for many, software is emblematic of everything wrong with the world. fleeting, constantly changing for the worse, chronically unstable, its throat crushed by the grip of capital, with many of its corporate figureheads showing disregard or outright hostility for the arts. for those of us lucky enough to be at the intersection of software and art, we have the unenviable task of hammering a square peg into an as-of-now round hole. we need to remain actively engaged with the intense technical background that makes physically accurate rendering, responsive cohesive user interfaces, and real-time systems all possible while also keeping enough space in the design for the humanity, the art, the unrefined chaotic essence of ourselves to leak in between the gears. in an economic system such as the current one, with the artery of the working class having burst open, it is in many ways harder than ever to set aside mental bandwidth and financial resources to pursue independent digital art. this is, in most cases, not a lucrative field and the parts of it that are churn through human beings like swans into an industrial meat grinder. our own mental real estate is also constantly under occupation from a slop-trough of algorithmic content being fed to us by the-worst-computer-system in the world: the modern smartphone. ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of which are locked down with proprietary software that not only addicts your weak ape brain but simultaneously allows the most soulless, wretched, disgusting “people” in the world to spy on your every love/recording/hate/interest/interaction/dislike/lust/photograph/moment. you do not have to choose to sacrifice art or science, creativity or logic, digital or analog. one won’t exist without the other, and for all intents and purposes right now is when creative people threading the needle between all of them are most needed. it will be difficult.

in spite of all of this, create.

-fin (2026-03-27)