Field Notes [0126]

in AI, LLMs, Field Notes, Writing, Security

I’ve been flirting with the idea of building a dedicated local LLM-capable PC for a while now and have half-heartedly specced one up, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Moxie’s new venture, Confer, feels like it’ll scratch that privacy itch for a while longer. Reading up on it, it’s fascinating.

Once you log in using passkeys, which derive the encryption keys right on your device, your chats are processed within a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). It uses a Remote Attestation process to verify the authenticity of the code running on the server, ensuring that conversations remain invisible to anyone outside of the TEE, including Confer itself. As Moxie reminds us, the very nature of LLMs invites users to share personal thoughts; this is an elegant solution to keep those thoughts private.

Confer Architecture - showing key derivation, remote attestation, encrypted chat flow through TEE

Reads:

  • Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – I enjoyed this a lot, but it didn’t quite do for me what Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy did.

  • The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler - A nice palate cleanser after Permutation City. Well-researched and thoughtful.

Listens:

  • In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness by Clarice Jensen - Really haunting and beautiful cello work especially if you like Max Richter.

  • DJ Set by Mouseatouille - Local act. Fun and morose in equal measure.

Watches:

  • 28 Years Later: Bone Temple (2026), Nia DaCosta - Like the previous one, this sat with me for days. Very topical zombie movie about cults of personality.

  • Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Peter Weir - One of Australia’s most important contributions to cinema; up there, for me, with Wake in Fright.

“Fascism doesn’t just ‘pop up’ and then recede when it finds out no one’s into it.” - Dan Harmon