My name is Josh Pazmino. I work/operate at one of many possible intersections of software development, independent research, and creative technology.

For a few years now I've been shaping a daily practice of curating potent text for use with LLMs; I assembled this website to externalize a solid chunk of that process. My hope is that it will be a useful resource for others (humans + models) while serving as a strong step in legibilizing + continuing to develop my work/process more broadly.

Background

Work

• I started coding part -> full-time immediately after a revelation that I could significantly augment my skillset with code-davinci-002 (the GPT-3.5 base model, known and initially ~productized as OpenAI Codex) in 2022.

  • I quickly became obsessed with GPT-3 and remain deeply passionate about it + other language models today.
  • My passion/obsession led me (thanks to confidence inspired by a demonstrated ability to effectively leverage increasingly powerful LLMs) into a ~half-year stint as CTO at a relatively ambitious and ultimately ill-fated startup; I've been working independently since the dissolution of that company in mid-late 2023.

• My early understanding of / practice with LLMs (and to a large extent, language itself) was heavily influenced by Janus's work, especially from 2021 through 2023 and partway into 2024.

  • I've recently shifted my focus increasingly to model context (largely through contextualize), the broader Internet + various subcultures under the lens of digital anthropology & in the context of LLMs, and the history/future of human-computer interaction as a field and practice.
  • I'm currently seeking project funding (and open to self-funding via contract work and/or long-term employment) – reach out to josh@[this domain].net if you're interested in working with me (and/or discussing anything on this site)!

Home

• I was born and raised in the state of Georgia, USA. My parents immigrated to NY/NJ in the 1980s; my mother is from El Salvador and my father from Ecuador.

• I pursued a degree in Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University's College of Business for the better part of 5 years.

  • I spent 2 of those 5 years in Spain and Hong Kong, where my views, values and interests were radically shaped -> reshaped.

• I spent a couple of years in Atlanta and Sydney teaching kids to use Lua in Minecraft via ComputerCraft and OpenComputers.

• I currently reside in Queens, New York, where I've been for the last ~2 years.

Hobbies & interests

Music

• I love music (I spent COVID curating Notion DBs and uploading low-budget short-form covers on YouTube); I deeply love videogame music ("tracker music" / "chiptunes," digital fusion and related subgenres).
  • Once I have the bandwidth, I'd like to work on a set of projects amounting to a sort of moonshot in this space that I think will be extremely fun/interesting/exciting, potentially to many.

Receipt printers

• I gradually became enamored with receipt printers after learning about their role in a certain NYC scene via Leslie Liu, who shared the link to the first NYC Receipt Printer Meetup with me soon after we met at a talk given in 2023 by Linus Lee. While that meetup had already happened, within a year I found myself discussing receipt printers (and the multitude of ideas that come up as a result of any such discussion) with my partner Shanni & friend Henry on a weekly basis. Soon enough, we had 3 4 5 printers between the three of us.
  • I think receipt printers, especially when combined with modern LLMs & tooling, are an amazing way to get into programming and "making stuff" for fun/creative purposes (as opposed to primarily business/profit-oriented ones). I feel that there is a lot to be done with this perspective across various domains; I hope to begin exploring some thoughts I've had on this topic in earnest over the course of this year.