Ben Reinhardt
@benjaminreinhardt.com
Dare mighty things! Journeyman wondersmith at Speculative Technologies. 🏴☠️🪐🐉
https://Benjaminreinhardt.com + https://spec.tech
https://Benjaminreinhardt.com + https://spec.tech
Applications for the 2026 cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator are now open!
If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious research idea that's beyond the scope of a startup or academic lab, you should apply!
spec.tech/brains
If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious research idea that's beyond the scope of a startup or academic lab, you should apply!
spec.tech/brains
Speculative Technologies
Speculative Technologies is a nonprofit resarch organization unlocking new materials and manufacturing technologies
spec.tech
October 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Applications for the 2026 cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator are now open!
If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious research idea that's beyond the scope of a startup or academic lab, you should apply!
spec.tech/brains
If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious research idea that's beyond the scope of a startup or academic lab, you should apply!
spec.tech/brains
We realized that (to our knowledge) nobody had unpacked where the money for “misfit research” — work that is a poor fit for academia, startups, or large companies — was coming from.
So I wrote a short but hopefully comprehensive overview.
blog.spec.tech/p/who-funds-...
So I wrote a short but hopefully comprehensive overview.
blog.spec.tech/p/who-funds-...
Who Funds Misfit Research?
A practical guide
blog.spec.tech
September 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
We realized that (to our knowledge) nobody had unpacked where the money for “misfit research” — work that is a poor fit for academia, startups, or large companies — was coming from.
So I wrote a short but hopefully comprehensive overview.
blog.spec.tech/p/who-funds-...
So I wrote a short but hopefully comprehensive overview.
blog.spec.tech/p/who-funds-...
It's funny how at meetings in DC I'm the whippersnapper and in SF I'm basically a walking corpse.
August 22, 2025 at 3:03 PM
It's funny how at meetings in DC I'm the whippersnapper and in SF I'm basically a walking corpse.
I do think AI could increase scientific productivity.
But so much of science isn't easily mechanized tasks like pipetting -- it's adjusting optics, troubleshooting custom equipment, and keeping critters from dying.
Here's a plan to capture and use this "tacit knowledge."
ifp.org/teaching-ai-...
But so much of science isn't easily mechanized tasks like pipetting -- it's adjusting optics, troubleshooting custom equipment, and keeping critters from dying.
Here's a plan to capture and use this "tacit knowledge."
ifp.org/teaching-ai-...
Teaching AI How Science Actually Works | IFP
How block-grant labs can generate the real-world data AI needs to do science
ifp.org
August 12, 2025 at 12:21 PM
I do think AI could increase scientific productivity.
But so much of science isn't easily mechanized tasks like pipetting -- it's adjusting optics, troubleshooting custom equipment, and keeping critters from dying.
Here's a plan to capture and use this "tacit knowledge."
ifp.org/teaching-ai-...
But so much of science isn't easily mechanized tasks like pipetting -- it's adjusting optics, troubleshooting custom equipment, and keeping critters from dying.
Here's a plan to capture and use this "tacit knowledge."
ifp.org/teaching-ai-...
Sometimes I wonder if the thing that makes startups possibly the most dynamic modern institution is just because it's the one place in today's world where it's normalized for young/undercredentialed people to be in charge of organizations and significant resources.
July 27, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Sometimes I wonder if the thing that makes startups possibly the most dynamic modern institution is just because it's the one place in today's world where it's normalized for young/undercredentialed people to be in charge of organizations and significant resources.
(Re)published a piece on the Spectech Blog about how efficiency warps the types of ideas that get support, which ones get killed too early, and which ideas people choose to pursue in the first place.
blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...
blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...
July 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
(Re)published a piece on the Spectech Blog about how efficiency warps the types of ideas that get support, which ones get killed too early, and which ideas people choose to pursue in the first place.
blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...
blog.spec.tech/p/efficiency...
For the historians out there --
There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling:
blog.spec.tech/p/some-open-...
There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling:
blog.spec.tech/p/some-open-...
Some open questions on the financial history of technology
A quest for those with the skill and daring...
blog.spec.tech
July 15, 2025 at 2:41 PM
For the historians out there --
There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling:
blog.spec.tech/p/some-open-...
There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling:
blog.spec.tech/p/some-open-...
For some reason I get a lot of joy out of the flight path from Helsinki to Tokyo
July 7, 2025 at 1:30 AM
For some reason I get a lot of joy out of the flight path from Helsinki to Tokyo
A lot of new thoughts about:
- State capacity
- Scale dependence for governments
- The difference between governments and people of a state
- American LARPing
That are probably too politically-charged and out of my lane for the internet.
- State capacity
- Scale dependence for governments
- The difference between governments and people of a state
- American LARPing
That are probably too politically-charged and out of my lane for the internet.
June 17, 2025 at 8:38 AM
A lot of new thoughts about:
- State capacity
- Scale dependence for governments
- The difference between governments and people of a state
- American LARPing
That are probably too politically-charged and out of my lane for the internet.
- State capacity
- Scale dependence for governments
- The difference between governments and people of a state
- American LARPing
That are probably too politically-charged and out of my lane for the internet.
Ok! Time to stop procrastinating.
You’ve done harder things than applying to AI Brains. Knock it out this weekend.
Applications close Monday June 16th!
You’ve done harder things than applying to AI Brains. Knock it out this weekend.
Applications close Monday June 16th!
Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
June 12, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Ok! Time to stop procrastinating.
You’ve done harder things than applying to AI Brains. Knock it out this weekend.
Applications close Monday June 16th!
You’ve done harder things than applying to AI Brains. Knock it out this weekend.
Applications close Monday June 16th!
Don't forget!
AI Brains Q&A session today at 1p ET.
You bring questions, we'll bring answers.
AI Brains Q&A session today at 1p ET.
You bring questions, we'll bring answers.
If you have questions, we have answers!
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
June 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Don't forget!
AI Brains Q&A session today at 1p ET.
You bring questions, we'll bring answers.
AI Brains Q&A session today at 1p ET.
You bring questions, we'll bring answers.
I’m noticing that there’s a funny motte-and-bailey attribute of most disciplines that I think are BS:
If done really really well, they’re super insightful and valuable; it’s just that the vast majority of ideas are garbage and practitioners are charlatans.
If done really really well, they’re super insightful and valuable; it’s just that the vast majority of ideas are garbage and practitioners are charlatans.
June 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I’m noticing that there’s a funny motte-and-bailey attribute of most disciplines that I think are BS:
If done really really well, they’re super insightful and valuable; it’s just that the vast majority of ideas are garbage and practitioners are charlatans.
If done really really well, they’re super insightful and valuable; it’s just that the vast majority of ideas are garbage and practitioners are charlatans.
This is today at 8p ET!
Q+A session about the impending AI cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator.
We'll talk about anything: how it works, who should apply, our theory of change, etc.
Q+A session about the impending AI cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator.
We'll talk about anything: how it works, who should apply, our theory of change, etc.
If you have questions, we have answers!
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
June 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
This is today at 8p ET!
Q+A session about the impending AI cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator.
We'll talk about anything: how it works, who should apply, our theory of change, etc.
Q+A session about the impending AI cohort of the Brains Research Accelerator.
We'll talk about anything: how it works, who should apply, our theory of change, etc.
This is the kind of not-incremental metascientific experiment I want to see more of!
We did something radical that shouldn’t feel radical: we stopped funding science built for journals so that we can reimagine scientific publishing. First @arcadiascience.com. Now at @asterainstitute.bsky.social.
June 3, 2025 at 12:32 PM
This is the kind of not-incremental metascientific experiment I want to see more of!
Testing gentle ways of reminding people in group chats to clean tracking information off of links
June 1, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Testing gentle ways of reminding people in group chats to clean tracking information off of links
I've always been a bit annoyed by the advice that goes "What would you do if you had a year to live? Why aren't you doing that now?"
Obv there are some things you shouldn't delay, but there are some things that take more than a year no matter how much effort you slam into them.
Obv there are some things you shouldn't delay, but there are some things that take more than a year no matter how much effort you slam into them.
May 28, 2025 at 12:43 PM
I've always been a bit annoyed by the advice that goes "What would you do if you had a year to live? Why aren't you doing that now?"
Obv there are some things you shouldn't delay, but there are some things that take more than a year no matter how much effort you slam into them.
Obv there are some things you shouldn't delay, but there are some things that take more than a year no matter how much effort you slam into them.
If you have questions, we have answers!
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
Applications are now open for a special cohort of the Brains Accelerator targeting ambitious AI research programs, with a special focus on security and governance capabilities!
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
spec.tech/ai-brains
1/
May 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM
If you have questions, we have answers!
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
We are doing two Q+A sessions about AI Brains in the coming weeks:
1. June 3 at 8p ET: lu.ma/eli2c08p
2. June 9 at 1p ET: lu.ma/vxx85ug5
Some proposals to replace metascience:
Epistotechnics
Technogenesisics
Epistodynamics
Epistotechnics
Technogenesisics
Epistodynamics
May 21, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Some proposals to replace metascience:
Epistotechnics
Technogenesisics
Epistodynamics
Epistotechnics
Technogenesisics
Epistodynamics
I finally had a chance to search for "wirecutter wirecutter"
May 21, 2025 at 1:10 AM
I finally had a chance to search for "wirecutter wirecutter"
It's funny that there are two complete opposite arguments for where to locate an ambitious thing:
"It should be where the good people want to be, otherwise you won't get good people"
"It should be in the middle of nowhere because then only the really committed people will join"
"It should be where the good people want to be, otherwise you won't get good people"
"It should be in the middle of nowhere because then only the really committed people will join"
May 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
It's funny that there are two complete opposite arguments for where to locate an ambitious thing:
"It should be where the good people want to be, otherwise you won't get good people"
"It should be in the middle of nowhere because then only the really committed people will join"
"It should be where the good people want to be, otherwise you won't get good people"
"It should be in the middle of nowhere because then only the really committed people will join"