From government school classrooms to university boardrooms. The same question everywhere: how can this work better for the person actually using it?
Things I built because the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Each started with a question, not a business plan. All are live and playable — no placeholders.
How I taught an AI to sound like a university that actually cares. Most AI-generated content sounds like it was written by robots trying to impress each other. This fixes that at the source.
Why schools are designed to kill the very thing they are supposed to nurture. Based on Cognitive Load Theory, Retrieval Practice, and the radical idea that children are not broken — the system is.
The modern school system is an industrial-era artifact optimized for batch processing, not learning. It treats children as defective adults who need to be standardized, when in fact they are expert learners whose instincts have been systematically suppressed.
The book maps three cognitive science principles — Cognitive Load Theory, Retrieval Practice, and Desirable Difficulty — onto the design flaws of mainstream education, then proposes structural alternatives drawn from tribal learning systems and self-directed inquiry.
Cognitive Load Theory: Working memory is severely limited. Most classrooms overload it with simultaneous demands (listen, write, understand, behave) and then blame the child for failing.
Retrieval Practice: Learning happens when you pull information out, not when you cram it in. Tests should be learning events, not punishment rituals.
Desirable Difficulty: The right level of struggle is where learning lives. Too easy = boredom. Too hard = shutdown. Schools rarely hit the sweet spot.
The Learning Instinct is currently in limited circulation. If you're interested in pedagogy, cognitive science, or education reform, reach out and I'll send you a copy.
Request CopyThree domains. One connecting thread: making complex things work for real people.
Papers that challenged assumptions, fellowships that changed perspectives.
Whether it's an AI content pipeline, a literacy program, or a brand voice that doesn't sound like everyone else's.