Fortress of Doors

philosophy

Dark Mirror Ideologies

A Dark Mirror ideology stands only in moral opposition to its counterpart, while otherwise making the exact same factual claims about how the world works. The only thing the belief systems disagree about is what we're supposed to do about it.

Mass Appraisal for the Masses

Howdy everyone! As part of my new job working for the Center for Land Economics, my co-founder Greg Miller and I have taken over day to day management at ye old Progress & Poverty substack, and one of our duties is for one of us to put up a new

Announcing the Center for Land Economics

Three big announcements today: 1. I've started a new job at the Center for Land Economics. 2. My colleague there, Greg Miller, and I are relaunching the Progress & Poverty substack, which had gone dormant for a while. 3. In a few weeks I will be launching a

dq2 Featured

Defender's Quest 2 is released

Defender's Quest 2, at long last, is available to play.

Will capital-havers or capability-havers gain the most from AI?

Imagine, if you will, a world in which pretty much anybody can own a magic lamp, complete with magic genie, for an operating cost on the order of $100/year. The genie isn't all-powerful, but it's perfectly obedient, perfectly benevolent, and very smart. So smart that

Narcolepsy is weird but I didn't notice

There are certain kinds of experiences that most human beings know very little about because a) they are rare, b) they can only be felt from the "inside", i.e., by the people who have them, and c) not all of those people choose to, or are good

Take the pedals off the bike

Apparently if you want to teach kids how to ride a bike you're supposed to take the pedals off first, and now my mind will never be the same again.

Nikolas Featured

Memory Eternal, Nikolas Doucet

Nikolas Andreas Doucet, age 8, died painlessly of sudden cardiac arrest on Friday, November 8th, 2024, at 7:03 PM Central time. He was buried on Friday November 16, 2024. The following was the eulogy that I, his father, gave at his graveside.

ants

We Trade With Ants: Picking Up The Pieces

The latest in a series of short stories about talking ants. In this story, protagonist Jeff Boudreaux finds his landlord George having a heart attack. Jeff intervenes and afterwards discovers a mysterious device in George's garage...

garbagefountain

What is the maximum rate of human progress?

If you travelled back in time, how quickly could you push human civilization forward to the same level as the world you came from?

Grief is like Pong played in reverse

When something really bad happens to you, one of the few silver linings is that you gain a new perspective and can use this to help other people understand your rare experience. Grief is one of those things that’s hard for people to understand; most people see how I’

garbagefountain

Operation Garbage Fountain

If you want to get good at something, you need to put in the reps.

ants

We Trade With Ants: A Short Story Series

What if ants could talk? What if we could trade with them? I wrote a short story to answer that question.

Four Magic Words

Long ago, in a parallel universe three doors down and one to the left of our own, OpenAI headquarters found itself in chaos. A klaxon blared overhead as red lights began flashing. A message played over a loud-speaker: “Warning! Warning! This is not a drill! Artificial General Intelligence window closing!

Featured

Losing my son

On October 20th, my seven year old son Nikolas suffered cardiac arrest while undergoing a procedure at the hospital to treat an underlying congenital condition. The doctors performed CPR and succeeded in reviving him but ultimately he suffered catastrophic brain damage. My wife and I were in the hospital for

Featured

Ballad of St. Halvor

If you go down to Oslo Town Look well upon its seal Upon that sign you'll find inscribed Within its mighty wheel  A maiden slain, a young lord thane The stone that brought him down The arrows sharp that felled them both The light of Heav-en’s crown

ai

Maximizing the chances of an Anti-AI Human Revolution

In what kind of world would humans be the most likely to rise up against AI and smash it to bits with hammers?

Defender's Quest 2's Free Demo is Live now on Steam!

GO PLAY THE DEMO RIGHT NOW! The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Defender's Quest 2 is playable, right now, today, for a limited time as a free demo on Steam, as part of the week-long Steam Next Fest. Much like Defender'

Re-announcing Defender's Quest 2 (Art & Trailer Reveal!)

Defender's Quest 2: Mists of Ruin is officially re-announced! You can wishlist it on Steam right now! Rise above the Mirk & protect your ship from dangers unknown in this epic tower defense game. We're happy to announce that we're publishing the long-awaited Defender&

dq2

DQ2 Progress Report for January 2023

I've started getting a lot of new art in from our artists, which I have been furiously integrating into the build.

ai Featured

AI: Markets for Lemons, and the Great Logging Off

What happens when most "people" you interact with on the internet are fake?

dq2 Featured

Year end retrospective-- DQ2 Progress Report for November 2022

Now that we're into December, I think it's useful to take a step back and look at where things stand with the game, and review everything we've accomplished in the last year.

dq2

Content Push -- DQ2 Progress Report for October 2022

October marks the beginning of a concerted content push for the game.

dq2

Rebalancing -- DQ2 Progress Report for September 2022

Rebalancing levels in response to testing & fancy scripts to auto-balance the economy.

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Bug Hunt -- DQ2 Progress Report for August 2022

A month's worth of bugfixing, bigger portraits, and path tracers that won't give you a heart attack.