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Fight for the Human
A compass for rehumanizing tech

Latest

01
Feb
A photo from a museum shows a large fossil skeleton

Science at the Edge of the World

I decided to change my own mind about evolution in my freshman year of college, which is common: college is
10 min read
04
Dec
a photo of a white fluffy dog who is laying directly underneath a desk, with his head on Cat's foot. Cat's hand is visible giving the dog a pet

Access the Design-a-Study Workshop & become an advance reader for my book!

I hosted another Developer Science Office Hour last month, and for some reason, decided I needed to blackmail myself into
5 min read
14
Nov
An image with a yellow background and two headshots of Cat Hicks and Ariana Mirian on it. Text reads Empirical Security Now! With Dr. Ariana Mirian

Can we make Security Empirical, and why might we want to?

There's a paper I recently came across by Mohammad Tahaei and colleagues called Privacy Champions in Sofware Teams:
7 min read
18
Oct
A photo shows a green landscape with rocky hills under an atmospheric grey sky with mist. There is motion blur at the bottom suggesting this was taken from a moving vehicle

Cognitive Helmets for the AI Bicycle: Part 1

I hear people name these three fears: will developers lose their problem-solving skills, learning opportunities, and critical thinking? One science-backed area can help: better metacognitive strategies.
11 min read
20
Aug
A photo of a lake with clear water. There are hills behind it covered in pine trees, and a blue sky with some streaks of cloud

What you've helped me do this month

8 min read
13
Jul
a corkboard has blue and yellow postit notes on it with handwritten notes. The blue postit note in focus reads Part 1: Developers are People.

Are developers slowed down by AI? Evaluating an RCT (?) and what it tells us about developer productivity

Seven different people texted or otherwise messaged me about this study which claims to measure “the impact of early-2025 AI
24 min read
09
Jun

Unfortunately, you have to think about cause

So somebody came to you (maybe it was your own mind, that traitor!) and said you need to think about
20 min read
04
May

On Taking Down Your Local Meritocracy | Research Dive

18 min read
16
Apr
a photo shows the end of a kayak and two purple snowboots on a lake facing a coastline of rolling hills with snow on them

Why I Cannot Be Technical

With some regularity, kind-hearted Technical people tell me that I Can Be Technical, Too. This usually happens when I’m
21 min read