Welcome to The Computist Journal - 2026 Update
A short intro to this blog and what you can find here.
Welcome, dear reader!
If you’re new over here, this post will get you set up and oriented on what you can expect to find in this blog/newsletter. And if you’re a seasoned reader of The Computist Journal, this post will explain you what’s new or different for 2026.
I am Alejandro, a computer science professor, AI researcher, and a firm believer that technology is neither magic, nor good or bad, but a language we can all learn to speak and tool we have both the power and the responsibility to use for our own flourishing.
I call this position techno-pragmatism, and it informs everything I write about in this blog.
In 2025 my primary focus was the mostly harmless nature of modern AI. In 2026 I’m shifting gears and expanding my interests to cover a wider range of computer science topics, including AI, but not limited to it.
Here’s how I plan to do it.
Writing in Public
Most of the long-form content you see here in 2026 will serve a dual purpose: it will be a full featured standalone post, and it will eventually become a chapter in one of my upcoming books. I am building a public and free library of computational knowledge, and I am inviting you to watch the gears turn in real-time.
In 2025 I finished the first draft of Mostly Harmless AI, and as it goes through several editing and revision phases, I will turn my focus for a while to core topics in computational thinking like algorithm design and the theory of computation—although AI will remain a main theme in the upcoming months as well, how wouldn’t it!
To make the content as accessible as possible, I am simplifying the journal into three distinct tracks (or sections):
Educational Articles: Long-form, weekly or biweekly deep dives into Computer Science theory, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, and the Philosophy of Computation.
Essays: Personal, opinionated pieces on the role of science, the future of education, parenting in a digital age, and ethics. These appear whenever I feel I have something interesting or important to say.
News: Short, informational updates on my writing milestones, new software projects, and the “behind-the-scenes” of the Computist universe.
The 2026 Roadmap
My research and writing in 2026 will focus on three major topics:
Foundations of Computer Science: The duality of languages and machines; which is to say the story behind some of the most important scientific and technological breakthroughs of the last century.
Algorithm Design: The art and science of making computers do our bidding, together with the deep understanding necessary to solve some of the most complex problems.
Artificial Intelligence: Moving beyond the hype to understand the actual mechanics of neural networks, LLMs, chatbots, and the limits of what is achievable with synthetic intelligence.
The Schedule
I aim to maintain a rhythm that allows me to output quality articles regularly:
6+ Educational Posts per month (roughly 1.5 per week), each month focusing on one theme to maintain some short-term cohesion, but varying themes across month.
1 or 2 Personal Essays per month, whenever I feel there’s something worthy to say about something.
2 to 3 Informational News posts per week to keep you in the loop about my open source projects and books.
Supporting The Computist Journal
All my articles, books, and educational material, and most of the code I write, are and forever will be free—as in free beer and free speech. There no subscriptions, no strings attached, you can read it all online without any compromise. I am a product of excellent free education, and this is my way to pay it forward.
However, if you find value in my work and want to support the hundreds of hours that go into research and typesetting, there are several ways to do it.
Tier Zero: The Reader
The simplest and most valuable way to support my work is just by reading, commenting, and sharing whatever you find interesting here. At the end of 2025 there 6,800 or so of you, and that is far beyond the number of people I ever believed could be interested in reading my work.
Please keep doing that!
Tier One: The Student
Next level is grabbing some or all of my in-progress books. You can get each one individually, but for the price of a single standard technical textbook, you can purchase The Computist Compendium.
This is a lifetime bundle of beautifully typeset PDF and ePUB copies of all my current and future books, featuring enhanced visuals and exclusive complementary content. It is the easiest way to own a part of the soul of this project.
Tier Two: The Supporter
If you want to provide a regular support, next level is becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack. Besides my eternal gratitude, this gives you a couple of nice perks:
Early Access: All educational posts are published for you one week before the general public.
Prioritized Attention: You can join a private Discord server where I give technical advice on whatever topics we discuss over here.
100% Discount: You receive a code for a total discount on all my digital products on Gumroad, including the Compendium.
Tier Three: The Founder
For those who want to give the maximum level of support, I offer you the Founding Member tier. This is a one-time contribution that grants you all previous perks, plus access to The Codex: my private Obsidian Vault where all my thinking and technical writing happens.
The Codex includes all my raw notes, early drafts, background research, LaTeX sources, and everything that didn’t make the final cut. It is an uncensored, behind-the-camera view of my entire creative and scientific process—including unfinished work that may never see the light of day elsewhere.
Plus, if you accept, I’ll make a special mention of you in the acknowledgement section of all my books!
Join the Journey
Whatever your interests, I am grateful you are here. Let 2026 be a wonderful year for you! I hope I can add some value to it with a bit of free knowledge.
See you in the next post!
excited about this
Blog posts that become book chapters - such a smart setup. You get to think out loud AND build toward something bigger at the same time. Looking forward to the 2026 direction!