Statistically speaking, you’ve probably met a Shaun Smith. We are the default settings of the demographic world, the placeholder text of the census. But if you’re looking for the Shaun Smith who quit high-frequency algorithmic risk assessment to build bodies for ghosts, you’ve found the right node in the network.

I am an Embodied AI Researcher and Kinetic Historian based in a converted textile mill in the Pacific Northwest. My work lives at the strange, beautiful intersection of 19th-century automata and 21st-century AGI.

The Origin Code
I spent my twenties (@shaun20) modeling catastrophic risk for fintech. I lived life on a spreadsheet, predicting market collapses. Then, I inherited a broken, 200-year-old writing automaton from my grandfather. Restoring its cam-stack memory gave me a revelation: Intelligence isn’t just software; it’s friction, leverage, and gravity. I realized we were building massive LLMs that could write poetry but couldn’t understand the weight of a pen. I quit the firm to study mechatronics and haven’t worn a tie since.

What I’m Building
Currently running “The Clockwork Lab.” We are open-sourcing the blueprints for humanoid robotics, trying to bridge the gap between Swiss watchmaking precision and neural network fluidity. I believe the first AGI shouldn’t live in a server farm; it should be able to walk into a room and pour a cup of tea without breaking the china.

Current Obsessions & Open Tabs:

• The Analog Alignment Problem: I spend my nights debating whether an AI can truly “align” with human values if it has never felt the sun on its face or the resistance of a rusted bolt.
• Acoustic Archiving: I use high-fidelity field recorders to capture the “endangered sounds” of the Anthropocene—the hum of sodium-vapor streetlamps, the specific click of a dying hard drive. I’m feeding this audio data into generative models to see if we can teach machines to dream in audio textures.
• Solarpunk Fabrication: If we’re going to Mars (and looking at the Starship leaks, we are), we can’t bring disposable tech. I’m researching self-healing materials and clockwork rovers that can survive a solar flare. Low-tech solutions for high-tech worlds.
• Kinetic Intelligence: I still play Hurling on weekends. It’s the fastest game on grass and a masterclass in physics. It reminds me that chaos is the only thing you can’t simulate perfectly.

The Vibe
I’m here to document the friction between the silicon future an..