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Supporter Update, Spooky Edition

⏱️ 3 min read

Hi all! Sorry, had a mental health crash this past month, so not much was done. However, I do have some good news to share!

🙋🏻‍♀️ 1 - I'm collaborating with Audrey Tang, the Digital Minister of Taiwan!

Audrey's been a role model of mine for ye...

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Quick Update Sep 2025

Hi all! I've been under the weather this month, so instead of a vlog, here's a quick text-post update:

Stuff done this month:

  • 🕊️ Talked with Audrey Tang(!), Digital Minister of Taiwan, about possibly doing comics/videos for her upcoming book on a more humane take on AI Alignment! More...

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My 1st Vlog! Digital puppet, AI "Therapy", Mental health meta-meta-analysis

ncase post My 1st Vlog! Digital puppet, AI "Therapy", Mental health meta-meta-analysis from patreon

Hi Patréon supporters! I got something new for you today — my first vlog!

Okay this isn't actually my first first vlog, but it's my first in over 10 years? I want to experiment more with video — (more fun for me & you, makes it easier to showcase simulations & animated explainers, larger audience...

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June 2025: AI Therapists & AI Clones! 🤖

(⏱️ 21 min read in total )

(🚨 This one's a loooooooong one! If it gets clipped in your email client, you may have to click "view entire message" at the end. )

Hi all! Sorry for the silence; I was on vacation! I went to New Zealand & Australia. My travel plushies (Capyc...

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The Start-of-Spring Update

⏱️ reading time: 6 min

Hi Patreon supporters!

First, sorry I forgot about the "drawing of a cat" reward for being a supporter. Here's a drawing I made yesterday, of a cat being a baller:

Second: I kno...

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Nicky's Plans for 2025, Probably

Hi Patreon supporters,

A reminder: last month, when trying to cross the U.S.-Canada land border, I had my phone, laptop, and iPad all confiscated (because I wouldn't give them my passcodes). They even ...

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Temporarily lost ALL devices; projects will be delayed :(

I can't say more (for now) because it involves the U.S-Canada border/ongoing legal stuff, but the relevant thing is: I have not had access to my phone, laptop, or tablet for the last 7 days, and I still haven't gotten confirmation when I'm getting them back. At this point I'm not even sure I'll get them...

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Spooky Research! (also AI Safety Part 3 delayed, sorry)

ncase post Spooky Research! (also AI Safety Part 3 delayed, sorry) from patreon

Hi y'all! Time for the monthly cool-folks-supporting-me update.

Some good news & bad news. The good news is I've been super-productive the last month! I started on SIX new research projects (all related to AI or AI Safety), and learnt a few new progr...

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Welp, I'm 30! (+ a 30-min-long article to "celebrate")

ncase post Welp, I'm 30! (+ a 30-min-long article to "celebrate") from patreon

Hi all! It is my birthday.

My gift for myself for the big Three-Zero is to write this navel-gazing blog post, which I shall share with you now:

Welp, I'm 30. (30 tips for my 13-year-old self) ⏱ (30 min read)

. . .

If you don't h...

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My "Creative Cyborg" talk + more!

ncase post My "Creative Cyborg" talk + more! from patreon

Hi all! Regular update for you regular supporters: (again, thank y'all so much!)

Last month, Aug 2024:

1) 🙀 AI Safety for Fleshy Humans: Part 2 launched, if you didn't see!

. . .

2) 🤖 I gave a mi...

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AI Safety for Fleshy Humans p2: Flesh Harder

ncase post AI Safety for Fleshy Humans p2: Flesh Harder from patreon

As promised, Part 2 of my series on making safe, humane AI is now out on July 31st! Yes it is July 31st, the promised deadline. I wouldn't be late by almost two weeks. What, naw, couldn't be me.

This part's chockful of Robot Catboy comics, like this one:

2024-08-12 20:58:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Monthly update: Tell Don't Show

ncase post Monthly update: Tell Don't Show from patreon

( reading time: 4 min) 

Hi y'all!  Happy Canada Day from Canada 🇨🇦

Last month I got a bunch of work done, but alas, it's the kind of work that's not very "show-off- able". So this update, less show, more tell: 

. . .

1) AI Safety ...

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This month's update: Avatars, Fractals, & Signal Boosts

ncase post This month's update: Avatars, Fractals, & Signal Boosts from patreon

(⏱️ 4 min read)

(posting a day late, plz ignore)

. . .

Quick time-sensitive announcement: If you know a high schooler who's into programming, skip to the end of this post to learn about a free(!) hackathon, set on a train going through the Canadian boreal forest. 🌲🌲🌲 ...

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FINALLY. "AI Safety for Fleshy Humans", Part One!

ncase post FINALLY.  "AI Safety for Fleshy Humans", Part One! from patreon

Hi y'all!

Two years after my last flagship project [Nutshell]...
Four years after my last longform explainer [Covid Futures]...
I'm... mostly relieved, to finally launch my new explainer series, titled!...

🤖 AI SAFETY for FLESHY HUMANS 🤖
🙀 2024-05-05 19:49:41 +0000 UTC View Post

March Updates: I made a neural network from scratch!

ncase post March Updates: I made a neural network from scratch! from patreon

(⏱ 6 min read)

Three updates!  Two big updates, and one kinda-update!

🧠 Update #1: I'm making a neural network toy!

I'm making an interactive visualization of an Artificial Neural Network, from scratch!  Look, you can directly click & drag to change its inputs, ...

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Clearing out the idea closet (47 projects on my backlog)

ncase post Clearing out the idea closet (47 projects on my backlog) from patreon

(⏱️ read time: 3 min)

Hi all!

1) Apparently "eating my hair if I broke my promise" crossed the line from funny to actually unhealthy & disturbing.  So, I won't use self-punishment for failing to get AI Safety Part One out this month.  Again.

Instead...

. . .

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new year who dis

ncase post new year who dis from patreon

(⏱ reading time: 2 min)

1) Pre-commitment self-punishment mechanism

Last update, I said:

[AI Safety Part One] should fina-frickin'-lly be out in December. Or else: I will cut off a square-centimeter chunk of my hair, mix it with some food, and eat it on camera.<...

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Auld Lang Syne but it calls out your failed 2023 resolutions

ncase post Auld Lang Syne but it calls out your failed 2023 resolutions from patreon

A silly video I made for before the end-of-year!  Happy New Year, y'all! 💖

(An actual update on my next explainer, AI Safety for Fleshy Humans, will come in a few days.)

=== Lyrics ===

Should resolutions be forgot
And tried again once more?
You faffed around in '23
Let's try for '24...

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AI Safety piece will(?) launch this month!

ncase post AI Safety piece will(?) launch this month! from patreon

Hi all!  Short update this time.

Thank you all so much for the thoughtful replies on my last post! I'm learning to overcome my fearful people-pleasing instincts, so I'm relieved the last post didn't, like, totally blow up...

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If on an autumn night, a Nicky (Update on 5 projects)

(⏱️ reading time: 20 min)

— — — — —

IMPORTANT: Patreon has finally succumbed to that awful trend: feeds in non-chronological order. 2023-10-28 21:14:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Augh-ust* Update

(* well, September now)
( 🕓 3 min read )

Hi all,

Sorry for the no-update last month – had to take a sudden physical/mental health break. Long story short:

1. Brain fog, never figured out why.

2. I developed something similar to 2023-09-01 21:34:06 +0000 UTC View Post

“Cyborgs”

ncase post “Cyborgs” from patreon

(⏱ reading time: 11 minutes)

Recently, three threads in my life have coincided on one word: “cyborg“.

  1. Thinking about the problem of how to align AI to humane values
    → human-in-the-loop AI design strategies
    “Cyborgism”
  2. Struggling to make a "productivity...

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Bonus Mini-explainer: Gödel's Proof!

ncase post Bonus Mini-explainer: Gödel's Proof! from patreon

( reading time: 7 minutes)

Hi all!

Sincerest apologies for my lack of updates. I'll share more in a future post, but my last 2 months have been: lots of couch-surfing, moving cities over & over, starting hormones for my transition(!), pausing hormones, burnout, a fun conference, more burno...

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More AI comix, and project update

ncase post More AI comix, and project update from patreon

( reading time: 2 minutes)

Every. Week.

Every week that passes, my mega-explainer on AI Safety/Alignment gets more and more obsolete.

It's so weird to see how fast the Overton Window's shifted recently, with the NYT and The Atlantic and Fox and big petitions with seriou...

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Patron-exclusive sneak peek: 3 AI Safety comics

ncase post Patron-exclusive sneak peek: 3 AI Safety comics from patreon

( 2 min read time)

Being an indie creator means: never, ever being able to predict how long stuff takes to make.

My next project is a mega-explainer on AI Alignment & its controversies. To make it layperson-friendly, it'll be a mix of words & comics!

  • The words: I wrote 18,0...

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Sheriff Meowdy: an excerpt from my upcoming mega-post on AI Alignment

ncase post Sheriff Meowdy: an excerpt from my upcoming mega-post on AI Alignment from patreon

(reading time: 7 min)

Hi all!

I had a bunch of moving & medical-related errands in January — don't worry, I'm fine — so I didn't finish my 90-minute-read intro to AI Alignment this month after all.

But, here's an excerpt! One thing I'm proud of: the art quality is much higher th...

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Two longposts on ChatGPT + an AI Alignment megapost soon!

ncase post Two longposts on ChatGPT + an AI Alignment megapost soon! from patreon

Hi all!

This month I got sidetracked by the new, scary-good chatbot everyone's talking about: ChatGPT from OpenAI (which is not open).  Well I guess it's been out a whole month, so that's ancient news in internet-time.

But if you still care, I wrote two long threads on ChatGPT. They show off:

Quantum mini-sim + Voice interactives + Patreon pause policy

ncase post Quantum mini-sim + Voice interactives + Patreon pause policy from patreon

(5 min read)

Hi all!  A quick update, in five parts:

1) Quantum mini-sim (👾 + 1 playable simulation you can play!)
2) Trans voice interactives (👾 + 2 crappy prototypes you can try!)
3) Patreon pausing policy
4) Wait what happened to my other projects
5) Rewards for Nov 2022

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Virtue Ethics project update + belated Patreon rewards

Hi all! Apologies for not updating y'all last month. My next project is a looong-form essay – augmented with Nutshell's expandable explanations & Orbit's spaced repetition – and th...

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New project! Nutshell: make expandable explanations

ncase post New project! Nutshell: make expandable explanations from patreon

(can't see .gif above? try this link)

After 2 years of procrastinating on this project... it's finally out! My first post-burnout-hiatus interactive thingy:

🥜 Nutshell: make expandable View Post