Joshua Ayson
An engineer-philosopher exploring how humans live coherently inside increasingly complex technological systems. Essays on AI, DevOps, philosophy, creative tools, and the practice of staying clear-headed.
Joshua Ayson is a DevOps engineering leader, writer, and systems thinker. Topics: AI agent workflows, agentic software engineering, DevOps automation, philosophical essays, decanal journaling, book reviews, and creative technology.
Start here, if you want to understand what this site is
Cornerstone explainers and multi-part series that frame what gets written about under each territory.
How AI Is Changing Software Engineering
A 2026 field report on where the bottleneck moved when agent mode arrived, and the five skills that compound now.
Read the cornerstone → The Decan LogWhat Is Decanal Journaling?
The 36-star Egyptian calendar, the 10-day cycle, and the practice that runs on top of it. The short version of the book.
Read the cornerstone → Temporal frameworksWhat Is People of the Stars?
A non-human clock for decision-making, paired with positioning logic from options trading. Why it isn't astrology, and what it's for.
Read the cornerstone → Series · 7 partsThe AI Development Revolution
Written in real time across 2025: the actual experience of working with AI at production stakes, and the patterns that emerged.
Browse the series → Series · 20 partsThe Decan Log (journal entries)
The 36 decans of the year, each a 10-day cycle anchored to a bright fixed star, journaled in real time. Decanal practice in operation.
Browse the series →
Explore by territory
Five knowledge territories. Different concerns, same systems-engineering frame underneath.
Essays
Long-form thought on AI-assisted development, agent mode, DevOps philosophy, and what changes when the human is three abstraction levels above the code.
Read essays → Philosophy & MeaningFree Writing
Stream-of-consciousness sessions where the pen makes its own journey. Raw, unfiltered, the practice underneath everything else.
Read free writing → The Decan LogJournal
Star-by-star journal entries across the 36 ten-day decanal cycles of the year. A non-weekly rhythm rooted in real astronomy.
Read the journal → Books & IdeasBook Reviews
Books that earned a proper write-up. Not summaries. An honest account of what changed when I finished the last page.
Read book reviews → Creative TechnologyFilms & Projects
Tools and creative work built from code: Napkin Films, ChipForge, Pixel Vault. What creative production looks like with an AI agent at your side.
Browse the studio →Recent writing
View all writing →-
How AI Is Changing Software Engineering: a 2026 field report
AI hasn't replaced software engineers. It has moved the bottleneck. The cost of writing code dropped to near zero; the cost of deciding what to build, how to architect it, and when...
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What Is People of the Stars? A Non-Human Clock for Decision-Making
People of the Stars (POTS) is a temporal intelligence framework that uses real astronomical data as a non-human clock for decision-making, with positioning logic borrowed from opti...
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What Is Decanal Journaling? The 36-Star Calendar and the Practice
Decanal journaling is a practice built on the 36-star Egyptian calendar: ten-day cycles, each ruled by a bright fixed star, replacing the arbitrary seven-day week. This is the expl...
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Plan 9, Napkin Films, Vol. 1: five rap-EDM scores on Bandcamp
Five instrumental rap-EDM scores from the Napkin Films universe, on Bandcamp as Plan 9, Napkin Films, Vol. 1. Every sound synthesized in ChipForge from numpy arrays. No samples. No...
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CERAMIC: a beat-locked Alan Watts rap on whether you were made or grew
CERAMIC opens Out of Your Mind, a new Napkin Films series built from the Alan Watts lectures. The oldest question, asked as a beat-locked spit-rap: were you made, like clay in a ma...
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THE KEYS TO POWER: a Plan 9 rap-spit duet on why power corrupts, structurally, not morally
A machine-tragedy retelling of selectorate theory as an in-tune EDM rap duet. Plan 9 Bunny takes an empty throne meaning to be good; OG Bobby Johnson, the Doberman, Anubis, the Sys...
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BUNNY STAGE 2: a parallel-octave duet about depending on machines, with a Stranger Things intro and a Klingon Plan 9 goodbye
A 3:21 cinematic EDM short. One bunny on one dawn planet becomes seven planets orbiting a glowing machine hub. The synth lead chants the thesis (we will depend on machines, multi p...
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