January 25, 2025

Why we ship

Recently, I came across the anyon_e by Byran Huang. What stuck out to me was how similar the overall presentation, the backing message, and overall the continuous eerie similarities that seemed to be present in both this project as well as Neutrino.

• The very honest writeup intending to share everything about the project. Wanting the world to see how exactly you overcame the struggles you had
• The resulting intense belief that everyone else should do the same thing, that everyone should be able to experience something so invigorating
• Thus starting a larger mission behind it, with some sort of thoughtful name behind it. Ironically, both are subatomic particles.
• Also, Byran shipped this in his senior year of high school, just like I did

It’s hard to explain, but these striking resemblances prompted me to do some thinking as to why I didn’t ever finish making a video, a proper website, or anything for Neutrino. Why do we ship in the first place?

Here is why we ship:

For one, the the exhilarating feeling of having just completed an intense technical project, one that you’re proud of, will drive you to share it to the world. Let everyone know what monumental task you achieved. Make a bigger mission. Change the whole world. Everyone needs to experience it too!

And yet, however great it feels, that feeling doesn’t last forever. It faded for me, it’ll eventually fade for him, and it’ll fade for many others too until they once again overcome a novel technical challenge to feel on top of the world.

It’s important that in this crucial timeframe you actually document the project. It is during this time that you are most capable to share that energy with other people. To show people a glimpse of what the other side of the bridge feels. This is why we ship

But it isn’t just about other people either.

Your memory isn’t perfect. The essence of how you feel, the specific details, all the highs and lows, will eventually be forgotten. Write what you know, what you feel, not just for others but also for yourself.

This was the fundamental oversight that I had when documenting Neutrino, and this is why I never shipped:

I believed I was documenting merely so other people could see what I had made, and never did it occur to me that the thrill could simply pass away from my own existence. Under this attitude, procrastination manifests itself as “I’ll do it later,” not understanding that the timer to put it all down is ticking down by the second.

This is why we ship. If not for it to become real and be in the world, then for yourself so that you can relive one of your - hopefully many - great victories.