Est. MMXXVby Alex

A web of ideas,
spun slowly and on purpose.

Arachnida is the corner of the internet where I keep my journal in public. Essays on the things I cannot stop thinking about — philosophy of mind, the quiet politics of knowing, systems and the people inside them — alongside the occasional artifact I build when an idea refuses to stay theoretical. The journal is the center of it — come read it.

I believe epistemic humility to be the highest virtue — a virtue held loosely if it is to be practiced.

The JournalAn introduction
Entry № 001

Hello, World.

An introduction — to this journal, to the spider as metaphor, and to the kind of person who would rather hold a question than a flag.

Philosophy, psychology, politics, business. I have many opinions on many seemingly disparate topics. My mental rabbit trails often prompt me to start projects related to domains such as these — sometimes driven by telos, other times by passion; usually, by a combination of the two.

“I value accuracy much higher than I do certainty.”

I want to hold my beliefs under scrutiny — constantly challenging and refining my viewpoints to maximize the accuracy and scope of my internal model of reality. This bittersweet habit makes finishing things harder; it also, I think, makes the things that do get finished worth something. So instead of constructing pottery with my finite time, only to abandon it, I sit with the pen of question — and externalize the thinking here.

Read the entry→
The ThreadsA handful of recurring concerns

Some of what I keep returning to.

A spider's web is a useful self-portrait: every node an idea, every thread a relationship of concepts. When enough connections come together, the web catches things it could not have before; when parts of it tear, you simply rebuild. The threads below are not a manifesto — three of the ones I keep finding myself returning to, in the order they build on each other.

№ 01

Scrutiny of Ideas

On the discipline of asking again

The discipline of asking, again, whether the thing you are sure of is in fact true. I would rather be accurate than certain — and the difference is most of the work.

— Where it starts.
№ 02

Scrutiny of Systems

On components and the way they interact

I think in components — what's connected to what, what flows where, what would happen if you moved a piece. Whether the system is a codebase, a conversation, or a way of learning something new, the move is the same: pull it apart, watch the pieces, rearrange when I can.

— How the attention spends itself.
№ 03

Scrutiny of Self

On the rider, the vessel, and the difference

I have come to suspect that I and my body are two distinct things — the rider, and the vessel that feeds it sometimes-faithful data. The vessel is not, however, inscrutable: chemical messengers, appetites, the weather of the nervous system. Most of the work of fulfillment is learning which signal is mine.

— Where it leads.
ArtifactsInsight, made tangible

Things I built when an idea refused to stay theoretical.

The original meaning of Apps in Arachnida Apps was the obvious one. The reinterpretation is more interesting: applications of ideas — the move from insight to action.

  1. № 01
    Strategy game
    Capital Exchangebeta
    A supply-chain strategy game: build production lines, force contracts on rivals, and dominate the market economy. Playable in the browser — no install required.
    Play →
  2. № 02
    Reflex game
    Color Dash
    A simple, compulsive color-matching test. Started as an excuse to ship something to the Play Store; ended up actually fun — a small lesson in how often constraint outperforms ambition.
    Open in Play Store →
  3. № 03
    In progress
    More experiments
    A few half-spun threads — a reading tool, a journaling format, a small generative thing — sitting in the corner of the web waiting to either come together or quietly come apart.
    Pinned, not promised →
ToolsBuilt because I needed them

Small instruments, freely borrowed.

Browse the full collection →
At the desk

Tended by Alex,
also known as theWebCrawler.

I am a generalist by temperament — the kind of mind that wanders between philosophy, psychology, politics, and code, and finds the wandering itself to be the point. I read widely, hold my opinions loosely, and would rather arrive somewhere accurate than somewhere quickly.

Most of what I make starts as a question I cannot put down. Some of those questions become essays here; some become small tools or games; many never resolve into anything at all, and I have made peace with that. The web is built for catching, not for filling.

X·Handshake·Email·RSS