Where ideas percolate and thoughts brew

Aurora Waves

Oct 18, 2025

Layered sine waves flow across the canvas like aurora borealis dancing in the night sky. Each wave combines multiple harmonic frequencies to cre...

Circle Packing

Oct 18, 2025

Watch as circles populate the canvas and grow organically until they fill the available space. This algorithm mimics natural packing phenomena s...

Colorful Orbits

Oct 18, 2025

Multiple circles orbit around a central point at different speeds and radii. The parametric equations for circular motion create perfectly smoot...

Fibonacci Spiral

Oct 18, 2025

The Fibonacci spiral appears everywhere in nature—from nautilus shells to hurricane formations to galaxy arms. This mathematical perfection emer...

Fractal Tree

Oct 18, 2025

The classic fractal tree demonstrates how complex natural forms emerge from simple recursive rules. Each branch splits into two smaller branches...

Geometric Tessellation

Oct 18, 2025

A grid of diamonds rotates in synchronized waves, creating mesmerizing geometric patterns. The position-based rotation offset makes the pattern ...

Lissajous Curves

Oct 18, 2025

Named after French physicist Jules Antoine Lissajous, these elegant curves emerge from the intersection of two perpendicular sine waves. The 3:4...

Particle Flow

Oct 18, 2025

One hundred particles move independently across the canvas, bouncing off walls like molecules in a gas. This simple physics simulation creates e...

Perlin Terrain

Oct 18, 2025

Perlin noise creates a flowing, organic terrain that evolves smoothly over time. Unlike pure randomness, Perlin noise has spatial coherence—near...

Ripple Effect

Oct 18, 2025

Concentric circles expand outward like ripples on water, fading as they grow. This simple but mesmerizing effect captures the physics of wave pr...

Spiral Growth

Oct 18, 2025

A mathematical spiral that grows outward from the center while continuously rotating. The Archimedean spiral is one of the most elegant mathemat...

Voronoi Cells

Oct 18, 2025

Voronoi diagrams appear throughout nature—in giraffe spots, cracked mud, and cell structures. Each cell represents the region closer to one seed...

Wave Dance

Oct 18, 2025

Flowing sine waves create a mesmerizing pattern of horizontal motion. Each wave oscillates with the sine function, and the progressive phase shi...

Deeper layers have fewer, more coherent particles

This sketch accompanies the blog post "The Understanding Theater" and visuali...

The Action Bias

Oct 20, 2025

When someone is "acting" on it, add random interference

This sketch accompanies the blog post "The Action Bias" and v...

Float around randomly

This sketch accompanies the blog post "The Tyranny of the Perfect Moment" and visualizes its core concept...

Visualizing identity as fluid, evolving shapes rather than fixed forms

This sketch accompanies the blog post "The Authenticity Parad...

Visualizing legible vs illegible connections Clear geometric shapes represent "legible" relationships Organic, flowing forms represent...

The Consistency Myth

Oct 24, 2025

Visualizing burst work vs consistent work Top half: consistent daily work (regular small blocks) Bottom half: burst work pattern (intense period...

The Failure Fetish

Oct 25, 2025

Visualizing two paths: the failure path (chaotic, expensive) vs. the learning path (efficient, controlled) Left side: "Learning through fai...

Passion as Privilege

Oct 26, 2025

Visualizing two paths to career success: Left side: "Follow your passion" - starts with heart, but needs safety net (platform) to expl...

The Learning Fetish

Oct 27, 2025

Visualizing the learning trap vs. doing Left side: Growing pile of books/courses (learning), never reaching the "build" goal Right sid...

Visualizing genuine vs performative vulnerability Left: Genuine vulnerability - small, mutual exchanges between two people, building gradually R...

The Authenticity Tax

Oct 29, 2025

Visualizing the authenticity spectrum Left: Genuine authenticity - rough, unfiltered, sometimes rejected Right: Performed authenticity - smooth,...

Visualizing information overload vs. clarity Left: A single clear signal emerging from minimal noise Right: Increasing noise drowning out the si...

Visualizing the volume vs. "optimal" practice paradox Left: Small, perfect practice sessions (deliberate practice) Right: Large, messy...

The Permission Fallacy

Nov 23, 2025

Visualizing the permission barrier A figure stands before imaginary gates that fade away when approached Represents how the gatekeepers are inte...

Visualizing the growth mindset trap Two paths: one person faces real wall (structural constraints) Another person faces mental barrier (actual m...

Visualizing knowledge decay vs. compound interest fantasy Left side: The compound interest fantasy (smooth exponential growth) Right side: Reali...

Visualizing the gratitude performance Hearts (gratitude symbols) appearing on a schedule vs. spontaneously Left: Scheduled/forced gratitude - he...

The Ritual Economy

Nov 27, 2025

Visualizing ritual: living practice vs. purchased product Left: Traditional ritual - messy, overlapping, organic, people actively doing things t...

Visualizing the productivity paradox Center: actual productive work (small, simple, direct) Surrounding: layers and layers of productivity infra...

The Ritual Trap

Nov 30, 2025

Visualizing the ritual trap Top: Perfect, geometric ritual forms - rigid, repetitive, empty Bottom: Organic, irregular moments of genuine presen...

Visualizing the intelligence illusion One small brilliant spark (intelligence) vs multiple steady flames (character traits) The small spark is b...

Visualizing the right decision myth Left: Multiple decision paths being analyzed endlessly (stuck at crossroads) Right: One path chosen with ful...

Visualizing expertise blindness Expert path: narrow, deep, efficient but constrained by framework walls Beginner exploration: wide, shallow, ine...

The Advice Trap

Dec 4, 2025

A visualization accompanying the blog post "The Advice Trap" that explores how seeking advice has become a substitute for action. The ...

A visual exploration of the difference between performed curiosity (quick, showy, surface-level) and genuine curiosity (slow, persistent, deep)....

A generative visualization of optimization versus adaptability. Fifty agents with different optimization levels pursue a target that periodicall...

The Friction Solution

Dec 7, 2025

A particle system where each particle experiences different levels of friction, demonstrating how resistance affects movement and persistence. P...

The Legibility Trap

Dec 8, 2025

A visualization exploring the distinction between legible work (visible, predictable, easily measured) and illegible work (hidden, organic, comp...

The Clarity Trap

Dec 9, 2025

A generative visualization exploring the tension between messy complexity and the false promise of clarity. Agents with varying "independen...

A generative visualization contrasting empathy-driven and compassion-driven resource allocation. Small agents move between targets representing ...

The Experience Trap

Dec 11, 2025

A generative visualization exploring the difference between collecting experiences and actually living them. Watch as fast-moving collectors rap...