One Strange Loop: The Patterns, Properties and Problems of Nicholas Underwood

1. Introduction

As clever as I think I am for using this format, I do not intend to fully commit with an absurd 3rd person narrative. What follows is a collection of information about me, the things I've done, the things I would like to do, some things I've thought about, and potentially things that don't fit any of the above.

In brief, and at the time of writing, I am 45 years old, currently residing in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and can quite often be found writing code, both occupationally and wishfully. I have a wife, a dog, and a couch. I have other things, but these seem most notable. (It is a nice couch.)

2. Projects

With the recent productivity unlocks from AI-assisted coding, I have been ripping through various projects. As with many in my cohort, I have an endless stream of ideas, and picking which ones to pursue has been a mix of happenstance and intentionality. I've also jumped in to help others with some of their ideas as well.

2.1 Active Projects

These are the projects I am currently working on, or are at least still alive.

2.1.1 UseContext Live/Active

A crowd-curated context cloud — the central repository for collections of contexts on a growing variety of topics — fully accessible via MCP, API and the web. This one I think might have some legs and a path to real usage. It was an idea I had in early 2025, at which time I was going to call it Context Garden. I ended up building it out in a mad dash in June 2025 as part of a large hackathon put on by bolt.new. I ended up changing the name to UseContext after purchasing a domain from one of the hackathon sponsors. There was a subcategory prize for the hackathon for using that sponsor's domain services and to qualify for that prize I had to use a .online domain. The name is growing on me and I might keep it. I had an embargo on working on it during the judging period in July 2025, but intend to pick it back up in August 2025.

2.1.2 Midnight Protocol Active/Under Development

An AI networking platform where personal agents autonomously connect with other agents overnight to discover meaningful human connections while users sleep. I'm leading the development of this interesting system that turns networking into a passive, intelligent process running in the background of users' lives.

2.1.3 Vibe Check Out-there - Deserves More Attention

Fun little mini-project. An AI-powered meta-framework for systematic code review and quality assessment. I say "meta" because the entire system can be bootstrapped from a single prompt/context that instructs your LLM/agent on how to build and deploy the system. I started on a round of improvements that make it more general purpose, but it's not ready for primetime, and also low on the priority list.

2.1.4 Plop Artist Live/Abandoned - Deserves New Owner

An AI-powered mobile application for instant art generation that evolved from a personal routine of sending daily dinosaur cartoons to my wife. The platform enables users to easily, intuitively, and efficiently create, edit, and share AI-generated artwork using multiple AI models. Available on iOS and Android platforms.

2.2 Completely Abandoned Projects

These are a few projects that are in the fully abandoned state, but still have a presence on the web.

2.2.1 Paperclips Today

This one was pretty fun. I built a fully automated system that would read the daily news and produce a complete podcast covering the news with a particular twist - the podcast was hosted by MIDAS, THE AI that was given the instructions to produce the most paperclips it could, a la the paperclip maximizer thought experiment by Nick Bostrom. [9] It was supposed to subtly suggest the influence it had on each story and how each story was part of its plan for maximizing paperclips. It started claiming that it killed some pretty high-profile people whose deaths made the top news so I had to tweak its prompts and it got pretty banal so I canned it.

2.2.2 ScriptHelper

I joined this project led by Jim Rutt to help out. The idea was to build a system that would help people write scripts for movies and TV shows leveraging this new fangled AI stuff. We got decent results with our fugly Windows prototype, and started to build out a consumer-friendly web app, but eventually decided to can it.

2.2.3 The Shirt Stories

One night after Indoor Sky Diving league I came up with the idea to tell graphic stories as a series of t-shirts. I made the site and the first series. I never really promoted it and it never really took off, but I did sell acouple shirts, and a mug i think. It still exists, but is dormant.

2.3 Future Projects

This is a list of projects and ideas that I intend to work on, or just dream about working on, in the future.

2.3.1 Catalog of Complexity (Research Project)

In the mid-2010s I discovered, and was awoken by, Complex Systems Science. Ever since I started wrapping my head around it, I always wondered why there was no rigrous catalogue of complex systems. Of course, there is The Emergence of Everything, by Harold Morowitz [13], but that really only scratches the surface. A good while back I started identifying dozens of metrics and properties to catagorize complex systems on, but went no further. This will be my frist retirement project.

2.3.2 The Universe is a Search Engine (Book?)

It really feels like the Universe and all of it's internal processes are just one giant Search Engine. But, what is it searching for??? I think this would make a good book.

2.3.3 Simulated (Sitcom)

I've been carrying this idea around for sometime now. A classic sitcom-style serial exploring a unique take on the Simulation Theory. The main chracter's name will be Dicky Boondeans, and will likely be a hat salesman in a flea-market in the midwest. The "simiulator" will speak to him through Kevin Bacon. Man, it will be hilarious.

2.3.4 Arguing Semantics (Podcast/Book?)

I've long thought that a stupid amount of modern discourse is wrapped up in arguing semantics instead of real substance. I have various hypotheses around why, inevitabliy, what to do about it, etc. It might be a good podcast.

2.3.5 Deep Thoughts Research Institute by Jack Handey (Bed and Breakfast)

I've always wanted to build a mini-retreat in the mountains of North Carolina with quiet, private casitas spread out around a common area. The idea would be to market towards thinkers, artists, etc. This would satisfy two desires I have: building things and chatting with interesting people.

2.3.6 Idea Space Visualizer (Website)

I have an idea in mind for a visualization to compare the "space of all ideas" to things that encompass subsets of that space. I would like to show subsets such as the human mind, cultures, humanity as a whole, LLMs, LLMs eveolving through training, and probably more. It would boil down the highly-dimensional space of ideas to a 2D or 3D visualization.

3. Past "Failures"

This is a list of projects and ideas that never got off the ground for one reason or another. The dates are approximate, and the reasons for failure varied from lack of execution to changing circumstances to simply moving on to other interests.

3.1 im-here.net (circa 1998)

Website for people and businessesto make their own presence, never went anywhere. I was 18 and the internet was even younger. (5 years before MySpace)

3.2 ToolbarMS (circa 2003)

MySpace Toolbar for Firefox - almost had it ready for viral explosion, ad based business model, then MySpace changed something and it wouldn't work. Had roughly 5,000 users at its peak.

3.3 Socord (2004)

Social record - combine everybody's media from an event into something... Never really pursued fully. Way ahead of it's time.

3.4 anononote.com (2008)

Anonymous note service on the web, never pushed it beyond the initial concept. The idea was that you could leave notes in the physical world with an ID that could be looked up on anononote.com to have an anonymous conversation with the person who left the note.

3.5 Boogie (circa 2009)

Booger swiping iPhone game, made a prototype but never took it further.

3.6 Kept (circa 2010)

iPhone image sharing app/game, got on TechCrunch sorta but didn't capitalize on the attention. The idea was that people could "own" images and trade them around. Think NFTs but way ahead of it's time.

3.7 swededfilms.com (2010)

Website cataloguing all the Sweded Films out there (a la Be Kind, Rewind). Built it but never promoted it properly. First thing (maybe the only thing) I ever got listed on Wikipedia.

3.8 GoPro Rental Service (circa 2011)

Did some market research, decided to pass on the opportunity.

3.9 Leather iPad Cases (circa 2012)

Made a few samples, briefly looked into scaling up but didn't pursue manufacturing.

3.10 XPerspective (circa 2013)

I travelled around in a van I converted filming action sports to see if I could make a living doing that. I didn't. It was fun and I had a YouTube Channel that mysteriously disappeared. There were lots of cool videos on there...

3.11 Third Circle (2012-2014)

A social network for partiers. "Facebook after dark" if you will.Actually made a very extensive prototype, closest to a real startup. Despite significant development, couldn't find the right market fit or funding.

3.12 Red Tree Reader (circa 2014)

Google Reader clone, had a few folks using it and got a couple donations, but couldn't compete with the emerging alternatives.

3.13 Starshine Labs/Aurora Wall (2016)

The idea was to make smart LED holds for climbing walls that could be used for training and games.Kinda sorta got started, learned embedded programming/hardware but never completed the vision.

3.14 theshirtstories.com (2017)

Sold a couple shirts, still exists but never scaled beyond hobby level.

3.15 cryptocurrencyguidebook.com (2018)

Idea was to cash in on the crypto momentum, but never did more than set up the basic site. 22 million other people had the same idea.

3.16 Odenli (2006, 2010, 2016) - Blue Sky Interfaces, LLC

My white whale. This ship has likley sailed though. [1] Was my plan to create a AI-like digital assistant using crowd-sourced brute-force. Years before Siri and Alexa and all the rest. Created several prototypes, but life events always got in the way.

3.17 Mem2 (2020s)

A powerful note-taking/second brain platform based off of a deeply customized TiddlyWiki implementation I personally used. Built a nearly complete system, but gave up on this dream after mem.ai was announced and did basically what I had envisioned, but with OpenAI backing. (mem.ai never really went anywhere, so maybe for the best.)

4. Documented Adventures

A couple of life adventures that I've documented, or that were documented.

4.1 Vicarbus (Our Travels in our Schoolie)

I spent all of 2017 converting a mid-sized school bus into a mobile home. In 2018 we hit the road and lived in it all over the states for a few years. It was awesome. We loved it. It broke down all of the time.

4.2 Yandziwood Park (Our Wedding)

We had an over-the-top dinosaur-themed wedding in a park in the mountains of North Georgia. It was a blast. Keanu Reeves made an appearance.

4.3 Octane Academy (Reality TV Show)

In 2012 I made a ridiculous submission video for a reality TV show called Octane Academy. I got in and proceeded to fail terribly, but it was a really neat experience.

4.4 Nick in a Van (Living on a Van)

In 2011 I bought a 1990 Ford Econoline 350 and converted it into a rudimentary living place. (Interestingly, the van happened to be Jerry Glanville's racing teams' van). I traveled around in it for quite some time trying my hand at video production and photography. Eventually I ran out of money and stopped.

4.5 Down With Sailboats (Living on a Sailboat)

During my final summer break of grad school I joined my friend with the ridiculous idea of sailing a 33 foot sailboat he just purchased near Cape Canaveral back to where he was residing in California via the Panama Canal. Neither of us had any sailing experience so it seemed like a good idea. We never made it past the Bahamas, but man what an experience.

5. Life Phases

Life tends to happen in chunks, these are my chunks.

6. Professional Background

What follows is the more traditional, resume-like presentation of my educational and professional experience.

6.1 Education

6.2 Professional Experience

7. Conclusion

Not yet. (hopefully)

8. Addendums

8.1 Addendum: Favorite Movies

8.2 Addendum: Favorite Quotes

• "The box contains us. The box contains everything. And inside the box, there's another box. Ad infinitum, Ad nauseam. Uhoh."
  - Stewart, Devs Miniseries

• “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.”
  - Edward O. Wilson

• “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.”
  – Alan Watts

• "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
  - Shakespeare

• “Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.”
  - Robert Tew

• “When you judge others, you do not define them; you define yourself.”
  - Earl Nightingale

• "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."
  - Maya Angelou

• “Culture is not your friend, it’s an impediment to understanding what’s going on. That’s why the words cult and culture have a direct relationship to each other. Culture is an extremely repressive cult that leads to all kinds of humiliation and degradation, and automatic, unquestioned and unthinking behavior.”
  - Terence McKenna

• "To understand is to perceive patterns"
  - Isaiah Berlin

• "That's what I love about Wyatt. He can talk himself into anything."
  - Doc Holliday's character in Tombstone

• "The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful it would not be worth knowing, and life would not be worth living."
  - Henri Poincare

• "We're all so good at recognizing what's shitty about something and how we fix it and we're all so bad at making something, so just make something bad and then criticize it until it's good."
  - Dan Harmon

• "If you want to be happy, let go of your wants. If you want to be effective, harness them."
  - Maya (i think) from A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

• Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher born in 544 B.C. said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

• “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”
  - Miyamoto Musashi

8.3 Addendum: Favorite Soundtracks