Craig Mod
Writer, photographer and software maker based in Japan; publishes long-form essays, walking newsletters and self-made books at craigmod.com.
Craig Mod did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
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What they believe
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No other writer has combined precise, plain language with a poet's eye for nature as successfully as Annie Dillard did.
There are no other writers who have done this as successfully as Annie, whose particular angle on literature and nature was sui generis.
craigmod.comSaid 19 Sept 2026This on korrents
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AI-generated text lacks the human mind and knowability that make writing feel worth reading.
AI-generated text doesn't have this knowability. It has legibility (sometimes), of course, but the source is unknown, there is no "mind," and that's what gives us the ick.
craigmod.comSaid 10 Sept 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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As its own page →Hiding
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From one piece [RIDGELINE] Walking with Annie 2 beliefs · craigmod.com
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Their words
In this age of algorithmic recommendations and smooth-brained AI speak, triviality is everywhere. We are awash in load-bearing triviality. Our bulwark against triviality is to applaud someone improbable.
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Their words
There are no other writers who have done this as successfully as Annie, whose particular angle on literature and nature was sui generis.
11 September
10 September
From one piece [RODEN] Writing in 2026, Walking Europe 3 beliefs · craigmod.com
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Their words
The power of art is derived from the shared experience of being alive.
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Their words
A great demo, an inspiring demo, is the kind of demo that makes you want to learn assembly. It makes you want to invest in a complex challenge. And in doing so, shows you what the human mind is capable of.
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korrents.com
AI-generated text lacks the human mind and knowability that make writing feel worth reading.Their words
AI-generated text doesn't have this knowability. It has legibility (sometimes), of course, but the source is unknown, there is no "mind," and that's what gives us the ick.
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From one piece Software Bonkers 2 beliefs · craigmod.com
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korrents.com
Control over your own data, and over how you view and engage with it, will be non-negotiableTheir words
Why would we lock ourselves into someone else's proprietary binary? Control over our data, and control over how we view and engage with it, feels like it will be utterly non-negotiable going forward.
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Their words
I've always been opinionated about how software should work. Mainly, it should be fast. The bounds of it should be "knowable." The contract you have with it should be "sane" (i.e., you just own it).
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Usesrcmnd.app
Claude CodeTheir words
With Claude, I've built a host of software like this. Mostly small tools for myself — programs that instantly append copy buffers to text files (I keep a running file of nice things people write to me called notapieceofshit.txt) or quickly perform live currency conversions.
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Usesrcmnd.app
MemberfulTheir words
I don't use Patreon or Substack, I built my own platform atop Memberful.
5 February
4 February
23 January
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 13 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
No other writer has combined precise, plain language with a poet's eye for nature as successfully as Annie Dillard did.
There are no other writers who have done this as successfully as Annie, whose particular angle on literature and nature was sui generis.
[RIDGELINE] Walking with Annie Said 19 Sept 2026
In an era of algorithmic recommendations and AI-generated writing, triviality is everywhere, and admiring what's genuinely improbable is the best defense against it.
In this age of algorithmic recommendations and smooth-brained AI speak, triviality is everywhere. We are awash in load-bearing triviality. Our bulwark against triviality is to applaud someone improbable.
[RIDGELINE] Walking with Annie Said 19 Sept 2026
AI-generated text lacks the human mind and knowability that make writing feel worth reading.
AI-generated text doesn't have this knowability. It has legibility (sometimes), of course, but the source is unknown, there is no "mind," and that's what gives us the ick.
[RODEN] Writing in 2026, Walking Europe Said 10 Sept 2026
Show 10 more
A truly great piece of created work reveals what the human mind is capable of.
A great demo, an inspiring demo, is the kind of demo that makes you want to learn assembly. It makes you want to invest in a complex challenge. And in doing so, shows you what the human mind is capable of.
[RODEN] Writing in 2026, Walking Europe Said 10 Sept 2026
The power of art comes from the shared experience of being alive.
The power of art is derived from the shared experience of being alive.
[RODEN] Writing in 2026, Walking Europe Said 10 Sept 2026
Software should be fast, knowable, and owned by the person using it
I've always been opinionated about how software should work. Mainly, it should be fast. The bounds of it should be "knowable." The contract you have with it should be "sane" (i.e., you just own it).
Software Bonkers Said 1 Mar 2026
Control over your own data, and over how you view and engage with it, will be non-negotiable
Why would we lock ourselves into someone else's proprietary binary? Control over our data, and control over how we view and engage with it, feels like it will be utterly non-negotiable going forward.
Software Bonkers Said 1 Mar 2026
Electric bikes are worth their cost, flaws and all, because they bring the world nearer
Sure, electric bikes aren't cheap. But I believe they're a rare object to be well worth the cost. This in spite of their annoying flaws, their often bad software, their defective geometries. Because they open the world.
Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life Said 6 Sept 2022
Speed in software is probably the most valuable, least valued asset.
Speed in software is probably the most valuable, least valued asset. To me, speedy software is the difference between an application smoothly integrating into your life, and one called upon with great reluctance.
Fast Software, the Best Software Said 1 Jul 2019
Fast software is not always good software, but slow software is rarely able to rise to greatness, because not breaking flow is an axiom of great tools.
Fast software is not always good software, but slow software is rarely able to rise to greatness. Fast software gives the user a chance to “meld” with its toolset. That is, not break flow.
Fast Software, the Best Software Said 1 Jul 2019
Speed is a good proxy for engineering quality: software that slows down on simple tasks suggests engineers who are not obsessive about detail.
Speed and reliability are often intuited hand-in-hand. Speed can be a good proxy for general engineering quality. If an application slows down on simple tasks, then it can mean the engineers aren’t obsessive detail sticklers.
Fast Software, the Best Software Said 1 Jul 2019
Software should unbloat over time: the longer it is around, the more elegant it should become.
I love software that does this: Software that unbloats over time. This should be the goal of all software. The longer it’s around, the more elegant it should become. Smooth over like a river stone.
Fast Software, the Best Software Said 1 Jul 2019
The best touch interfaces are physical buttons; on a screen, to feel tactile is to move without latency.
Excellent touch interfaces feel tactile. The best “touch interfaces,” in my opinion, are actual buttons, things with physicality, haptics. But on a screen, to feel tactile is to move without latency.
Fast Software, the Best Software Said 1 Jul 2019
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 7 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses Memberful
I don't use Patreon or Substack, I built my own platform atop Memberful.
craigmod.com 1 Mar 2026
Uses Claude Code
With Claude, I've built a host of software like this. Mostly small tools for myself — programs that instantly append copy buffers to text files (I keep a running file of nice things people write to me called notapieceofshit.txt) or quickly perform live currency conversions.
craigmod.com 1 Mar 2026
Liked Moulton
I still have a custom orange Moulton that I've modified into a single-speed city bomber that goes remarkably fast while floating atop its simple suspension.
craigmod.com 6 Sept 2022
Show 4 more
Loved Brooks grips and saddle
I upgraded my BESV to an SRAM drivetrain and Paul brake levers and Klamper disc calipers, some MKS pedals, and a set of Brooks grips and saddle and it feels wonderful through and through.
craigmod.com 6 Sept 2022
Loved Klamper disc calipers
The Pauls feel as fresh today as the day I put them on, whereas the hydraulics have required much bikeshop tuning over the course of the last eighteen months.
craigmod.com 6 Sept 2022
Mixed on Vanmoof X3
The Vanmoof is much smarter — the brain and software within it are refined, the app good, the acceleration curves smooth — but the bike is all custom components, and they aren't the highest quality at that.
craigmod.com 6 Sept 2022
Mixed on BESV PSA1
Despite these flaws I put hundreds of kilometers on this thing in the first month. The front and rear suspension turn every road to glass, and are even fine for dirt trails; I find myself hunting down paths through parks I'd never otherwise think about.
craigmod.com 6 Sept 2022
Where they publish
Site craigmod.com His essays, newsletters and books.
Recent
- [RIDGELINE] A Notebook Fit for a Walk 19 Oct 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Oh, hello. I made a notebook: ⬤. You can buy it here. I didn’t mean to make a notebook but, you see, I had no choice. A couple of years ago the Japanese edition of Kissa by Kissa came out.…
- [RIDGELINE] Walking and Not Walking a Castle in Italy 12 Oct 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! It’s me, Craig Mod. I’m doing an event with David Marx in Tokyo this Friday night (17th) at Tiger Mountain, a small, hip bookshop. The in-person tix are all sold out, but it wi…
- [RIDGELINE] Walking Norway's Gudbrandsdalsleden Pilgrimage 28 Sept 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Norway has small beds. So small. The smallest beds I’ve ever seen. How can a country with such big people have such small beds? One night I slept inside what I think was a bench. I slept we…
Show 17 more
- [RIDGELINE] Walking with Annie 19 Sept 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — I never met Annie Dillard (archive), and I don’t feel as if I know her. She seems unknowable. Part of her attraction: an improbable cipher looking at the world and delighting in minutiae. S…
- [RODEN] Writing in 2026, Walking Europe 10 Sept 2026 Roden Readers — Hello from Europe. My body hasn’t been this happy in September in years. The coolness. The chill. The clouds. The 0 UV index. What is this crazy way of summer living? Where you’re not being b…
- [RIDGELINE] A Few London Strolls 8 Sept 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — For the last ten days I’ve been walking around London. Mostly in a little corner of it in the northeast part of the city. But can you even call a part a “corner” when the city e…
- [RIDGELINE] Walking The Length of Manhattan 21 Aug 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Hi, I’m Craig Mod and this is Ridgeline, a newsletter about walking — mostly in Japan, but this time in NYC. Elsewhere: The Things Become Other Things fine art reprint is now in stock. And…
- [RODEN] Blood Robots For You and You and You 13 Aug 2026 Roden Readers — OK, so I need to retract something from the previous Roden sent just a couple weeks back. The weather in Japan, in AUGUST, has been … SOMEWHAT SANE? A series of typhoons — some glancing off Japan, others…
- [ESSAYS] A Swarm of Blood Robots 12 Aug 2026 The strangest thing I’ve done with an LLM lately is genealogical. I’m adopted. A couple years ago I connected with my birth family. Using details they’ve provided and genetic testing, aided by a swarm…
- [RODEN] Oooohhh Summer, How Much Risk Is a Useful Amount of Risk? 4 Aug 2026 Roden Readers — There is sweat and then there is s-w-e-a-t and the out-of-doorsness in Japan is presently a natural machine that produces nothing but sweat and sweat and sweat and swelter. Dryness has been eradicated. F…
- [RIDGELINE] Kazunori Hamana in Apartamento 12 Jul 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Man, it was fun talking with Kazunori Hamana back in January. He’s lived a bizarre life, seemingly one without a roadmap, though I suspect his laid-back, subtly-goatee’d vibes belie a cunni…
- [RODEN] Go Knicks, A Better Goodreads, 'Cheap' Killer Films 30 Jun 2026 Roden Readers — Go Knicks! Or something like that. What a time to be in NYC. (So everyone tells me.) I watched the last game in the courtyard at a Jane Jacobs–designed co-op in the West Village surrounded by kids and cr…
- [RIDGELINE] Walking New York POPS 18 Jun 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Alex Wolfe walks. He walks weird walks and I like weird walks, so when Alex reached out to do a little walk (not a weird one, really, just a little one with a sprinkle of weird), I — of course —…
- [RIDGELINE] Speedwalking the Met 9 Jun 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Just a reminder: Doing a TBOT event at Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC tomorrow night (Wed the 10th of June, 2026). Hope to see you there if you’re local! And now, on to Ridgeline: I walk…
- [RIDGELINE] Walking the Brooklyn Bridge 1 Jun 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Thanks for all the “Yo!“s last week. It looks like transmissions from mailbot2k are getting through. (Let me know if you see any “rendering errors” in your email clients;…
- [RIDGELINE] The Inland Sea is Complicated 26 May 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — Hey there! This is Craig Mod broadcasting Ridgeline from my new home-cooked newsletter software, mailbot2000. An issue of Roden came out last week and was sent via mb2k, if you’re subbed to Roden…
- [RODEN] NYC, Asheville TBOT Event 22 May 2026 Roden Readers — Action items: Doing a book event / reading in Asheville, NC on June 10 — RSVP here! Thinking of a small reprint of TBOT Fine Art — sign up here to be notified This is being sent using my new home cooked…
- [RODEN] New Japan, NYC, Soderbergh Bonanza, Too Much Movement 2 May 2026 Roden Readers — Hello from Crazy Weather Town. Is it spring? Some days it feels like it might be, for a few milliseconds. And then other days, no. No spring for you. The floor heating was on this morning and that felt g…
- [ESSAYS] MacBook Neo and How the iPad Could Be 23 Apr 2026 The iPad should be radically (though obviously) touch-only. No keyboards. No pointers. No mice. No trackpads. Just your disgusting fingers flopping over the screen and mooshing into icons. It should not have any window’…
- [RIDGELINE] Walk and Talk — The Portuguese Coastal Camino 14 Apr 2026 Ridgeline subscribers — We were lucky. Maybe the luckiest group walking the Portuguese coastal Camino. (Certainly the second luckiest.) All the things conspired in our favor: The weather, the food, the quality of the pa…
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky craigmod.com Where he posts.
Recent
- Writing in 2026 and Claude Voice: 11 Sept 2026 craigmod.com
- I am legally obligated by my random house contract (not really) to inform you that digital TBOT is now available for $1.99: - Kindle: amzn.to/4xNhK5y - Bookshop: 9 Sept 2026 bookshop.org
- Had fun interviewing Kazunori Hamana for apartamento magazine earlier this year 13 Jul 2026 craigmod.com
Show 17 more
- Had such a fun time chatting with @debbiemillman.bsky.social on her fabulous pod about all the things including why my life has been one big attempt to get back at Razorfish for snubbing, 18-year-old idiot me: 6 Jul 2026 podcasts.apple.com
- I built a better members-only Goodreads: craigmod.com/roden/115/ (in continuing my Rebuilding All The Software jag) 6 Jul 2026
- Speedwalking the Met: 26 Jun 2026 craigmod.com
- I'm doing a reading in Asheville tomorrow night. We've already maxed out on RSVPs but you can still attend; hope to see you there: 9 Jun 2026 malaprops.com
- I'm doing a book event on June 10 at Malaprop's in Asheville, NC — come! say hi! ask questions! 26 May 2026 malaprops.com
- A few notes on the last couple weeks in NYC: 22 May 2026 craigmod.com
- TBOT in ebook form is $1.99 again (for a limited time!): kindle: amzn.to/4cBzZkU bookshop: 23 Apr 2026 bookshop.org
- Went for a 130km walk in Portugal the other day: 17 Apr 2026 craigmod.com
- Building software in 2026 — insanely, improbably, we've all been given the equivalent of a nuclear reactor for $200/mo; it's wild that technology like Claude Code is so evenly distributed, so quickly: 15 Mar 2026 craigmod.com
- there seems to be one fine art edition of TBOT left in the shop; I believe this is truly the last copy of this edition: 5 Feb 2026 shop.specialprojects.jp
- Thank you! ❤️ 4 Feb 2026
- tonight's TBOT event with motoyuki shibata was sold out, but I added a few more ticket spots; 19:30 @ dandelion chocolate Kuramae: 23 Jan 2026 tbot.peatix.com
- TBOT Tokyo Event, one week from today (a few tix left) (and please use the Student Tickets if price is an issue!!): 16 Jan 2026 tbot.peatix.com
- Two weeks until my TBOT event with Motoyuki Shibata — about 25 tickets left (out of 80): 9 Jan 2026 tbot.peatix.com
- Some additional notes on my 2026 New York Times 52-Places to Go pick: Nagasaki 9 Jan 2026 craigmod.com
- Having a TBOT book event in Tokyo: "THINGS BECOME HOT CHOCOLATE" January 23 @ Dandelion Chocolate in Kuramae, in conversation with translator Motoyuki Shibata 27 Dec 2025 tbot.peatix.com
- "There’s a ruthlessness that’s taken hold across all cultural making. Everything turned into a casino, 'traps' galore. Billions as the only goal. Leave “nothing on the table.” Epicurean maximizing. That sort of thing. AI now turning solid ground liquid for the next decade." 29 Nov 2025 craigmod.com
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.