Journal Entries
CHRONICLES OF CODE & WILDERNESS | 12 Entries
Notes from the field, research discoveries, and adventure stories. All in one place.
Stochastic Success
Success requires more than effort. Grind plus alignment plus luck determines outcomes.
Grind, Luck and Success
It was -40°F out. 30 mph winds scoured exposed skin. 100 miles into my great winter adventure, on pace, on plan, executing months of preparation. I tested gear in subzero conditions. I dialed in nutrition. I studied the course. Then my…
From the Sale Barn to the Server
A late summer day in the sale barn shows true community in shared purpose
Do I hear $1?
The air hung heavy before the rain. Thick with the scent of livestock and fresh saw dust swirling in the dim light filtering through the large tent covering the sale. Above, the sky pressed down, gray and cool, the kind of late summer day that promises rai…
Old School Navigation in a Digital World
At ten years old in the high desert southwest, my dad taught me to find myself using only a topo map and compass. Lessons that still guide me today.
Where are you?
Juniper and piñon perfumed the dry air. I stood by Dad’s truck, the warm hood radiating heat under my hands. He spread a topo map across the metal, its creases soft from years of use. Mesas rose like islands from a sage sea. Arroyos cut deep into …
The World on a Leash
Volunteering at the animal shelter and fostering dogs means more than walks and temporary homes. Opening doors, showing them the world, and helping them find their way home.
A Day Out
The website described him as a husky mix, high energy, needing a long walk. My partner and I pulled into the shelter parking lot, nervous and excited. They brought him out on a leash. Lean muscle, restless energy, ice-blue eyes scanning the horizon like he alrea…
Convergence in the Wild
Sedimentology offers a framework for AI alignment. Goal-like behavior emerges from simple local rules without any explicit objectives, teaching us to distinguish emergent structure from genuine goal-directed behavior.
Note: The floods in Nepal are a tragedy. Over 1,100 people died. More than 4,800 remain missing. Reports say it was either a massive rock fall or a glacier collapse, water and mud buried villages, and the land turned against the people. I have seen floods but I have never seen a…
Planning to Plan
How AI struggled to build a pacing strategy for a 50K ultra.
What could go wrong?
The hardest part of an ultra is knowing when to push, when to hold back, when the math stops mathing and instinct takes over. I learned this the hard way at mile 24 of a long training session, legs burning, clock ticking, watching my careful…
Flying in the Last Frontier
From $182 to $3,862: The economics that split Alaska in two.
The Two Alaskas You Fly To
I watched them both from the same window at Fairbanks International.
To my left, a Boeing 737 rolled toward the runway, its belly full of passengers bound for Seattle. One hundred eighty-nine souls, give or take, heading …
Scarcity Brain Slop Machines
Sometimes a jackpot, often just noise. AI as intermittent reinforcement engines.
The Slop Machines
The button clicks. The screen comes to life. I have no idea what is happening. Lights flash. Wild noise blares from speakers, lines of symbols flash by. A counter increments somewhere in the machine. Four rounds since the last payout, seven since…
Bear Country
Fear, respect, and the hard lessons of bear country.
Bear Country
I saw the cub first. A flicker of black fur through the alder, twenty yards ahead on the trail. Then another. Then the rustle of branches as something much larger moved below them. My breath caught from sheer electric thrill and a little bit of fear. I am …
The Bot Mess on Public Lands
Automated scripts are getting permits meant for real people. How to fix it.
Sold Out
The clock snaps to ten AM Eastern. My finger hovers. Refresh. The screen floods with green. Old growth soaring into the mist. Rivers running clear over smooth stone. A dozen permits. I click. Click again.
Sold out.
Five seconds. All of them gone.
…
Alignment in AI and Community Problem-Solving
How alignment problems in AI mirror the difficulties of aligning diverse communities.
Alignment in AI and Community Problem-Solving
I crouched over an outcrop in the high desert sunshine, my hammer tapping along what the regional map showed as a shazam line between the formations. But the rocks told a different story. A …
Kilobytes of Principle
Who I am, what I value, and why this site rejects the bloat of the modern web.
Kilobytes of Principle
I am Jesse Pisel. Geologist, AI researcher, adventurer. By day I coax machines into predicting what lies beneath our feet. By night I coax my legs up mountains. I build tools, share the code, and leave some mysteries unanswered.
…