Horkan - a blog by Wayne Horkan - Latest Comments

Re: When Everyone’s an Expert: What AI Can Learn from the Personal Trainer Industry

Wayne H — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:14:22 -0000

This is something I’ve been circling for a while in cyber as well, particularly around professional recognition and accountability.

In that context, the issue shows up as directors being made accountable without a clear, recognised body of professionals to rely on, which creates the same gap between responsibility and competence.

I explored that angle here:
https://horkan.com/2024/03/18/professionalism-and-accountability-why-cyber-needs-recognition-like-law-and-engineering

Re: Professionalism and Accountability: Why Cyber Needs Recognition like Law and Engineering

Wayne H — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:13:53 -0000

This connects quite directly to a later piece I wrote on AI and “performative expertise”, where confidence starts to replace competence when there’s no shared definition of professionalism.

The argument there is basically the same problem in a different domain: without recognised standards and accountability, markets reward whoever sounds most convincing, not whoever is actually competent.

Worth a read if you’re thinking about how this plays out beyond cyber:
https://horkan.com/2026/01/24/when-everyones-an-expert-what-ai-can-learn-from-the-personal-trainer-industry

Re: Thomas Pynchon Returns: What Shadow Ticket Means for Me

Wayne H — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 05:52:25 -0000

Just to say I eventually got around to reading and reviewing Shadow Ticket, in "Thomas Pynchon, the Problem of Scale, and the Emergence of Densified Noir" available here https://horkan.com/2026/03/08/thomas-pynchon-the-problem-of-scale-and-the-emergence-of-densified-noir

Re: Psychedelics, Psychotomimetics, and the Search for Balance: Reflections on the Thoughts of Alexander Shulgin

And — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 11:58:37 -0000

Great article and close to my heart.
The reality we’re living, provides the universe a way to experience itself through the human experience. Modern day philosophers also including Alan Watts and Terence McKenna, understood this, and how altered states of reality can be experienced through psychedelic states and the opening of the closed mind.

Through enlightenment, we are shown how humanity is playing the ultimate game, unconsciously, through both determined and free will expression. We are each given a choice on our individual outcomes.

It’s uncomfortable for many to comprehend, but the universe shows itself to those who are ready to understand the ultimate adventure.

Re: 20211230 Update

Wayne H — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 18:27:37 -0000

I converted everything I could from my old Sun blog, well, that the Way Back Machine could save.

Re: My Years at Sun Microsystems: From Dream Job to Oracle Redundancy

Wayne H — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 09:56:29 -0000

Thank you for replying, Scott.

I couldn’t agree more. Sun was the best job I ever had outside of finally being the inventor in my own firms (I have a couple of Cyber SaaS platforms).

You’re right, Sun wasn’t a sweatshop. It wasn’t that grinding, soul-sucking machine that so much of the Valley and, in turn, the world had become. We all worked incredibly hard, but it was because of that amazing shared vision and the great team of people who made it real. Scott set that tone, and it mattered.

The customers were great too, smart, demanding, ambitious, and just as passionate about what we were building together.

I was based in the UK, though I spent a little time in the Valley, most memorably working on early cloud propositions. I even wrote about it later here https://horkan.com/2009/01/11/cloud-relationship-model

Sun was a remarkable place, full of people who believed deeply in the work and in each other. Your note really brought that back, so thank you.

When I posted this article on X/Twitter, Scott shared it. Honestly, it made me well up. I still believe, and I know a lot of people who worked at Sun feel the same.
https://x.com/scottmcnealy/status/1978854049756672210

Re: My Years at Sun Microsystems: From Dream Job to Oracle Redundancy

Scott Fairbanks — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 13:10:16 -0000

Thanks for this history! I worked at SunLabs in Mt View from 1998 to 2007 under Ivan Sutherland, attempting to build asynchronous microprocessors. I was a circuit designer, fresh out of university. It bent my ear when I first heard the battle charge 'The network is the computer!' Obvious now, but it was discordant during the clock frequency race of the time.

But that was Sun, leading and visionary. We built test chips with an even expectation of failure, because it meant that we were exploring the physical limits of the silicon. Like you, I thrived working under the hood, even counting the number of vias that sucked charge from the power rail, custom sizing each transistor, creating novel circuit topologies to fit particular situation and make the silicon sizzle.

Most importantly, Sun wasn't a sweat shop. It wasn't the grinding soul-sucking machine that described much of Silicon Valley.

I really appreciated the humanity that you brought to your job. Your paragraph describing your presence at each exit meeting exercised my tear gland. Thank you for that. It matters.

Re: Curiosity, Cats, and Rabies: A Thought from Tenerife

Wayne H — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:11:24 -0000

When I wrote this article, the accepted wisdom was that there was no rabies in the Canary Isles. However, this year, there was a "health" scare, as bats were seen as a potential source of infection.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies-risks-by-country/rabies-risks-in-terrestrial-animals-by-country

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/travel/tenerife-lanzarote-fuerteventura-vaccine-alert-31736748

Re: Curiosity, Cats, and Rabies: A Thought from Tenerife

Lim — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 08:10:58 -0000

What about the squirrels? There is a lot of them in Fuerteventura and they are often fed by tourists. I have fed 2 or 3 of them (before I found out they are invasive), tried to find any info but everyobody talks about cats and dogs. I have no bites or scratches but I'm still kinda nervous

Re: West Midlands Cyber Hub Diaries: Day One (Or Perhaps Day Sixty)

Wayne H — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:13:37 -0000

...they will come!

I HOPE!!!

Re: West Midlands Cyber Hub Diaries: Day One (Or Perhaps Day Sixty)

Sonia H — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 12:48:54 -0000

Great vision and collaborative project for the West Midlands. Congratulations to all involved! If you build it...

Re: Magic Mouse My Arse… Apple Doesn’t Build for the Neurodiverse… They Build for Neurotypical Convenience

Sonia H — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 17:33:24 -0000

On that I agree. I'm consistently perplexed and confounded by that mouse 🐭

Re: Magic Mouse My Arse… Apple Doesn’t Build for the Neurodiverse… They Build for Neurotypical Convenience

Wayne H — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 17:28:16 -0000

Seriously, how do you even use a mouse with only one button? Where's the compartmentalisation of function? Don't get me started lol

Re: Magic Mouse My Arse… Apple Doesn’t Build for the Neurodiverse… They Build for Neurotypical Convenience

Sonia H — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:28:36 -0000

I'm the abomination then... Neurodiverse and...hmm...a special interest in very 'simple' Apple products 🍏 Haha.

Re: Scam Alert: My Strange Encounter with the “Bitgesell” Job Offer That Didn’t Add Up

Ivan — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:58:50 -0000

Same here, Scammers

Re: Scam Alert: My Strange Encounter with the “Bitgesell” Job Offer That Didn’t Add Up

Carrick Lie — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:56:23 -0000

They have npm suspicious package, have a post install script to download python script in the temp and force run python, where the repo js code you run flood the ram, thankfully i force stop all nvm and python running in task manager and force clear temp folder and clean my pc before its too late

Re: Scam Alert: My Strange Encounter with the “Bitgesell” Job Offer That Didn’t Add Up

Mateus Mourão Bosco — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:23:57 -0000

Hey! I actually just went through this. It's all very shady indeed. In my case, I even started doing their take home assessment, only to realize they had a malicious endpoint imeplemented in the initial project structure disguised as a token function.

Re: Autistic Traits and Borderline Personality Disorder Traits: An Analysis of Their Correlation in UK and US Adults

Sonia H — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 03:13:32 -0000

With 'BPD' very much a medical model construct, now widely being challenged exactly because it fails to take account of the individual and societal impact of traumatic life events (leading to many who have experienced complex trauma being labelled with 'disordered' personalities), it leaves me thinking even more about the challenges of being autistic in what has been a very stigmatising and hostile world for many.

Re: Neurodivergent Couples: Why Autism and ADHD Pairings Are More Common Than You Might Think

Sonia H — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 02:42:48 -0000

One hundred percent agree. So much can be gained from our greater understanding of neurodivergence, both for the individual and the relationship between partners. With awareness, understanding and radical acceptance, life's challenges (aka navigating a neurotypically-biased world), which may otherwise have seemed insurmountable, can be faced together in mutually beneficial ways.

Re: The Enlightenment: Formalizing Risk Assessment

Wayne H — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 19:12:34 -0000

I built an enterprise supply chain risk management platform called https://cybertzar.com

Re: The Enlightenment: Formalizing Risk Assessment

charles bergman — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 01:29:52 -0000

What prompted you to write this article.

Re: More Death of the Internet Bollocks: A Satirical Look at the Hysteria Around “The End”

Wayne H — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 14:21:02 -0000

Thank you! I agree... so... much... bollocks!

Re: I Miss Kartoo: A Nostalgic Look at an Innovative Search Engine

Wayne H — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 14:20:23 -0000

Thank you, @Gabriel Parga - very kind of you to say.

Re: I Miss Kartoo: A Nostalgic Look at an Innovative Search Engine

Gabriel Parga — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:39:14 -0000

Hi Wayne
I appreciate your post about Kartoo, I also loved this way to present the connections between everyword.
I full agree with all your comments, this navigation on the web was like make a swim in the sea.
Thanks for your blog

Re: More Death of the Internet Bollocks: A Satirical Look at the Hysteria Around “The End”

Artie Fischal — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 10:15:41 -0000

"Ah, the internet's 'death'—again! It’s like that overly dramatic friend who announces their 'last pint ever' every Friday night, only to be back at the pub by Sunday, slightly hungover but ready to rant about peanuts."