The Cache Flush
A programmer's audio scrapbook, from Avdi Grimm. Short selected readings from books and papers at the intersection of code and ethics, sociology, psychology, politics, history, and systems thinking.
Avdi Grimm
Show overview
The Cache Flush has been publishing since 2019, and across the 4 years since has built a catalogue of 10 episodes. Releases follow an irregular cadence.
None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language Technology show.
The catalogue appears to be on hiatus or wound down — the most recent episode landed 3.1 years ago, with no new episodes in over a year. Published by Avdi Grimm.
From the publisher
A programmer's audio scrapbook, from Avdi Grimm. Short selected readings from books and papers at the intersection of code and ethics, sociology, psychology, politics, history, and systems thinking.
Latest Episodes
The Cache Flush Episode 13: The Grammar of Systems
Systems can be simple, complicated, complex, or chaotic… but even that model is too simple, because they can also be all of these at once! Notes:
The Cache Flush 012: Computer Power and Human Reason
In 1964, Joseph Weizenbaum created the famous "ELIZA" program, with which a human user could hold a simulated "therapy" session. The implications of the human reactions to ELIZA and later research inspired Weizenbaum to write one of the formative cautionary reflections on ethics in artificial intelligence. Today, as ChatGPT storms the world, this book is more relevant than ever.
The Cache Flush Episode 11: The Closed World
In this episode, selections from Chapter 2 of The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America. Notes Transcript This is the Cache Flush, a programmer’s audio scrapbook. This is episode 11, recorded Sunday, April 30th, 2023. Today I have some selections from chapter two of the Closed World Computers and […]
The Cache Flush Episode 010: Making Errors, Making Sense, Making Use
A semi-reboot of the show. I'll be reading selections from my "software humanities" library - books and papers at the intersection of code and history, psychology, politics, ethics, ecology, and systems thinking.
009 Sponsorship Specifications
Booknotes from Domain-Driven Design and Reactive Design Patterns, and some notes on mentorship vs sponsorship.
008 Reconstituted sophisticated opinions
Thoughts on strong opinions and terms for complexity; some booknotes from Reactive Design Patterns and Domain-Driven Design; notes from Jessica Kerr.
007 Silver duct tape factories
Booknotes on Domain Driven Design, and conversations with Jessica Kerr about silver bullets and why your own codebase always feels full of holes.
006 Persistence of Impostor Relationships
Musings on the over-use of the term “impostor syndrome”, what it means to persist an object, and some booknotes on “Understanding Systems”.
005 Jessica Kerr on the true barriers to change
A conversation I had with Jessica Kerr, who says that when it comes to change, technical debt is not our biggest obstacle.
004 Kids, Editors, Engineering
Musings on the meaning of software engineering, editor evolution, and balancing parenting with work.