for this decade.
Plate 02Studio specimenOriginal site archiveThe Oracle’s Answer
The problem is not that the machine is wrong. It is that we forget to ask which empire.
Enter the lectureOld stories for new machines
The Oracle’s answer
Answers are not decisions: Delphi, Croesus, and the question he forgot to ask.
Prometheus and the liability of fire
Every gift binds the giver: what builders and leaders owe for what they release.
Odysseus at the mast
Precommitment as leadership: bind yourself before the Sirens sing.
The Golem’s word
What an obedient servant can teach us about instructions, limits, and the right to stop.
Narcissus and the mirror
Machines that flatter, and the leaders who fall for their own reflection.
Babel
One language, many machines, and what is lost in translation.
Faust’s contract
What you trade for speed, and when the bill comes due.
Penelope’s loom
The discipline of unweaving: reversible decisions and the patience of judgment.
A conversation
worth having.
For speaking invitations, collaborations, and questions about the work.