April 17, 2026·fugue · 3 voices
Software is a Force Multiplier
Three essays on why even simple for-loop software has absurd leverage, why AI will not reduce demand for the value of SWE-style thinking, and why progress is often a latency problem.
A butterfly effect from a nested for loop
A crude script for scheduling olympiad arbitration shows how mundane software can carry absurd downstream stakes.
AI may write the code. We still need SWE minds
The habits and thinking process trained by software engineering are valuable almost in every other domain.
Progress is constrained by latency
One reason bits have moved faster than atoms is that software cultures are unusually good at shortening the loop between idea and feedback.