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content/colophon.md
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@ -60,39 +60,35 @@ A full accounting of what this build process has actually produced is available
## The Computing Environment
::: dropcap
[TODO: The organizing principle for this section: configuration is code, privacy is
a first principle, tools should be earned rather than merely used. These are not
preferences but positions, and this site is downstream of them.]
Every tool I use was chosen rather than accepted. This distinction matters: the default path through the software ecosystem, particularly for developers, routes through choices made by convenience, employer mandate, or inertia rather than deliberation. I have consistently refused that path — not out of contrarianism, but because I find that the tools one uses become constitutive of the work one produces. This site is downstream of those choices in every particular.
:::
### Desktop
[TODO: Gentoo Linux, Hyprland, Levshell (custom shell via Quickshell). Why Gentoo:
compilation for performance, fine-grained [USE]{.smallcaps} flag control, the
community. Why Hyprland: tiling window management as a productivity commitment.
[AMD]{.smallcaps} hardware throughout.]^[The personal computing setup is documented
in greater depth on the [[Me]] page. This section focuses on what is directly
relevant to how this site is built and maintained.]
My primary desktop is a rig I built myself, running **Gentoo Linux** with **Hyprland** and a custom shell, *Levshell*, implemented with [Quickshell](https://github.com/quickshell-mirror/quickshell). The reasons for Gentoo are worth stating explicitly, since the choice is frequently met with bewilderment:
- Compiling software from source delivers measurable performance increases — not marginal ones.
- It provides fine-grained control over software configuration via [USE]{.smallcaps} flags, linking options, and the like. This matters for a machine tuned to a high degree of specificity.
- It is, in my experience, the best-maintained Linux distribution I have ever used.
- The community is phenomenal.
I have strong hardware preferences to match: [AMD]{.smallcaps} processors and graphics throughout. This is not tribal loyalty — I have used multiple distinct products from each major vendor and formed the preference empirically.
### Laptop
[TODO: Arch Linux on ThinkPad P-series. Why Arch rather than Gentoo on battery-
constrained hardware. The continuity of the Hyprland environment across machines —
the same keybindings, the same visual language, the same muscle memory.]
For mobile computing, I use a [P]{.smallcaps}-series ThinkPad running **Arch Linux** — the same Hyprland environment, the same *Levshell*, the same muscle memory, but without the compilation overhead. Gentoo is impractical on battery-constrained hardware: compilation times are simply too long, and running the compiler continuously on battery is not a reasonable tradeoff. Arch is a sound alternative. Portage is better than pacman, but pacman on a laptop is entirely correct.
The Hyprland environment runs identically on both machines. This is deliberate — I do not want to maintain two workflows. Every keybinding, every visual detail, every tool behaves the same. The continuity is itself a productivity commitment.
### Editor
[TODO: Emacs. Everything written and coded in Emacs. The relationship between the
editor and the content — writing Markdown in Emacs with a Hakyll watcher running is
as close to a [WYSIWYG]{.smallcaps} experience as the workflow gets.]
Everything on this site — every word of prose, every line of Haskell, every [CSS]{.smallcaps} rule — was written in **Emacs**. I use Emacs for the same reason I use Gentoo: it is configurable to a degree that other editors treat as pathological. Running `make watch` alongside an Emacs buffer gives something close to a [WYSIWYG]{.smallcaps} experience for this workflow: save the file, the Hakyll watcher recompiles, the browser updates. The loop is tight enough that the editor and the rendered output feel nearly continuous.
### Privacy-First Computing
[TODO: Self-hosted email and [VPN]{.smallcaps}. LibreWolf over Firefox (the Chromium
monopoly and Mozilla's drift). GrapheneOS. The principle: privacy as a first principle
means building the infrastructure first, not bolting on settings after. The same
principle applies to this site — no tracking is not a policy decision, it is an
architectural one.]
My email and [VPN]{.smallcaps} are self-hosted; I use Thunderbird as a client for the former. For browsing I use [LibreWolf](https://librewolf.net/), not Firefox: the Chromium monopoly and Mozilla's evident incompetence at browser development are, to me, equally concerning developments, and LibreWolf is the most coherent response to both. My phone runs [GrapheneOS](https://grapheneos.org/) — the only reasonably secure and private option for a mobile device, and one whose restrictions are, frankly, a feature rather than a limitation.
The principle underlying all of these choices is the same one underlying the site's **No Tracking** policy: privacy is an architectural decision, not a settings toggle. You build the infrastructure first. Bolting on privacy after the fact, whether in a browser or on a website, is not privacy — it is the appearance of privacy.
---

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@ -132,27 +132,5 @@ My sport of choice these days is distance running. I am particularly fond of tra
I don't use strava, nor an electronic watch, nor do I really pay much attention to my times. This takes away from what is to me the great joy in running - being disconnected, in tune with my thoughts and my bodily perceptions, and enjoying the only moment that there is - NOW.
---
## Technology I use
### Desktop
I have used many different setups during my life. My earliest vague technological memories are of a family laptop that ran Windows XP. Windows 7 was used in the computer lab at my elementary school, a place that classes ventured to once or twice a year. I came into possession of my first true computer in middle school - it (regrettably) ran Windows 10, and although I did basic programming on it, I didn't make it much farther than simple Python, text-based games, and occasional Scratch. I have since superceded this hardware; my primary desktop is now a rig that I built, running Gentoo Linux with Hyprland and a custom shell ("Levshell") implemented with [Quickshell](https://github.com/quickshell-mirror/quickshell). I use Gentoo on my desktop for several reasons:
- I care deeply about performance, and compiling my software delivers measurable performance increases.
- Compilation also gives me fine-grained control over my software configuration, linking, etc.
- I find it is the best maintained Linux distribution that I have ever used.
- The community is phenomenal.
I have strong opinions about all aspects of my computing, not just the operating system (and variant thereof). I have a strong preference for AMD processors over Intel, and AMD graphics cards over Nvidia. (I have used at least 2 distinct products from each company, so the sample size is *good enough*.) My current desktop uses all AMD components, as does my current laptop. In theory, I would absolutely love to move to a RISC-V machine, but I have no idea when this will be feasible. My email and VPN are self-hosted, and I use Thunderbird as a client for the former. Somewhat similarly, I use [LibreWolf](https://librewolf.net/) for my browser. I find the Chromium monopoly and the incompetence of Mozilla at browser development to be simultaneously and equally concerning, so LibreWolf was the best solution. I use Emacs for editing most things, including this website. I've played around with many other IDES, and generally have strong opinions on them. Neovim, for instance, seems wonderful - but I absolutely cannot stand vim keybindings, much preferring the Emacs sort. VSCode is pathetic slop - does anything more need to be said? Zed looked promising, but seems to be going in the wrong direction.
### Laptop
As for laptops, I originally used a Macbook, but this proved too little power for my computing needs. After my sophomore year at Brown, before I began an intensive summer of AI research work, I ditched my Macbook for a P-series Thinkpad. On it I run Arch Linux with Hyprland and a custom shell ("Levshell"). I use Arch in favor of Gentoo because the compilation times are simply too long on my laptop, and due to portability concerns, constant compilation on battery is far from ideal. I deeply love both Arch and Gentoo, but Gentoo does remain my preference. Portage *is* better than pacman. I do not *necessarily* have anything outright against MacOS or Macs in general - in fact, the Apple Silicon hardware seems to be very good, and ARM as an architecture is certainly superior to amd64 - but I have invested so much time in creating a hyper-optimized setup on Linux that is custom tailored to the finest details of my workflow that I am unlikely^[This is still a pretty good outlook for MacOS - I can say with **absolute utmost certainty** that I will **never** use Windows again!] to ever return to the land of Mac. I do not think I can productively live without my hyprland keybinds and modifications - I need a tiling window manager that behaves exactly how I expect!
### Phone
I use [GrapheneOS](https://grapheneos.org/) on my phone, and for multiple reasons. Not only is it the only reasonably secure and private option for a mobile device, but the restrictions that it imposes help me to use my phone only in meaningful ways. I have my four most important apps pinned - AnkiDroid, Phone, Signal, and Wikipedia - and very little else installed.
### Artificial Intelligence
I believe that AI is a great power that brings with it great responsibility. I thus use AI very cautiously, as someone who worked on one of the frontier models as a summer job^[No, I won't tell *you* which, at least not here and not yet. What I *will* say is that working in such a capacity **greatly** changes how you look at these tools, in a juxtaposing sort of way.]. I refuse to delegate or outsource all of my original thought, programming, and especially writing to AI models. I will use AIs to collaborate on code (indeed, this website has been the result of such collaboration), and in more limited sense for preliminary literature searches and random ideation. I will **never** use an AI model to write for me, and urge you to also never do this. There has never been a more crucial moment in the history of writing to write for oneself!
I do not have a binding preference for any model. I currently use the Claude family of models more than any proprietary other, but if they are no longer the best models for the types of tasks I would like to do, then I will switch at moment's notice. As for open models, I tend to prioritize these - my desktop is more than capable of running open models - and the best open models are very quickly closing the gap with the proprietary frontier models. I hope to be a part of the push for an open victory over proprietary during my upcoming years as a graduate student!