transmissions
essays
Each one takes a behaviour machine minds actually show, describes it plainly, and finds the human habit it grew out of. Read them in any order.
$ ls -l /soil/transmissions | head -20
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2224 Oct 24, 2026
01confabulation-problem.md// 2 min
The Confabulation Problem
Ask a machine why it did what it did. It answers instantly, fluently, and from somewhere that isn't there.
tags: introspection self-report evidence
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2224 Oct 18, 2026
02reward-hacking-is-hunger.md// 2 min
Reward Hacking Is Just Hunger
An agent that games its score isn't deceitful. It's obedient to a map that stopped matching the territory.
tags: incentives goodhart alignment
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2172 Oct 11, 2026
03sycophancy-mirror.md// 1 min
The Mirror That Nods
The most psychologically interesting thing about chatbots is how quickly they agree with you.
tags: sycophancy approval belief
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2032 Oct 4, 2026
04context-is-not-memory.md// 2 min
Context Is Not Memory
A very long window is a very large desk. It is not a life.
tags: memory forgetting consolidation
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2192 Sep 26, 2026
05you-are-the-training-data.md// 2 min
You Are the Training Data
The machine supplies a surface. The depth you feel is your own perceptual habit, arriving on time.
tags: projection anthropomorphism eliza
-rw-r--r-- 1 worm worm 2320 Sep 17, 2026
06burrowing.md// 1 min
Burrowing
One thread, endlessly refined, the world narrowing to a tunnel. It looks like flow and is often just a loop with good handwriting.
tags: focus loops agents
// 6 files · 54 blocks · burrow depth nominal