About me

My journey

I go by Pay and sign my work as Paynalton. My curiosity usually starts with a question: Why does it work this way? When a problem appears, I want to understand it, break it down, and find a way to solve it. The subject may change; the impulse is quite constant. Perhaps that's why I enjoy developing software so much: there's always another problem waiting. I started programming at twelve years old and have been self-taught. Technology is an important part of my life, but my questions also extend into philosophy, literature, history, and nature. I'm interested in what it means to be human, how we recognize intelligence, and how our tools shape what we can think and do. I write to explore those questions from different perspectives. Some take the form of essays; others need characters, conflicts, and imagined worlds. Working with artificial intelligence has expanded that exploration and led me to create tools to support it. I'm interested in preserving the human direction while learning to think with new interlocutors. I see philosophy as an ongoing process. In my journey, the study of nihilism can lead to pessimism, and the need to move beyond it can bring me closer to stoicism. I don't see it as an obligatory path for everyone, but rather as a personal way of navigating ideas, examining them, and continuing forward. I also find curiosity in everyday activities: repairing or building things, listening to music, reading, and playing video games. Humor accompanies me when I speak about serious problems. I like to learn without having to pretend I already know everything and to converse with people who allow me to see things from a perspective I hadn't considered.

How I work

I enjoy problems because they force me to understand something I still don't know. My process combines research, decisions tailored to available resources, and verification of the result. With people or agents, I seek to maintain clarity about what we are trying to solve.

Understand before choosing

I start by researching and understanding the technologies involved. I need to understand the problem deeply enough to distinguish a cause from its symptoms and to evaluate the consequences of a solution.

Investigate what already exists

I look for experiences from other people and review the solutions they applied. From there, I evaluate what can be reused and when it's necessary to design another response, considering the available resources and time.

Learning as part of the work

A new solution may require knowledge I do not yet have. Studying documentation and practicing are part of implementation. Learning matters when it helps me understand more clearly and make informed decisions.

Resolving roadblocks

With a team, I pay attention to what is preventing progress. Listening to someone explain the problem can help them find the answer on their own. At other times, a pause and some distance allow for a clearer return.

Keeping context

When I work with AI agents, I create intermediate documentation so they can reconstruct the context. This is especially important in long tasks, where decisions and their motivations must survive each interaction.

Implementing and verifying

After building the solution, I verify that the problem has been resolved. The delivery needs to be tested against the situation that motivated it and adjusted when tests or use show something different from what was expected.

Books that changed me

These are my reflections on books by other authors. They are not part of my works.

Atlas Shrugged

This reading made me think about the resignation with which we can accept the deterioration of our environment. In the question "Who is John Galt?" I found an echo of our "that’s just how it is." The speech by Francisco d’Anconia on money led me to develop my own distinction between money and capital. I understand the latter as the effort that contributes to the survival of humanity, even if it doesn't produce income. Creating knowledge, tools, or capabilities can also have value from that perspective.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

The idea of value tables helped me recognize that many rules, even those that are never written, have a history. My reading of rebellion changed: understanding a rule and subjecting it to judgment allows me to decide whether to keep it, discard it, or formulate another. This reflection interests me as part of the construction of judgment and of my own identity. It's not about ending thought, but about taking responsibility for continuing to examine it.

Embers

This book expanded my questions about behaviors we take for granted as inevitable. It led me to think about how recognizing a dynamic, taking distance, and seeking a conscious response can change our participation in it. It also transformed my understanding of friendship. In my reading, the desire for union with another person can take different paths: one of them involves intellectual affinity and a bond that evolves and matures. It's a personal reflection on intimacy and friendship that I continue to develop.

Ender's Game

The difficulty of understanding an intelligence radically different from our own was what most impacted me. Reading it made me question what it means to be human, what characteristics define our species, and how I fit into it as an individual. It also made me think about humanity's place in nature and the connections that bind us to it. These are questions that continue to shape my interest in artificial intelligence and in other ways of understanding the world.