Mark Levy/Writing

Writing

Explainers and notes from building with these tools. Mostly the kind of thing I wished existed when I started.

A pixel-art starship at warp, stars streaking past, a glowing blank ahead of the bow

Interactive LLM explainer, Star Trek TNG style

The Word Warp Drive

How a large language model actually works, one guessing game at a time, through a three-tier arc: how the mechanism works, how to command it in practice, and where the frontier is moving next. Simulations on every stop, with tribunals at each tier checkpoint.

September 2026

Notes from building solo. Three essays.

A pixel art wall of identical lit switches labeled Rules beside one lilac porthole labeled Judgment, where an android reads a pool test strip

Essay 1 of 3

Deterministic by default

Users want the same answer every time. Hard code the rules, and reserve the model for the few places where judgment is the product. Why four in ten Pool Pilot users skip the AI scan, how a safety rule became a license, and what a game master is allowed to decide.

September 2026

A pixel art android types code on a large screen while a captain in red inspects a telemetry graph through a magnifying glass

Essay 2 of 3

What the human is for

The model out codes me on almost everything. The job left over is keeping it honest, and that is the job people will pay for. Evidence gates, telemetry the model has to answer to, a second model with a grudge, and why I will probably never hire anyone.

September 2026

A pixel art captain on a small asteroid beside a radio dish sending signal arcs into space, three coins at his feet, a distant ship answering

Essay 3 of 3

Marketing on a budget

The one job every solo developer needs and few of us want. Store listings in five languages for an afternoon, a reactivation email that worked, a QR campaign that flopped, a rating gate that leaked, and a kill rule for paid ads.

September 2026