Archive - FreakTakes

May 2025

My Appearance on the Foresight Institute Podcast

Where I discuss Bell Labs systems engineers, giving away $100 million like Warren Weaver, and more.

May 30 •

February 2025

A Category Theory-Inspired BBN

How the Topos Institute tackles problems in complex systems

Feb 28 •

January 2025

A New Chapter At FreakTakes

An applied research shop becomes a bit more applied

Jan 10 •

Edwin Cohn and the Harvard Blood Factory

How a chemistry “purist” built one of World War II’s greatest applied R&D laboratories.

Published on Asimov Press • Jan 5

December 2024

A Note on the Changing Faces of (D)ARPA

Three variables that mark key regime changes in ARPA history

Dec 31, 2024 •

October 2024

A Scrappy Complement to FROs: Building More BBNs

ARPA's early decades of success have made the ARPA model iconic.

Oct 15, 2024 •

May 2024

Everything Old is New Again: Old research models for new-era semiconductor research

Alternative Title — How to optimally build at the top: the case for BBN-model orgs

May 28, 2024 •

March 2024

Managing Lockheed’s Skunk Works

And Many Stories About the Maleffects of Bureaucracy on R&D

Mar 7, 2024 •

January 2024

Lessons Answer.AI can learn from history’s greatest R&D labs

Today’s piece was put together with the help of several conversations with Answer.AI co-founder Jeremy Howard.

Jan 26, 2024 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts