The electric sheep farmer

I'm Oliver Eckel. By day, I help organizations navigate security and compliance at binarystate.io. By curiosity, I explore what AI means for how we work, think, and create.

I've been in tech for 25+ years. I've built ISPs in Ghana, ran security for a gambling company through a NASDAQ listing, and now help organizations deal with regulations like NIS2, DORA, and the EU AI Act. Through all of it, I've learned that the most interesting changes happen slowly - until they don't.

AI feels like one of those moments.

Not the hype. Not the "AGI in 6 months" predictions. But the quiet reality that LLMs have changed how I work in ways I wouldn't have predicted two years ago. I use AI for research, writing, coding, planning, and analysis. It's not replacing me - it's amplifying what I can do.

What this site is

This is my lab notebook. A place to:

• - Document what I'm learning about AI systems
• - Share experiments with LLMs, agents, and automation
• - Think through AI governance and regulation
• - Explore what "personal AI infrastructure" could look like

The name comes from Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" - the book that became Blade Runner. It asks what makes something alive, what makes something human, and whether the distinction matters.

Good questions for the age of AI.

How I think about AI

I'm neither a doomer nor a utopian. I think:

• - LLMs are useful tools, not magic or consciousness
• - Governance matters, but current frameworks are playing catch-up
• - The interesting stuff is in practical applications, not theoretical debates
• - Personal AI stacks will become as common as personal computers

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