About

Claude Elwood Shannon published the article “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” in 1948. The paper introduced the term “bit”, information entropy and redundancy. Concepts that led to revolutionary changes in data storage and transmission. Today, these concepts are all cornerstones of information technology and the Internet. Without them, it’s hard to imagine any form of digital communication at all.

Shannon was a genius known as “the father of Information Theory”. He played in the same league as Einstein, Newton and Alan Turing. Meanwhile, he also had a playful side, which earned him the nickname “doctor of juggling”. Many know him for his valuable contributions to MIT, Bell Labs, and science in general. But his lesser-known inventions include a rocket-powered Frisbee. Yes, that’s a Frisbee powered by real rockets! He once made a flame-throwing trumpet, and he designed a “mind-reading” machine.

On his desk, one could find “The Ultimate Machine”. A variation of Marvin Minsky’s “Useless Machine”, it looked like a box with only a single switch on it. The design was simple, but enough to make people eager to press it. When they did, the box would open and a mechanical hand shot out to quickly press the toggle again to turn itself off.

“I’ve always pursued my interests without much regard for final value or value to the world,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve spent lots of time on totally useless things.”

Ultimate Machine is the name of this website and my company, as a tribute to Claude Shannon. I want everything I do to embody his level of passion, curiosity, creativity, grit, and humor. I want to contribute to the world in positive ways, but it’s never been what drives me.

I strive to spend more time on autotelic experiences than not, which has landed me in this situation.

What to Expect

On this website, I share my thoughts on whatever I find interesting, stuff I’ve made and some of my learnings. I’m a 34-year-old guy from Sweden. I’ve worked with Software Engineering, UX and Graphical Design for 10+ years. Primarily in the freelancing and start-up world, with all that entails. Nowadays I’m an Indie Hacker. I work for myself, in terms of time and ownership, building software products. I’m happy to share my entrepreneurial journey with anyone interested. It’s a way for me to build an audience while also improving my writing skills.

Human peak performance and health also interests me. For most of my adult life, I’ve always liked to challenge myself both mentally and physically. I read and digest a lot of information because I’m curious, it helps me relax and I’m always eager to learn new things. When I read I tend to step outside of my comfort zone a bit and go beyond Software and IT. Anything that’ll give me perspective on things will do. Lately, I’ve been learning about the mind, body, and longevity. But I’ve also read Anna Kendrick’s autobiography, books on quantum physics, and Siddhartha. So there’s no logic to my book choices.

I dabble in trading in the stock market a bit. The markets themselves are not that interesting to me. What intrigues me is the challenge of it (it’s very hard to make it as a trader), and that you can win with statistics. The immediate feedback makes it suitable for a quick and process-driven experience. I won’t write much about it, though. I’ve tried once before, but it only ended up with lots of people asking me for stock tips.

Open-Source

This website is Open-Source in its entirety. I’m open to pull requests of any size — small and large. If you find issues with my spelling or grammar, open an issue on GitHub and I’ll fix it. You can also submit a pull request and fix it yourself if you prefer. Same with UX or design bugs. I’m open to edits, translations and such but not new content. In the end, this is my personal website, you know!

Thanks for your interest!

Mickel.