Crazy Project - Part Cuatro
Here we go again. Yes, every few years I set out to start some insane project. Well, it starts small … a germ of an idea … noodling around in my head … on walks … on my way to work … the idea takes form … grows … then I make the mistake of “feeding it after midnight” while I lie awake at night thinking about all the cool things that could be added. And so it goes: a small fun little side project turns into a major undertaking with industrial scale.
But this time I have a trusty sidekick – Claude. And he’s worse than I. He’s always gung-ho and excited to start new adventures. Yes, I think there’s some co-dependency developing, but that’s for another post.
Anyway, we – me, myself, and Claude – are now at it and are building up a whole network of IoT devices, cloud-hosted servers, and stuff. Why? Well, because we can … I guess.
Well, there’s a bit more to it. I want to learn more about building out fully automated quality control processes for software and with a focus on software deployed on IoT devices that are deployed in the field and possibly not always online. And I want to learn more about using LLM-based processes to improve and automate the whole software development lifecycle. Obviously there are a million rabbit holes to dive into here, so we chose … uhm … all 🤓
And so my always excited trusty sidekick and I set off on this new adventure to build the F451 Labs network which will allow me to combine several smaller side projects into one big pile … what could possibly go wrong … right?
Oh … I almost forgot … let me get a few things off my chest and (hopefully) also explain a few things about how I think about technology in general and this project in particular:
I am using LLMs all day every day – we are a team, me, myself, and Claude. To me LLMs are just another tool that I can use to move my projects forward further and sometimes faster. Are there problems with GenAI and the whole industry? Absolutely! Am I just another tech bro fanboy? Hell no! Do I think LLMs are here to stay? Yes, and that is why I want to learn as much as possible. Do I think the industry is and geopolitical aspect of the tech industry is f-ed up? Yes! But I also think there are huge opportunities here for more independence and democratization of technology and access to resources. That is one reason why a part of this insane project includes learning about setting up and using local LLMs.
I am not having LLMs write for me – but I am using tools such as LanguageTool to fix my (sometimes) atrocious grammar. Apparently I have a hard time placing commas in the right place. Oh well, that’s why we have tools … right?. And yes, there are em-dashes in this text and other fun little things. Why? Because I put them there – just like this 🤓
There is no comment section – and there will never be one. Why? Because this is my project … and my rules. Period. Do I care about other people’s opinions? Uhm … not really. If people don’t like this project … well, they are free to build their own. Then why am I sharing this? Well, because its fun to build things. I’m building this for me. But in case there’s someone else out there curious about a project like this, then here is one possible recipe … one way of thinking … one way of solving these problems.
The theme is Fahrenheit 451 – yes, a bit dystopian, but also a starting point for an interesting backstory. After all, this project is an adventure and adventures need a story line. For this adventure the backstory is that we’re members of the resistance, the so-called Book People. Our mission is to preserve knowledge, and to share and teach. To that end, we’re continuously learning and finding new ways to redirect and share resources
Sure, I may have gotten carried away a bit with the story. And yes, this project exists where technology and art intersect … and I like that space.
Finally, am I making a statement? Maybe. Do I care if anybody else cares? Not really. This is a fun and interesting project mainly for me and someone else finds it fun or interesting, great! And if not, also great.
Now, me, myself, and Claude have some coding to do! 🤓
