AlloysAndAtoms is a website by me, Leonard Pahlke 👋. I enjoy writing, which is why this page exists. I'm interested in connecting the dots in tech between what’s possible and what’s real — bridging the gap between emerging ideas and current realities.
In software and digital systems, I believe there are some universal truths — about protocols, patterns, machines, some open source projects, and abstractions (etc.). These "truths" are constantly recombined, reshaped, and reinterpreted as new practices emerge and the ground shifts again. That’s what I call alloys and atoms. The question is how we like to combine things. I'm trying to uncover a core humanistic perspective — one that puts people at the center of technology.
This is a poem I like. Die Nordsee: Fragen von Heinrich Heine:
Am Meer, am wüsten, nächtlichen Meer
Steht ein JĂĽngling-Mann,
Die Brust voll Wehmut, das Haupt voll Zweifel,
Und mit dĂĽstern Lippen fragt er die Wogen [...]
Es murmeln die Wogen ihr ew’ges Gemurmel,
Es wehet der Wind, es fliehen die Wolken,
Es blinken die Sterne, gleichgĂĽltig und kalt,
Und ein Narr wartet auf Antwort.