LLMs are a kind of Élan Vital for agentic software.

· Bits and Bobs 4/13/26
  • LLMs are a kind of Élan Vital for agentic software.
    • The Élan Vital for biological cells arises, mechanically, from oxidation.
      • Confusingly, oxidation doesn't necessarily require oxygen.
    • Oxidation is explosively powerful… and explosively dangerous.
      • Literally, fire.
      • Oxidation by itself destroys things.
    • Cells figured out how to tame that explosive powerful and harness it with mitochondria to make ATP.
      • The cell membrane allows the potential to be kept separate and contained.
    • The result is cells, these small packages of possibility.
    • On their own, no cell is that impressive.
    • But cells in aggregate create a new kind of wonder material.
    • Every living thing on earth is built out of perhaps millions of these little cells of possibility, aligned just so.
    • When LLMs are tamed with the right substrate, it will create massive amounts of power.

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