Top all-time · #1776
Gordon Brander
Personal blog · subconscious.substack.comprogrammingphilosophy
Gordon Brander writes Squishy Computer, a personal blog at subconscious.substack.com about programming and philosophy. Since 2021, 40 different Hacker News readers have linked it 47 times, most often “Noosphere, a Protocol for Thought”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Squishy Computer for essays on knowledge tools, protocols for thought, linking systems like Xanadu, compositionality and centralization. Commenters cite posts as background on those topics.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Learning to build living software.
Most-linked posts?
- Noosphere, a Protocol for Thought3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-08-19
- Saving copies of everything is like low-budget P2P2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-10-15
- A Kardashev Scale for Interfaces2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-01-02
- All you need is links2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-04-05
- Everyone will have their own AI2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-16
- Aggregators Aren't Open-Ended2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-09-11
- Block Reference Mechanisms2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-04-05
- Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-11-01
What Hacker News says?
Centralization is inevitable. - https://subconscious.substack.com/p/centralization-is-inevit...
Comment linking /p/centralization-is-inevitable
on “FTX to file for U.S. bankruptcy, CEO resigns”Submitted Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile? as a story · 266 points
HN discussionIt's a really interesting, and difficult, problem. Progress is slow but still visible: we really are "slouching toward Xanadu", as in https://subconscious.substack.com/p/block-reference-mechanis... .
Comment linking /p/block-reference-mechanisms
on “Doug Engelbart’s design for knowledge-based organizations (1992) [pdf]”Submitted Centralization is inevitable, but decentralization is right behind it as a story · 170 points
HN discussionGordon is the better founder to ask this question of. Alas, he does not dwell on Hacker News. I'm just the resident code monkey, but I'll offer you some of Gordon's topical blog posts for consideration: - https://subconscious.substack.com/p/compositionality - https://subconscious.substack.com/p/provoking-emergence-with... - https://subconscious.substack.com/p/coevolution-creates-livi... - https://subconscious.substa…
Comment linking /p/simple-seeds
on “Noosphere, a Protocol for Thought”Submitted All you need is links as a story · 164 points
HN discussionDaniel Jackson's book https://subconscious.substack.com/p/concept-design-in-three-... I use it all the time after reading it for example they redesigned git into gitless using these methods to audit and find redundant or confusing features.
Comment linking /p/concept-design-in-three-easy-steps
on “Ask HN: Best UI design courses for hackers?”Submitted Noosphere, a Protocol for Thought as a story · 66 points
HN discussionHi all, I'm Eli Parra & I gave this talk at ReClojure 2022 in December 3, 2022. Very happy to see this here in HN! A bit of personal background of the talk: my work over the years has involved making internal tools for fast-moving, small organizations and that's how I fell in love with spreadsheets. They are the best canvas I know of to whip up custom, user-friendly interfaces in a couple of hours. These prototypes…
Comment linking /p/a-kardashev-scale-for-interfaces
on “Homoiconic Spreadsheets: What, How and Why [video]”Submitted Unconscious R&D (2021) as a story · 35 points
HN discussionOT, but via the UI design thread on HN, I just bumped into noosphere protocol, which claims to be just like what you describe here. https://subconscious.substack.com/p/noosphere-a-protocol-for...
Comment linking /p/noosphere-a-protocol-for-thought
on “Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet”Submitted Network Intersubjectives as a story · 11 points
HN discussionApple wants the iPad OS developer experience to be bad Their #1 focus is lock-in, preventing being commodified, and extracting value No apps that run operating systems, no apps with windowed environments, no app-store-like apps / third party app stores, no browser engines, no Flash, terrible mobile safari experience, no OS mods / jailbreaks, no desktop-style cursors, physical iPad keyboards lacking escape keys. Want…
Comment linking /p/aggregators-arent-open-ended
on “Updating My Website from My iPad”Submitted Aggregators Aren't Open-Ended as a story · 11 points
HN discussionSubmitted Noosphere, a Protocol for Thought as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Unconscious R&D (2021) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Saving copies of everything is like low-budget P2P as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The State of the Web as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Soulbinding Like a State as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is Web3 a Petri Dish? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Effort is evidence of broken feedback loops as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted All you need is links (2022) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Freedom to Exit as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Ritual Technology as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Gordon Brander – Fragments: Attractors as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Thinking together: Steps to an ecology of mind as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Building new weblike things (2021) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Knowledge Structures as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Cheating Zooko’s Triangle? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Software Scarcity as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
