Articles¶
Published articles from The Infrastructure Mindset. Each article links to its full text and the research that supports it.
How to Read This¶
Articles are the published product of research. Each article page contains the full text, metadata, and links to the research topics and specific claims that back it. Not every article has formal research — opinion pieces, historical essays, and early articles predate the research standard.
For the evidence behind an article, follow the research links to the Research section.
Published¶
A0022 — AI Sycophancy: The Yes-Man Problem
Published: ~2026-04-02 · Tags: ai, sycophancy
There is nothing I have hated more in my career than yes-men engineers. After decades of building sycophancy-free engineering teams, the most powerful tool I have ever worked with has sycophancy baked into its core.
Background research:
R0040 — RLHF Alternatives and Sycophancy Link
Active · 2 queries
R0041 — Enterprise Sycophancy Products and Deployment
Active · 3 queries
R0042 — Private AI Motivations and Sycophancy
Active · 3 queries
R0043 — Cross-Domain Sycophancy Vocabulary
Active · 3 queries
R0044 — Expanded Vocabulary: Regulatory, Harms, Bridges
Active · 4 queries
R0048 — Corporate AI Training Gaps
Active · 3 queries
Claim verification:
R0055 — Claim Verification (iteration 1)
28 claims · 93% pass rate · 3 corrections + 5 softenings
R0056 — Claim Verification (iteration 2)
28 claims · 93% pass rate · 2 corrections
R0057 — Claim Verification (final)
33 claims · 100% pass rate
A0019 — Prompt Engineering Is Not. Engineering, That Is.
Published: ~2026-03-26 · Tags: technology, ai
I went looking for engineering. I found creative writing advice with a technical veneer.
Background research:
R0020 — Prompt Engineering Gaps
Active · 4 queries
R0021 — Engineering Definitions and Standards
Active · 8 queries
R0023 — Counterproductive Advice and Prompt Lifecycle
Active · 4 queries
R0024 — Sycophancy, Addiction, and Vendor Incentives
Active · 4 queries
R0027 — Multilingual Prompt Engineering Challenges
Active · 3 queries
Claim verification:
R0028 — Blind Claim Verification
Active · 33 claims
A0012 — The Truth is Out There. But How Do You Find It? (Part 1)
Tags: methodology
A unified research methodology derived from nine intelligence and scientific frameworks. The what and the why.
Background research:
R0049 — Published AI Research Methodology Prompts
Active · 3 queries
R0050 — Journalism and Other Truth-Seeking Disciplines
Active · 3 queries
R0051 — Fact-Checking Methodology Gap Analysis
Active · 3 queries
Claim verification:
R0052 — Claim Verification
Active · 14 claims
A0013 — The Truth is Out There. Now Go Find It. (Part 2)
Tags: methodology
Translating a unified research methodology into a machine-executable prompt. The how — and how to get it.
Background research:
R0049 — Published AI Research Methodology Prompts
Active · 3 queries
Claim verification:
R0053 — Claim Verification
Active · 7 claims
A0005 — The Trust Chasm: When AI Delivers False Confidence
Published: ~2026-03-10 · Tags: technology, ai
We are building an increasing dependence on systems we are simultaneously losing the ability to verify.
Claim verification:
R0105 — Claim Verification
Active · 30 claims
A0007 — AI Made Everyone Faster. But Faster Is Not Necessarily Better.
Published: ~2026-03-11 · Tags: technology, ai
You just gave everyone in the building a chainsaw. Including the people who were already a danger with scissors.
Claim verification:
R0007 — Claim Verification
Active · 15 claims
A0006 — Building on Fire: Engineering Trust in AI Systems
Published: ~2026-03-12 · Tags: technology, ai
This is the part of the trilogy where the heroes are supposed to win.
Claim verification:
R0006 — Claim Verification
Active
A0010 — Seven Rounds With a Confident Liar
Published: ~2026-03-11 · Tags: technology, ai
I was mid-sentence in a conversation with Claude Code when shift+enter stopped inserting newlines and started submitting my prompt instead.
Claim verification:
R0010 — Claim Verification
Active
A0008 — The Agent That Didn't Know Itself
Published: ~2026-03-03 · Tags: technology, ai
I needed my AI coding agent to behave consistently. Same commit message format every time. Same branching workflow. Same validation steps.
Claim verification:
R0008 — Claim Verification
Active
A0011 — The Brilliant Developer, Unreliable Operator
Published: ~2026-03-03 · Tags: technology, ai, devops
I gave the AI agent one simple instruction: when something fails, stop what you're doing and come talk to me.
Claim verification:
R0011 — Claim Verification
Active
A0016 — Speed Has Numbers. Trust Has Error Bars.
Published: ~2026-03-03 · Tags: technology, ai, devops
One developer, working alone on a greenfield project, building a polyglot API ecosystem across eight repositories over forty-eight days.
Claim verification:
R0016 — Claim Verification
Active
A0009 — Building pymqrest: A Case Study in AI-Assisted Development
Published: ~2026-02-10 · Tags: technology, ai
I built pymqrest almost entirely with AI — Claude and Codex — and I wrote virtually none of the code by hand.
Claim verification:
R0009 — Claim Verification
Active
A0004 — Global Infrastructure Diversity Trends
Published: ~2026-02-03 · Tags: technology
There is a reality here that infrastructure leaders cannot ignore.
A0002 — Why Overthinking Is a Requirement
Published: ~2026-02-01 · Tags: history
"Overthink by default" is not a personality quirk. It is a requirement.
A0001 — From Skeptic to Convert
Published: ~2026-01-29 · Tags: technology
In three months, I went from a hardcore anti-AI skeptic to someone who has essentially decided I won't be wasting my time writing code anymore.