Stephen Malina

Book Review - Elmer Gates and the Art of Mind-using

Introduction #

Generally when someone tells you they’ve invented an “art of mind-using” that involves lots of made-up …

2050 Predictions

Introduction #

Along with a few internet blogger friends, inspired by Erik Hoel’s post (parts of which I disagree with, including …

Scoring my 2021 Predictions

At the beginning of last year, I made predictions for the year. Now it’s time to score them (before I make my 2022 predictions).

Data …

Beware silver bullets

Note: This post was co-written with Uri Bram of The Browser, who deserves all credit for the good parts and no blame for the bad parts and …

Crazy ideas for future synthetic biology & bioengineering

A speculative listicle of wild but physically possible ideas for future synthetic biology and bioengineering projects, from home-grown meat to engineered microbes.

Energetic Aliens

Reading biographies and observing friends, family, and colleagues has led me to become interested in what factors drive the variance in …

Book Review - A World Without Email

A World Without Email (AWWE) is Cal Newport’s new book arguing for an overhaul in our workplace communication and project management …

A personal post-mortem on almost giving very misleading advice

I recently had someone ask me what I felt helped me grow the most in my first few years working as a software engineer. Upon them asking me …

Ideas not mattering is a psyop

A counterargument to the conventional wisdom that 'execution matters, not ideas,' exploring why good ideas are essential, difficult to generate, and critical for successful execution.

Three observations from a surprisingly emotionally evocative winter walk

I just went on a short nighttime mid-snow storm walk and it unexpectedly provoked three separate observations along with a desire to capture …