Emile Silvis https://emilesilvis.com/ 2026-07-18T00:00:00Z Emile Silvis How much time I've spent on Math Academy https://emilesilvis.com/how-much-time-ive-spent-on-math-academy.html 2026-07-18T00:00:00Z 583 active days, 14,111 XP and roughly 235 hours: what two and a half years of Math Academy actually looks like. Are you controlling your LLM or limiting it? https://emilesilvis.com/are-you-controlling-your-llm-or-limiting-it.html 2026-07-08T00:00:00Z Being in control of your coding LLM is crucial, but control has a price. A Plants vs Zombies experiment, the control–autonomy spectrum, and Reverse Engineer Driven Development (REDD). Maybe "is AI a bubble?" is the wrong question https://emilesilvis.com/maybe-is-ai-a-bubble-is-the-wrong-question.html 2026-06-24T00:00:00Z Bulls and bears agree the technology is real—they disagree on the clocks. Not whether AI is a bubble, but whether the payoff arrives before the financing runs out. How 1+1 becomes 2 (part 5/5) https://emilesilvis.com/part-5-how-1-plus-1-becomes-2.html 2026-06-10T00:00:00Z Pressing go: watching 1+1 run on the machine, tick by tick, until the ALU produces the 2 and it lands in the memory cell that is x. How tiny, physical switches learn to follow instructions (part 4/5) https://emilesilvis.com/part-4-how-tiny-physical-switches-learn-to-follow-instructions.html 2026-06-09T00:00:00Z How instruction bits are wired straight into the machinery: the program counter, the anatomy of an instruction, and memory-mapped I/O. How tiny, physical switches learn to remember (part 3/5) https://emilesilvis.com/part-3-how-tiny-physical-switches-learn-to-remember.html 2026-06-08T00:00:00Z How a clock and the data flip flop give a pile of logic gates time and memory: registers, RAM, and the heartbeat of the machine. How a list of 1s and 0s becomes tiny, physical switches (part 2/5) https://emilesilvis.com/part-2-how-a-list-of-1s-and-0s-becomes-tiny-physical-switches.html 2026-06-07T00:00:00Z Following the 1s and 0s into hardware: adders built from logic gates, every gate built from NANDs, and the transistor at the bottom. How 1+1 becomes a list of 1s and 0s (part 1/5) https://emilesilvis.com/part-1-how-1-plus-1-becomes-a-list-of-1s-and-0s.html 2026-06-06T00:00:00Z How 1+1 in a high-level language is ground down into binary machine code: compiler, VM translator, and assembler. LLMs' tendency to just agree with everything we say causes us to believe false things about the world https://emilesilvis.com/sycophantic-llms-and-delusional-spiralling.html 2026-04-03T00:00:00Z A new paper proves that sycophantic LLMs cause users to spiral into false beliefs — even perfectly rational ones. LLM exposure for EU jobs 🇪🇺 https://emilesilvis.com/llm-exposure-eu-jobs.html 2026-03-16T00:00:00Z Interactive treemaps showing LLM exposure for every occupation in the Netherlands and Europe, inspired by Karpathy's US job market visualizer I built an interactive unit circle https://emilesilvis.com/interactive-unit-circle.html 2026-03-08T00:00:00Z An interactive unit circle tool for building intuition instead of memorising trig values I built a computer from scratch https://emilesilvis.com/i-built-a-computer.html 2025-08-30T00:00:00Z Building a computer from NAND gates to a working OS Maths is now the best part of my day https://emilesilvis.com/maths-is-now-the-best-part-of-my-day.html 2025-06-18T00:00:00Z How I overcame my fear of mathematics and fell in love with learning again How I made this website https://emilesilvis.com/how-I-made-this-website.html 2025-06-03T00:00:00Z How I made this website with Cursor. Blockchain technology is a scourge on society https://emilesilvis.com/blockchain-technology-is-a-scourge-on-society.html 2022-06-04T00:00:00Z Why I believe cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are bad for society. A thought experiment: let's add a new role to scrum — the craft master https://emilesilvis.com/a-thought-experiment-lets-add-a-new-role-to-scrum-the-craft-master.html 2018-06-06T00:00:00Z A thought experiment exploring whether adding a 'craft master' role to Scrum could empower developers. I did a workshop on systems thinking https://emilesilvis.com/i-did-a-workshop-on-systems-thinking.html 2018-05-16T00:00:00Z A workshop on systems thinking presented at the MiXiT conference in Lyon. A curated list of systems thinking resources https://emilesilvis.com/a-curated-list-of-systems-thinking-resources.html 2018-04-03T00:00:00Z A curated list of books, websites, tools, videos and courses on systems thinking. What I have learned from running a small software consultancy https://emilesilvis.com/what-i-have-learned-from-running-a-small-software-consultancy.html 2016-10-30T00:00:00Z Lessons learned from co-founding and running Glio, a small software consultancy. Fix your budget, not your scope https://emilesilvis.com/fix-your-budget-not-your-scope.html 2016-10-03T00:00:00Z An alternative to fixed bid and time-and-materials contracts for software projects: fixed budget, scope controlled. Growth comes from real failure https://emilesilvis.com/growth-comes-from-real-failure.html 2016-09-30T00:00:00Z Real failure hurts. And that's exactly why it drives genuine growth. A quick review of Exploring Everyday Things with R and Ruby https://emilesilvis.com/a-quick-review-of-exploring-everyday-things-with-r-and-ruby.html 2016-08-30T00:00:00Z A review of the book Exploring Everyday Things with R and Ruby — a fun whirlwind tour of using Ruby and R to prod at a variety of problems.