Sean Voisen
@seanvoisen.com
Trying to make computers better for human thinking and creativity. Currently leading design engineering at Adobe. Opinions own.
Interwebs: seanvoisen.com
Pronouns: he/him
Interwebs: seanvoisen.com
Pronouns: he/him
I mostly gave up on self-hosting things last year because all the maintenance became another chore I didn't want to make time for.
Yesterday, though, I discovered PikaPods. "Self-hosting" without the fuss. Perfect.
www.pikapods.com
Yesterday, though, I discovered PikaPods. "Self-hosting" without the fuss. Perfect.
www.pikapods.com
PikaPods - Instant Open Source App Hosting
Run the finest Open Source web apps from $1.20/month, fully managed, no tracking, no ads, full privacy. Self-hosting was never this convenient.
www.pikapods.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:33 PM
I mostly gave up on self-hosting things last year because all the maintenance became another chore I didn't want to make time for.
Yesterday, though, I discovered PikaPods. "Self-hosting" without the fuss. Perfect.
www.pikapods.com
Yesterday, though, I discovered PikaPods. "Self-hosting" without the fuss. Perfect.
www.pikapods.com
📝 We Computers is a novel narrated by an AI poet. It's the strangest and most thought-provoking book I've ever read about machine authorship. Part book review, part philosophical journey, this was an incredibly fun but challenging essay to write.
seanvoisen.com/writing/cosm...
seanvoisen.com/writing/cosm...
Cosmotechnics and AI: Reading Hamid Ismailov's We Computers
A novel about a computer that writes poetry offers a glimpse into new ways to think about relationships with AI.
seanvoisen.com
January 13, 2026 at 4:44 PM
📝 We Computers is a novel narrated by an AI poet. It's the strangest and most thought-provoking book I've ever read about machine authorship. Part book review, part philosophical journey, this was an incredibly fun but challenging essay to write.
seanvoisen.com/writing/cosm...
seanvoisen.com/writing/cosm...
Working on a new essay and I'm trying out Oliver Burkeman's editing method: Print out the first draft, delete everything, and re-type it all back in. Works surprisingly well!
January 11, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Working on a new essay and I'm trying out Oliver Burkeman's editing method: Print out the first draft, delete everything, and re-type it all back in. Works surprisingly well!
Whenever I sit down to write, I always discover I don't know what I thought I knew. Writing is both a process of thinking and of learning, that's the pain of it.
Italo Calvino, from his essay "Why Do You Write?" in which he called writing a "violence against myself."
Italo Calvino, from his essay "Why Do You Write?" in which he called writing a "violence against myself."
January 6, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Whenever I sit down to write, I always discover I don't know what I thought I knew. Writing is both a process of thinking and of learning, that's the pain of it.
Italo Calvino, from his essay "Why Do You Write?" in which he called writing a "violence against myself."
Italo Calvino, from his essay "Why Do You Write?" in which he called writing a "violence against myself."
Trying a new experiment: tracking my book reads for 2026 as a thread right here 📚🤓
If you're looking for new things to read this year, feel free to follow along!
Here we go ...
If you're looking for new things to read this year, feel free to follow along!
Here we go ...
January 5, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Trying a new experiment: tracking my book reads for 2026 as a thread right here 📚🤓
If you're looking for new things to read this year, feel free to follow along!
Here we go ...
If you're looking for new things to read this year, feel free to follow along!
Here we go ...
2025 year-in-review
A recap of my year and a brief look at trajectories for 2026.
seanvoisen.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:51 AM
Suzuki Roshi with some words of wisdom that I always feel are very apt this time of year. If you're planning a new habit, taking on a new practice, going for some resolution in the new year, do so with your "whole body and mind." "Burn yourself completely."
December 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Suzuki Roshi with some words of wisdom that I always feel are very apt this time of year. If you're planning a new habit, taking on a new practice, going for some resolution in the new year, do so with your "whole body and mind." "Burn yourself completely."
My reading stack for the holidays: Continuing through Yuk Hui’s “A Question Concerning Technology in China,” revisiting Borges, and hoping to crack the cover on Frederic Gros’ “A Philosophy of Walking.”
December 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
My reading stack for the holidays: Continuing through Yuk Hui’s “A Question Concerning Technology in China,” revisiting Borges, and hoping to crack the cover on Frederic Gros’ “A Philosophy of Walking.”
One of the habits I hope to cultivate next year is to write every single day. Trying to resist the mindset that each word must always lead somewhere, that each thing must be "publishable." Really appreciated the perspective on writing as practice in this essay.
www.late-review.com/p/the-own-wo...
www.late-review.com/p/the-own-wo...
the own-work woodshed
on writing as practice, internet fiction, and the right to be untalented
www.late-review.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
One of the habits I hope to cultivate next year is to write every single day. Trying to resist the mindset that each word must always lead somewhere, that each thing must be "publishable." Really appreciated the perspective on writing as practice in this essay.
www.late-review.com/p/the-own-wo...
www.late-review.com/p/the-own-wo...
In 2025 I both read more books and wrote more blog posts by changing one habit: I stopped using devices with glowing screens or an internet connection after dinner.
December 21, 2025 at 10:46 PM
In 2025 I both read more books and wrote more blog posts by changing one habit: I stopped using devices with glowing screens or an internet connection after dinner.
📝 Intelligent agents. Stochastic parrots. Blurry JPEGs of the web. We reach for metaphors as cognitive shorthand for the complexity of AI.
A few thoughts on the many metaphors we use for LLMs, with a suggestion that maybe the best one comes from Borges.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
A few thoughts on the many metaphors we use for LLMs, with a suggestion that maybe the best one comes from Borges.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
A bestiary of AI metaphors
Ruminations on the many metaphors used for LLMs, and bit about Borges.
seanvoisen.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:37 PM
📝 Intelligent agents. Stochastic parrots. Blurry JPEGs of the web. We reach for metaphors as cognitive shorthand for the complexity of AI.
A few thoughts on the many metaphors we use for LLMs, with a suggestion that maybe the best one comes from Borges.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
A few thoughts on the many metaphors we use for LLMs, with a suggestion that maybe the best one comes from Borges.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
My team at Adobe is hiring a web components engineer to help us build out the future of our design system. Great opportunity for someone earlier in their career to jump in and help us continue to improve Spectrum Web Components. In-office hybrid in LA, Denver or NYC.
adobe.design/jobs/job-pos...
adobe.design/jobs/job-pos...
Design Engineer, Spectrum Web
Join us and help build the next generation of our world-famous tools.
adobe.design
December 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
My team at Adobe is hiring a web components engineer to help us build out the future of our design system. Great opportunity for someone earlier in their career to jump in and help us continue to improve Spectrum Web Components. In-office hybrid in LA, Denver or NYC.
adobe.design/jobs/job-pos...
adobe.design/jobs/job-pos...
I already gave my book recommendations for 2025, but if I could add 1 more it would be this: "We Computers" is an Uzbek novel about a French programmer-poet who writes an AI system for generating Persian poetry. Beautiful Eastern literary perspective on tech mostly dominated by Western discourse.
December 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I already gave my book recommendations for 2025, but if I could add 1 more it would be this: "We Computers" is an Uzbek novel about a French programmer-poet who writes an AI system for generating Persian poetry. Beautiful Eastern literary perspective on tech mostly dominated by Western discourse.
One of my end-of-year blogging traditions is to share a few of my favorite books from the past year. Here’s a few I feel are worth your time.
seanvoisen.com/writing/2025...
seanvoisen.com/writing/2025...
Book recommendations from my reading in 2025
Three books I think are worth your time.
seanvoisen.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:11 PM
One of my end-of-year blogging traditions is to share a few of my favorite books from the past year. Here’s a few I feel are worth your time.
seanvoisen.com/writing/2025...
seanvoisen.com/writing/2025...
📝 With the clock came the atomization of time through the invention of the minute. With LLMs comes the atomization of computation through the concept of the "token." Some quick thinking out loud on the parallels and differences.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
On time and tokens
Parallels between the atomization of two scarce "resources," time and computation.
seanvoisen.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:02 AM
📝 With the clock came the atomization of time through the invention of the minute. With LLMs comes the atomization of computation through the concept of the "token." Some quick thinking out loud on the parallels and differences.
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
seanvoisen.com/thinking/202...
Adding to the reading queue. I work with a few designers. Do I actually want to know how they think? We shall see ... 😉
November 17, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Adding to the reading queue. I work with a few designers. Do I actually want to know how they think? We shall see ... 😉
📝 New post: What started as a 60-day life habit experiment learning and writing about philosophy became something else—neither hobby nor work, but "serious leisure."
Also ... polished up my site design, including better typography for long-form reading.
seanvoisen.com/blog/not-a-h...
Also ... polished up my site design, including better typography for long-form reading.
seanvoisen.com/blog/not-a-h...
Not a hobby: Reflections on life habit experiment №2
A visit with an old friend on a bike ride through Central Park leads to a deeper question: what's the difference between a hobby and leisure?
seanvoisen.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:28 PM
📝 New post: What started as a 60-day life habit experiment learning and writing about philosophy became something else—neither hobby nor work, but "serious leisure."
Also ... polished up my site design, including better typography for long-form reading.
seanvoisen.com/blog/not-a-h...
Also ... polished up my site design, including better typography for long-form reading.
seanvoisen.com/blog/not-a-h...
Took the day off. If you need me, I'll be over here at the local coffee shop, polishing up my personal site's design & typography, and (hopefully) finish some neglected drafts of new essays.
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Took the day off. If you need me, I'll be over here at the local coffee shop, polishing up my personal site's design & typography, and (hopefully) finish some neglected drafts of new essays.
Excited to dig into my copy of "Context Window" by @scottboms.bsky.social. Awesome little book with thoughts on computing and quotes from Wendell Berry, Lewis Mumford, the Unix philosophy—just my kind of thing. Came with a bunch of cool stickers and riso prints too.
November 7, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Excited to dig into my copy of "Context Window" by @scottboms.bsky.social. Awesome little book with thoughts on computing and quotes from Wendell Berry, Lewis Mumford, the Unix philosophy—just my kind of thing. Came with a bunch of cool stickers and riso prints too.
📝 New in my ongoing "philosophy for designers" series, some design interventions for "lingering" and contemplation, inspired by Byung-Chul Han's "The Scent of Time."
seanvoisen.com/blog/design-...
seanvoisen.com/blog/design-...
Philosophy for Designers 4: Design for lingering
Inspired by Byung-Chul Han’s "The Scent of Time," this is an exploration of design interventions for contemplation and lingering.
seanvoisen.com
October 13, 2025 at 10:34 PM
📝 New in my ongoing "philosophy for designers" series, some design interventions for "lingering" and contemplation, inspired by Byung-Chul Han's "The Scent of Time."
seanvoisen.com/blog/design-...
seanvoisen.com/blog/design-...
📝 The third post in my ongoing series on "Philosophy for Designers" is now up. A little bit of a side quest here, looking at what the post impressionist painter Cézanne might have to teach us about philosophy and design.
seanvoisen.com/blog/cezanne...
seanvoisen.com/blog/cezanne...
Philosophy for Designers 3: Cézanne’s doubts
How Paul Cézanne's methodological doubt and embodied approach to painting offers a phenomenological framework for design.
seanvoisen.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
📝 The third post in my ongoing series on "Philosophy for Designers" is now up. A little bit of a side quest here, looking at what the post impressionist painter Cézanne might have to teach us about philosophy and design.
seanvoisen.com/blog/cezanne...
seanvoisen.com/blog/cezanne...
📝 Happy Sunday! New post in my Philosophy for Designers series is now up. Continuing down the phenomenology rabbit hole, looking at how the "structural form of parts and wholes" might be useful in UX design.
seanvoisen.com/blog/parts-w...
seanvoisen.com/blog/parts-w...
Philosophy for Designers 2: Parts and wholes and moments, oh my!
In which we explore how the phenomenology of parts and wholes can help us improve design decisions.
seanvoisen.com
September 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
📝 Happy Sunday! New post in my Philosophy for Designers series is now up. Continuing down the phenomenology rabbit hole, looking at how the "structural form of parts and wholes" might be useful in UX design.
seanvoisen.com/blog/parts-w...
seanvoisen.com/blog/parts-w...
📝 Just posted the first in my series on "Philosophy for Designers," which is my attempt to read, learn and share about philosophy and design in the open.
A quick primer on the school of philosophy called phenomenology, written for anyone who designs digital things.
seanvoisen.com/blog/phenome...
A quick primer on the school of philosophy called phenomenology, written for anyone who designs digital things.
seanvoisen.com/blog/phenome...
Philosophy for Designers 1: Phenomenology and the impossibility of experience design
A brief introduction to phenomenology and its relevance in the practice of user experience design.
seanvoisen.com
September 14, 2025 at 3:39 PM
📝 Just posted the first in my series on "Philosophy for Designers," which is my attempt to read, learn and share about philosophy and design in the open.
A quick primer on the school of philosophy called phenomenology, written for anyone who designs digital things.
seanvoisen.com/blog/phenome...
A quick primer on the school of philosophy called phenomenology, written for anyone who designs digital things.
seanvoisen.com/blog/phenome...
📝 Just published my monthly personal update, with a few recommended reads.
seanvoisen.com/blog/recentl...
seanvoisen.com/blog/recentl...
Recently №2: End of Summer 2025 edition
Personal updates for August 2025, and a few other things worth your time.
seanvoisen.com
August 31, 2025 at 3:18 PM
📝 Just published my monthly personal update, with a few recommended reads.
seanvoisen.com/blog/recentl...
seanvoisen.com/blog/recentl...
A former colleague and I have started engaging in a practice he calls "pair reading" and it's been really great. He describes it as "pair programming for intellectual exploration."
Basically, it's a book club of two people. Pick a book, read it together, and talk about it as you go. That's it.
Basically, it's a book club of two people. Pick a book, read it together, and talk about it as you go. That's it.
August 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
A former colleague and I have started engaging in a practice he calls "pair reading" and it's been really great. He describes it as "pair programming for intellectual exploration."
Basically, it's a book club of two people. Pick a book, read it together, and talk about it as you go. That's it.
Basically, it's a book club of two people. Pick a book, read it together, and talk about it as you go. That's it.