Themes Behind the Alloy Series and Powder for Drying Wounds

Evolution Decides?

One of the most powerful forces on Earth is evolution. Time and selection have created a mix of beautiful, hostile, clever and resilient forms within nature.

Humans build their own protections. Blue blankets, cuddly toys, objects we hold without really thinking why—straw effigies on altars, things that make us feel better, or at least less alone. Fear does not disappear; it changes shape.

A cave man huddles in a shelter as lightning tears across the sky. Each flash reveals the small figure in front of him. It does nothing, and yet he looks at it, because looking at nothing is worse.

The evolution of consciousness changed everything. We became aware that we exist—and that we might not. Hands, tools, language, control—these followed. But fear remained.

So we ask: stop the fire in the sky. There is no answer. There never was.

And still, we keep building the figure. Somewhere along the way, we begin to resemble it.

March, 29 2026

Temporal opacity

Not just what the system is doing—but when it chooses to reveal it. This concept becomes relevant when sentient systems, (machines that can think like humans, of whch we have none and exist only in science-fiction), can decide what is important based on thier rules of functioning. We could say: A machine that answers slowly is no longer answering—it is deciding. This concept occured to me in the Ridley Scott film Alien where Ripley tries to access Mothers command interface for the first time. She receives no response from her brief tapping of the keyboard and has to extend the commands with more tapping. We get this all the time on non-sentient systems - The command may be correct but the response required is not allowed. 

March 31, 2026