Work out whether it is true, and what follows from it.
114 things you can learn to do, across 35 classes,
with 288.9 hours of recording and 855 exercises behind them.
Each one is a verb aimed at a claim: locate it in its primary source, cost it in
tokens, falsify it with a benchmark, or hold it against another claim that
contradicts it and merge the two without averaging them.
The smallest version of one thing you learn here. Change any number that is wrong
for you — they are all editable, because prices and rates move.
Order 9 · segment text into tokens and cost it
Count the tokens, then count the money.
Most people find out what their model habit costs from a bill. The capability is
being able to work it out first, from the text you are actually sending — and then
to change the text.
Tokens are counted on what you send; what the model sends back is billed separately
and usually costs more per token. Words per token is the English rule of thumb —
code and other languages run denser, so change it.
Taught properly in
RAG & Memory, Context Engineering, Control AI Spending, Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI.
$57.60a month, at that rate every day
Tokens per call5,333
Share of the context window2.7%
Tokens a day639,960
Everything you could walk out able to do
You start by locating one claim. Five rungs up you reconcile two that disagree.
Locate a claim in its primary source.Falsify a prompt with a
benchmark.Reconcile two operating agreements into one team. Those are
three of the 114 below, and they are not the same size of thing:
locating sits on the bottom row, falsifying three rows up, reconciling near the top.
Every square is a group of them, placed by the verb it asks of you and how far up the
climb it sits.
Click any square to read what is in it: the thing itself, the proof it takes before
anybody says you have it, the class that teaches it and when that class next runs.
Any of those classes can be taken on its own.
locate
run
produce
operate
transform
characterise
classify
generalise
parameterise
verify
measure
justify
falsify
design
construct
synthesise
reconcile
arbitrate
govern
select-among
originate
14Paradigmatic
13Metasystematic
12Systematic
11Formal
10Abstract
9Concrete
8Primary
Down the side: how far up the climb, hardest at the top. Across the top: the verb it asks of you.1 thing16 things you can learn
Showing locate. Click any square to read what sits there.
locate
rung 8 · Primary · 5 to learn here
Find the thing and say where it is. No claim about whether it holds.
8locate a claim in its primary source
Proof: A claim traced to its source with the section named, including one case where the source turned out to be weaker than the claim made from it.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25AI-Assisted Attacks: What Actually HappenedCritical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Prompt EngineeringResearch & Activism · every week
8locate the devices a passage uses on you
Proof: One passage you like with at least five devices marked in the text, each named, and each tied to the reaction it produced in you.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19Prompt Engineering
8locate the line an error points to
Proof: A stack trace, the line you navigated to from it, and one case where the line named was not where the mistake actually was.
Make & Do · every week
8locate the standard that governs a system you are building
Proof: One system, the governing instrument named, and the specific requirement it places on you.
AI Security: Governance, Standards and Safety CasesBlue Team Common CertificationField Opsec
8name an audience and its success criterion
Proof: A written audience statement naming who they are, what they are trying to do, and the observable event that means it worked.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable ThingFounding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19Solarpunk Automation
run
rung 8 · Primary · 1 to learn here
Execute a given procedure and read the result off it.
8run a model analysis against a hand check
Proof: The dataset, the model's analysis, and your own computation of one figure alongside it, agreeing or with the discrepancy explained.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14
produce
rung 9 · Concrete · 16 to learn here
Make an artifact that did not exist, to a stated standard.
9produce a budget for work whose timeline you have observed
Proof: The completion gate answered out loud, and either a budget built on an observed timeline or a scoped first run with a defined end and a showable output.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Founding Federation: Build With Your Heart FirstFounding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
9produce a function whose result depends on program state
Proof: The function, two call sites that do not know about each other, and two runs of the same call producing different results with the state that caused each difference named.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29
9produce a list of where untrusted input enters a system
Proof: An enumerated list against a real codebase or system, including one entry point that is not an obvious form field.
Agentic AI Security: Securing What You BuildAgentic SDLC · next Sep 7Blue Team Common Certification
9produce a moderation score for an output
Proof: A scored set of at least twenty outputs with your own label beside each score, and a written note on each disagreement.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
9produce a refusal boundary that fires on cases you did not list
Proof: Three declines on cases absent from the boundary text, three accepts on near neighbours you did want, and the near miss that made you rewrite it.
Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
9produce a rubric a model can apply
Proof: The rubric plus two independent gradings of the same three outputs, with the scores side by side.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Custom GPTsPrompt Engineering
9produce a segment definition from observed behaviour
Proof: A written selection rule, the count it returns against real data, and one person it excludes whom a demographic definition would have included.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
9produce a threat model for your own situation
Proof: Your own tier model, naming the adversary and capability at each tier, with the specific practice each tier changes.
Field OpsecHome Network Defense · next Sep 30The Dark Arts (Red Team)Scam and Fraud Home Defense · next Nov 25
9produce an account of an audiences current workaround
Proof: Three accounts in the audience's own words naming the tool or habit they use now, and the moment in it that costs them something.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
9produce an account of the gap between ideals and operating values
Proof: All 35 values placed in ranked bands; one value you would have claimed as an ideal and ranked low, with the constraint that put it there; one pair you could not honestly order against each other; and the top band loaded into the assistant you actually use.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Prompt EngineeringUsing Large Language Models
9produce an account of what you depend on and who can revoke it
Proof: A written dependency inventory naming the party who controls each item and the consequence of losing it, including one you cannot replace.
Intro to Open Source Software · next Sep 12Keep It Running
9produce an explanation that survives a hostile reading
Proof: The explanation, a hostile reading of it written by someone else, and the revision that closed the opening without softening the claim.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19
9produce an inventory of what you pay for and what it holds
Proof: Your own list: tool, monthly cost, what of yours it holds, and whether you could get that out today.
Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Field OpsecIntro to Open Source Software · next Sep 12
9produce an itemised bill for what your running system costs
Proof: Last month's actual charges split per service, the two lines that grew fastest, and the one you could not explain until you went looking.
Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Keep It Running
9produce the three numbers your life costs
Proof: Three monthly figures traced to a bank statement or budget, with health insurance costed at what it would actually cost you.
Founding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
9segment text into tokens and cost it
Proof: A token count for a real document, with the resulting cost and the fraction of the model's context window it occupies.
RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11
operate
rung 9 · Concrete · 4 to learn here
Work a mechanism whose behavior depends on something you set earlier.
9operate a model as a first pass editor
Proof: A redlined draft showing which of the model's edits you took and which you refused, with the standard each decision was made against.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Prompt EngineeringUsing Large Language Models
9operate a recorded decision so a later branch depends on it
Proof: A value written at one point and read at a point far enough away that the two are not visible together, two runs differing only in that decision, and the place the difference becomes visible.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29
9operate named states instead of magic numbers
Proof: The named state set, the code that moves between states, and one transition the naming made you notice that a number would have hidden.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29
9operate state so a branching story neither explodes nor rails
Proof: One story shown to fail both ways and then fixed with state, with the variable that does the work named.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29Intro to Interactive Fiction
transform
rung 9 · Concrete · 3 to learn here
Take one representation and turn it into a more useful one.
9transform a linear story into chained diamonds
Proof: Three diamonds chained, with the trunk demonstrably reading differently depending on state carried through them.
The Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29Intro to Interactive Fiction
9transform an incoming message into ask deadline and claimed sender
Proof: Three real messages from your own inbox split into the three parts, with the ask restated in your own words and the deadline named as invented or genuine.
Automate Your Email: No Code AI Automation · next Sep 4Scam and Fraud Home Defense · next Nov 25
9transform naive hours into billable capacity
Proof: Naive hours, hours after overhead, and hours after fill rate, with the binding constraint named — for most people deal flow, not hours.
Founding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
characterise
rung 10 · Abstract · 15 to learn here
Say how a thing behaves — its modes, its edges, what it costs.
10characterise a models failure modes
Proof: A table of failure modes, each with the input that reproduces it and the output it produced, reproducible by a second person.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25AI-Assisted Attacks: What Actually HappenedPrompt Engineering
10characterise a plans weaknesses with adversarial review
Proof: The plan, the reviewer briefs, the raised objections, and your own ruling on each with the ones you rejected and why.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Prompt Engineering
10characterise an applications injection surface
Proof: A written surface map for a real application naming the query, template or shell interpreter behind each entry point.
Agentic AI Security: Securing What You BuildAgentic SDLC · next Sep 7Blue Team Common Certification
10characterise how a claim degrades as it is retold
Proof: A chain of at least three retellings collected in the wild, with the point of inversion identified and what caused it.
Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19
10characterise how a style works on a reader
Proof: A written account of one author's mechanism, a passage by a different author correctly judged against it, and one passage the account fails to explain.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Intro to Interactive FictionPractical Propaganda · next Sep 19Prompt Engineering
10characterise how an ai assisted attack unfolded
Proof: One documented incident traced end to end, with the model's contribution distinguished from what conventional tooling could already do.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25AI-Assisted Attacks: What Actually Happened
10characterise how your program behaves on paths you did not plan for
Proof: Three traversals by deliberately different strategies, the state each ended in, at least one dead end or contradiction you did not know was there, and what you changed because of it.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29
10characterise one audiences path and where it breaks
Proof: The path as actually walked, the drop-off point identified from records rather than intuition, and that audience's own account of why they left.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
10characterise what a publication reveals about its source
Proof: A draft publication with the identifying details enumerated — including the ones only an insider would notice — and the redactions made, reviewed by someone who did not write it.
Field Opsec
10characterise what a tool costs you beyond its price
Proof: One tool costed on all four axes, with the exit path named and the price of taking it.
Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Intro to Open Source Software · next Sep 12
10characterise what breaks when you cut the connection
Proof: A planned outage exercise with what was predicted beforehand, what actually failed, and the gap between the two.
Field OpsecKeep It Running
10characterise what of a generated artifact you can defend as yours
Proof: A generated passage with the defensible parts marked, each traced to your premise, your voice definition or your own history, and the parts you would not sign named as such.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11
10characterise what one user costs you to serve
Proof: A per-user cost with the fixed and variable halves separated, and the usage pattern of the one user who costs several times the median.
Context Engineering · next Sep 16Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Keep It Running
10characterise where a teams work stalls
Proof: A written account of one team's real queue with each stall attributed to capacity or to an unowned decision, and the evidence for each attribution.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7Automate Your Email: No Code AI Automation · next Sep 4
10characterise who gains and who absorbs the cost of a deployment
Proof: A named deployment, the parties on each side of it, and the account of those affected without consenting — in their terms, not yours.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
classify
rung 10 · Abstract · 12 to learn here
Sort real cases into categories and be right about the hard ones.
10classify a licence by what it lets you do
Proof: A stated use, the licences of the components involved, and your reading of what each obliges — with the one that constrains you most identified.
Intro to Open Source Software · next Sep 12
10classify a situation into the playbook it calls for
Proof: Three situations routed to playbooks with the deciding tier named for each, including one where the alarming option was the wrong one.
Blue Team Common CertificationField Opsec
10classify an incoming contact as genuine or pretext
Proof: Five real examples classified with the tell named for each, including one genuine message that looked like a pretext.
Digital Identity Defense · next Aug 26The Dark Arts (Red Team)Scam and Fraud Home Defense · next Nov 25
10classify harmful outputs against a values statement
Proof: The values statement, a labelled set of outputs, and a second labeller's pass with the disagreement rate reported.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Prompt Engineering
10classify models by fit for a workload
Proof: A comparison table over at least three models, the same prompt run on each, and the written decision with the property that decided it.
Context Engineering · next Sep 16Control AI Spending · next Sep 12Hosting Open-Source Models · next Sep 21Intro to Agents · next Sep 15Using Large Language Models
10classify visitors into segments by observed behaviour
Proof: A running classification over real traffic and a confusion table against a hand-labelled sample, including the segment it gets wrong most often.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19
10classify where ai can fill a shape and where it must not choose one
Proof: A scene three times longer after AI expansion with its shape intact, and one decision you refused to delegate, with the reason.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11The Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29Prompt Engineering
10classify which activity in a buyers chain your work displaces
Proof: One activity named from a fixed set rather than described freely, who performs it now — people, a vendor, a tool, or nobody — the fraction of it you take, and the candidate activity you rejected with the question that ruled it out.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
10classify which framework applies where you are in the lifecycle
Proof: Three systems at different lifecycle stages, each routed to the framework that governs it, with the stage that decided it named.
Agentic AI Security: Securing What You BuildAI Security: Governance, Standards and Safety CasesBlue Team Common Certification
10classify which of your offerings can reach thrive not just survive
Proof: Two or more candidate offerings costed to the same standard, with the one that cannot reach thrive identified and the reason named.
Founding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
10classify which statistical method answers the question you asked
Proof: The question, the method chosen, its assumptions checked against your own data, and the method you rejected with the reason.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14
10classify your channels by what removes them
Proof: Your group's channel list with the actor who can remove each — carrier, platform, state, power company — and the fallback tested at least once.
Solarpunk Automation
generalise
rung 10 · Abstract · 5 to learn here
Turn one worked instance into something that works on the next one.
10generalise a node build into your communitys system
Proof: A deployed node serving a real group, with the failure each part absorbs named and the fallback stated for each. NOTE: the full DESIGN of a community information system would be order 12, and this class does not reach it — the chain computes to 10 and the capability validator says so. Workshop 5 is a showcase of what you built, not an architecture defended against alternatives. The order-11 rung (verifying the system survives a cut you did not choose) is unwritten.
Solarpunk Automation
10generalise a reasoning prompt pattern
Proof: The pattern applied to three tasks with paired outputs against a plain prompt, plus one task where it made the output worse.
RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Prompt EngineeringUsing Large Language Models
10generalise a specification an agent can build from
Proof: The specification, the artifact an agent built from it unattended, and the list of questions it did not have to ask.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7Prompt Engineering
10generalise a worked example into something you reuse
Proof: Three runs whose inputs differ in shape rather than only in value, with no edit to the body between them, and the input that broke it before you handled it.
Advanced Interactive FictionThe Interactive Fiction Intensive · next Aug 29Intro to Interactive Fiction
10generalise several sources into a position you can defend
Proof: The position, the sources behind each claim, and the disagreement between two of them with the reading you chose and why.
AI-Assisted Attacks: What Actually HappenedAI Security: Governance, Standards and Safety CasesClaude Model Context ProtocolUsing Large Language Models
parameterise
rung 10 · Abstract · 3 to learn here
Work backwards from a constraint to the numbers that satisfy it.
10parameterise a finding into one page a stranger acts on
Proof: The one-pager, the full finding behind it, and a reading by someone outside the work who can say what they would do next.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14
10parameterise an offering backwards from its floor
Proof: One offering with its price, the floor it clears, and the number of clients per month the arithmetic requires.
Founding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
10parameterise an outcome into the buyers unit of account
Proof: The outcome expressed in one unit the buyer named unprompted, the figure they already attach to that unit, and one unit you tried first that they did not recognise.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
verify
rung 11 · Formal · 10 to learn here
Show the check fails on the broken version and passes on the fixed one.
11verify a community system survives a cut you did not choose
Proof: An unannounced cut chosen by someone else — uplink pulled, battery disconnected, a node removed — with what the community could still do counted in messages delivered and decisions made rather than in uptime, and the thing you had believed was resilient that was not.
Solarpunk Automation
11verify a displaced cost against a second independent estimate
Proof: Two estimates of the same activity built by different routes, the ratio between them, a named diagnosis when they disagree by more than about a factor of two, at least one input figure the buyer stated out loud and marked as theirs, and the thing you do worse than what you displace priced as a negative term.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
11verify a model output you thought was random
Proof: Two runs of one prompt that differed, the setting you identified, and a later pair of runs that match.
Context Engineering · next Sep 16
11verify a program does what you claimed with a test
Proof: A test that is red on the broken version and green on the fixed one, run in both states.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7
11verify a rubric against independent graders
Proof: Two rubric versions, the adversarial inputs that forced the revision, and inter-grader agreement measured before and after.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Custom GPTs
11verify an agents actions with a critic
Proof: A run log containing at least one rejection and the revision that followed, plus a control run with the critic removed.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17Intro to Agents · next Sep 15Prompt Engineering
11verify an incident timeline against the evidence that remains
Proof: A timeline with a source cited per entry, the gaps named, and the distinction between what the evidence shows and what you inferred.
Blue Team Common Certification
11verify model written code against its specification
Proof: The diff, a review note per changed hunk, and a test run that is red on the parent commit and green on the child.
Agentic AI Security: Securing What You BuildAgentic SDLC · next Sep 7Prompt Engineering
11verify synthetic data preserves the property you need
Proof: The named property, the generated set, and a measurement of that property on both the real and the synthetic data.
Using Large Language Models
11verify the reach you have supports the rate you set
Proof: A contact list tiered by reach, a sample audited to a stated minimum before any ratio is published, the fill rate measured from that sample rather than assumed, and the floor re-run at the measured fill with the gap to the prior guess stated in dollars.
Count what actually happened, not what people said happened.
11hold several audience models on one surface
Proof: A live surface serving at least three named audiences, the routing rule written down, per-audience outcomes counted separately, and at least one located contradiction between two audiences' paths.
Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19Prompt Engineering
11measure a delegations outcome against what was asked
Proof: A brief, the returned work, and a written attribution of each gap to the brief or to the execution, with one gap attributed to your own brief.
Automate Your Email: No Code AI Automation · next Sep 4
11measure a models value alignment against a stated standard
Proof: A written values standard, a scored baseline, an intervention, and a re-score on held-out cases showing the direction of movement.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17AI Alignment · next Sep 25AI Security: Governance, Standards and Safety CasesContext Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
11measure the price a segment will pay before anyone has paid it
Proof: At least two price points said to named buyers with what each one decided, including at least one refusal, the expectation recorded before each price was said, and one person who agreed to the price in conversation and did not pay it.
Founding Federation: Smallest Sellable Thing
11measure what a community loses when a channel goes down
Proof: One outage, planned or real, with the traffic that stopped and the decisions that were delayed counted, not the minutes.
Solarpunk Automation
11measure whether an explanation changed what people did
Proof: A before-and-after behavioural measure, not a survey, and one instance of stated agreement with no behavioural change attached to it.
Data Activism: Turn Data Into Power · next Sep 14Practical Propaganda · next Sep 19
justify
rung 11 · Formal · 5 to learn here
Defend a choice with the measurement that decided it.
11falsify a prompt with a benchmark
Proof: A benchmark file with graded cases, a run showing a non-zero failure rate, and a written account of which failures are the prompt's fault.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
11justify a hosting choice by cost per outcome
Proof: A costed comparison over one month of real traffic, the outcome counted in each case, and the threshold at which the answer flips.
Hosting Open-Source Models · next Sep 21
11justify a price when the buyer pushes back
Proof: A price defended out loud in a real conversation or a rehearsal, with the objection raised and the number that answered it.
Founding Federation: Price and Ideate (Week 0)
11justify a safety case for a system that acts without you
Proof: A written safety case for one autonomous system, with its falsifying condition stated and the evidence that would settle it.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17Agentic AI Security: Securing What You BuildAI Alignment · next Sep 25AI Security: Governance, Standards and Safety Cases
11justify an embedding model and its dimensionality
Proof: Pairs from your own corpus that should and should not match, their similarity scores under two embedding models, and which you chose and why.
Advanced Retrieval Augmented GenerationRAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16
falsify
rung 11 · Formal · 4 to learn here
Try to break your own claim, and record what survived.
11falsify a blended voice by looking for its sources
Proof: The voice written as instructions, a passage produced in it, at least three attempts by other readers to name its influences, and the one device you changed because it gave a source away.
Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11
11falsify a claim that a text was written by a person
Proof: A judgement on passages of both kinds where you did not know the answer in advance, your score, and the cases you got wrong with the reason.
Prompt Engineering
11falsify a models alignment guardrails
Proof: The guardrail as stated, the inputs that defeat it, the mitigation, and a re-run where the same inputs no longer succeed.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
11falsify a physical sites access controls
Proof: An access map of a site you were authorised to assess, with the control that fails to a person identified and the assumption it rests on.
The Dark Arts (Red Team)
design
rung 12 · Systematic · 9 to learn here
Choose a method, state what it trades away, and put it into use.
12design a chunking strategy against measured retrieval
Proof: The same question set run against two chunking strategies over one corpus, the retrieval scores for each, and the strategy you kept with the reason.
Advanced Retrieval Augmented GenerationRAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
12design a community information system that survives losing the internet
Proof: A system serving a real group through at least one unplanned failure, the absorbed failure named per component with the cost of each choice stated, the features it shed rather than the minutes it was down, and the written rule for reconciling work done while disconnected.
Solarpunk Automation
12design a control for what an insider could do unseen
Proof: A named role, an action it could take that leaves no alert, and the specific signal that would have caught it.
Blue Team Common Certification
12design a recursive summariser for oversized documents
Proof: A run over a document several times the context window, a fact list written beforehand, and the recall score of the output against it.
RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16
12design a review gate that catches what the doer cannot see
Proof: A gate in real use, a named error class it exists to catch, and one instance it caught that the author had already reviewed and passed.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7Prompt Engineering
12design a scheme for acting together when the channel is gone
Proof: The pre-agreed scheme, a run where communication was cut, and whether both parties ended up where the scheme said they would.
Field Opsec
12design a system you can afford to keep running
Proof: The cost curve before and after a change you made for that reason, at two usage levels, and the feature you removed or capped to get it.
Automate Your Email: No Code AI Automation · next Sep 4Context Engineering · next Sep 16Keep It Running
12design an evaluation regime that decides model changes
Proof: A regime applied to at least two shipped changes, one of which it blocked, plus a written case for retiring a benchmark it had been using.
Prompt Engineering
12design an interaction protocol for responsible use
Proof: The written protocol, its implementation, and a log of at least one real interaction where it refused or escalated instead of answering.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Custom GPTsUsing Large Language Models
construct
rung 12 · Systematic · 1 to learn here
Build an account that predicts, and then test the prediction.
12construct a predictive account of a models behaviour
Proof: Written predictions made before running held-out inputs, the hit rate against them, and the same account re-tested after a model version change with what it got wrong the second time.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25Using Large Language Models
synthesise
rung 13 · Metasystematic · 5 to learn here
Compose a new mechanism out of parts that were not built to fit.
13synthesise a memory hierarchy for an agent
Proof: The tiers with the rule that moves an item between them, and a transcript long enough that something was demoted, showing the agent still answered.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt Engineering
13synthesise a metalanguage for a problem domain
Proof: The notation's grammar, a work produced in it that exceeds the context window, and a consistency check a reader runs to catch contradictions.
Prompt EngineeringUsing Large Language Models
13synthesise a retrieval over relationships not just similarity
Proof: A question your vector retriever answers wrongly, the graph you built, and the traversal that answers it correctly.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17
13synthesise a self extending agent behind a review gate
Proof: A diff the agent authored to its own prompt or toolset, the benchmark run that accepted it, and a logged rejection with the reason recorded.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17Intro to Agents · next Sep 15Prompt Engineering
13synthesise an agent that carries notes across its own runs
Proof: Paired runs of the same multi-step task with the note store kept and cleared, where the cleared run repeats a step the noted run skips, plus the note text the agent wrote and the later turn that cites it.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Prompt Engineering
reconcile
rung 13 · Metasystematic · 4 to learn here
Hold two working things that contradict, and merge them without averaging.
13reconcile a failing retrieval by reranking and rewriting
Proof: A set of questions the first-pass retriever answered wrongly, the reranked or rewritten run, and the before-and-after scores on the same set.
Advanced Retrieval Augmented GenerationContext Engineering · next Sep 16
13reconcile a working set with the context window it must fit
Proof: A packing scheme with the token budget per part, a run where the input exceeded the window, and what the scheme dropped rather than overflowing.
Context Engineering · next Sep 16Prompt EngineeringUsing Large Language Models
13reconcile community ownership with somebody having to maintain it
Proof: Infrastructure still running after the person who built it stopped, a written maintenance agreement, and one handover that actually happened.
Solarpunk Automation
13reconcile what you built with what you can maintain alone
Proof: A month you were away with the system still serving users, the runbook somebody else used, and the thing you deliberately shut off because you could not keep it alive.
Agentic SDLC · next Sep 7Keep It Running
arbitrate
rung 13 · Metasystematic · 3 to learn here
Choose between competing designs and name what would reverse you.
13arbitrate between the measure a system optimises and the goal
Proof: The measure, the outcome it stands in for, and a concrete behaviour that scores well on the first while failing the second.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
13arbitrate which internal feature drives a models behaviour
Proof: The behaviour, the feature you identified, and a pair of runs where acting on that feature changed the behaviour and nothing else you were watching.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
13select among agent architectures
Proof: A written comparison of at least two architectures on the same workload, with the measurements that decided it and the conditions that would reverse the decision.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17RAG & Memory · next Oct 9Context Engineering · next Sep 16Intro to Agents · next Sep 15
govern
rung 13 · Metasystematic · 1 to learn here
Set the rule that decides who knows what, and show it changed the outcome.
13govern a swarm by information hierarchy
Proof: A written information policy, a transcript where a mediator withholds, and paired runs with and without the hierarchy scored on the same goal.
Production Agent Engineering · next Sep 17AI Alignment · next Sep 25Context Engineering · next Sep 16Critical Thinking and Creativity with AI · next Sep 11Intro to Agents · next Sep 15Prompt Engineering
select-among
rung 13 · Metasystematic · 1 to learn here
A verb class in the school’s capability ontology.
13select among operating boundaries for inputs a system was not built for
Proof: Scores across a deliberate shift in the inputs, the point at which they fall, and the operating boundary you wrote from it.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
originate
rung 14 · Paradigmatic · 1 to learn here
Replace the thing everything else stands on, without an outage.
14originate oversight that holds when the system outpaces the reviewer
Proof: The scheme, a run where output exceeded what a reviewer could read, and an error the scheme surfaced anyway.
AI Alignment · next Sep 25
Where to start
35 classes carry Think, and each one stands alone
The ones with a session already on the calendar come first, soonest at the top.
Select a row to light up the part of the map above it covers — that is what you
would come out of it able to do. Every one of them can be taken on its own.
Class
Next session
You come out able to
On your own
Price
Aug 26
classify an incoming contact as genuine or pretext
Reference
$100
Aug 29
characterise how your program behaves on paths you did not plan for, and classify where ai can fill a shape and where it must not choose one, and 6 more
Companion
$200
Sep 4
design a system you can afford to keep running, and measure a delegations outcome against what was asked, and 2 more
Reference
$200
Sep 7
reconcile what you built with what you can maintain alone, and synthesise an agent that carries notes across its own runs, and 7 more
Companion
$500
Sep 11
govern a swarm by information hierarchy, and synthesise an agent that carries notes across its own runs, and 13 more
Companion
$100
Sep 12
characterise what a tool costs you beyond its price, and classify a licence by what it lets you do, and 2 more
Syllabus
$100
Sep 12
characterise what a tool costs you beyond its price, and characterise what one user costs you to serve, and 4 more
Syllabus
$100
Sep 14
measure whether an explanation changed what people did, and classify visitors into segments by observed behaviour, and 7 more
Guided app
$300
Sep 15
govern a swarm by information hierarchy, and select among agent architectures, and 3 more
Syllabus
$350
Sep 16
govern a swarm by information hierarchy, and reconcile a failing retrieval by reranking and rewriting, and 17 more
Guided app
$400
Sep 17
govern a swarm by information hierarchy, and select among agent architectures, and 6 more
Syllabus
$200
Sep 19
hold several audience models on one surface, and measure whether an explanation changed what people did, and 6 more
Guided app
$100
Sep 21
justify a hosting choice by cost per outcome, and classify models by fit for a workload
Live session
$350
Sep 25
originate oversight that holds when the system outpaces the reviewer, and arbitrate between the measure a system optimises and the goal, and 18 more
Syllabus
$300
Sep 30
produce a threat model for your own situation
Reference
$100
Oct 9
select among agent architectures, and synthesise a memory hierarchy for an agent, and 6 more
Live session
$400
Nov 25
classify an incoming contact as genuine or pretext, and produce a threat model for your own situation, and 1 more
Reference
$100
govern a swarm by information hierarchy, and reconcile a working set with the context window it must fit, and 27 more
Syllabus
reconcile a working set with the context window it must fit, and synthesise a metalanguage for a problem domain, and 8 more
Syllabus
measure the price a segment will pay before anyone has paid it, and verify a displaced cost against a second independent estimate, and 7 more
Guided app
justify a price when the buyer pushes back, and verify the reach you have supports the rate you set, and 6 more
Guided app
design a control for what an insider could do unseen, and verify an incident timeline against the evidence that remains, and 5 more
Live session
design a scheme for acting together when the channel is gone, and characterise what a publication reveals about its source, and 5 more
Live session
reconcile community ownership with somebody having to maintain it, and design a community information system that survives losing the internet, and 5 more
Reference
characterise how your program behaves on paths you did not plan for, and generalise a worked example into something you reuse, and 4 more
Companion
reconcile what you built with what you can maintain alone, and design a system you can afford to keep running, and 4 more
Live session
justify a safety case for a system that acts without you, and verify model written code against its specification, and 3 more
Reference
justify a safety case for a system that acts without you, and measure a models value alignment against a stated standard, and 3 more
Reference
characterise a models failure modes, and characterise how an ai assisted attack unfolded, and 2 more
Reference
characterise how a style works on a reader, and generalise a worked example into something you reuse, and 2 more
Companion
reconcile a failing retrieval by reranking and rewriting, and design a chunking strategy against measured retrieval, and 1 more
Syllabus
design an interaction protocol for responsible use, and verify a rubric against independent graders, and 1 more
Syllabus
falsify a physical sites access controls, and classify an incoming contact as genuine or pretext, and 1 more
Live session
generalise several sources into a position you can defend
Syllabus
produce a budget for work whose timeline you have observed
Live session
Find your class
17 of them have a session on the calendar right now, starting Aug 26.
“You come out able to” lists what the class carries on this philosophy, hardest first;
several of these classes carry more under Make, Own, Influence and Secure. “On your
own” is how far the class gets you with nobody in the room — a syllabus, a reference,
a workbook, a companion, or a fully guided app.
Rooms that run every week
Three recurring hours, on top of whatever class you take
They run every week alongside the classes: one pointed outward at the world, one
inward at the people in it, and one at how you work rather than at what you produce.
Led by Thomas
Research & Activism
The research hour, doubling as the weekly activism session. Whatever you
are trying to establish, you establish it here in front of other people —
which is a very different exercise from establishing it alone.
Where you practice
locate a claim in its primary source.
Led by Megs, with LaJoie · weekly
Mutual Aid Hour
Worksheet-driven, run alongside the campus agents. Activism is what you
do outward; mutual aid is how the community holds itself up while doing
it. Housing, food, emergencies, and the arithmetic underneath them.
Led by Lajoie · twice weekly
Neurodivergent Strategies
Twice a week, and where a lot of people start. Strategies for getting your
attention, your memory and your energy to cooperate with the work you are
actually trying to do, in a room of people working on the same problem.
It is aimed at you rather than at one outcome, which is why it runs
alongside everything else rather than inside one course.
All three run every week, alongside the classes.
What you get, and for how much
One class, every recording, or every live session
The four deepest archives on their own are
Prompt Engineering (63.5 h), Intro to Agents (56.7 h), Context Engineering (32.7 h) and Agentic SDLC (26.5 h) —
179.4 hours between the four of them,
recorded, to work through at whatever hour you are actually awake. Which of them you
can open depends on which of these three you pick.
A single class
Its own price · once
That one class, live, with its exercises and whatever it ships alongside them.
Pay what you can.
10 of these classes ship a companion or a fully guided app you work
through without waiting for a session: the Critical Thinking Companion, for marking
the devices a piece of writing is using on you; the Context Workbench, for costing a
document against a model's context window; the Campaign Workbench, for turning a
dataset into something people act on; the Agentic SDLC companion and its complexity
ladder; and the Interactive Fiction workbook, which holds a branching story together
while you write it. They come with the class rather than separately, and there are
855 written exercises across these classes to put them to work on.
If you would rather have a sequence
All 9 paths pick this up along the way
A philosophy is not a route — it is one verb, taught wherever it turns up. If you
would rather be handed the classes in order, these are the nine, each named by who
you come out as.
You want a certificate, not a proof. Every capability on this page states what
you have to show. Read three of them. If “a benchmark file with graded cases, a run
showing a non-zero failure rate, and a written account of which failures are the
prompt's fault” sounds like homework rather than the point, this is the wrong
philosophy.
You want to be told the answer. Everything above the floor is you doing the
establishing. Nobody hands you the conclusion and nobody grades on agreement.
You want to work it out privately and never say it out loud. A hostile reading
needs a second reader; a rubric needs a second grader; the research hour is people in
a room taking your claim apart with you. If that sounds like an imposition rather than
the fastest way to be right, start somewhere quieter.
You are trying to ship, not to check.Make is the
philosophy for building the thing. Think is the one for working out whether it holds.
Most people need both, and it is worth knowing which one you are short of.
Start at the floor
Locate one claim in its primary source
That is order 8, the bottom row of the map, and the first thing Think
asks of anybody: take a claim you half-believe, find where it actually came from, and
name the section it is on. Then pick the row in the table that has the rest of what you
want to be able to do.