Austrian born and Canadian by choice since the late 1980s, my journey has been defined by a lifetime spent at the intersection of faith, music, education, and technology. My early years as a musician instilled a love for creation; my subsequent exploration of technical systems revealed the mechanics through which that creation is preserved.
Alongside formal training in Web Design and CAD Technology, I spent years developing music education tools under the Little Composers brand, designed for children who possess a musical ear but have not yet reached the reading stage. Over time, it became evident that the digital machine values these children more as consumers than as students. This realization was a catalyst, prompting me to step back and recognize that the internet no longer functions as it once did.
Currently retired on the West Coast, I dedicate my time to the convergence of Local AI and knowledge sovereignty. My goal is to move beyond being a consumer in someone else's digital architecture and toward becoming an architect of my own space.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SOVEREIGNTY
The following describes the technical pillars of my offline-first existence. These choices are deliberate, selected to preserve ownership over my digital life and to maintain a workspace where privacy is an inherent property rather than a compromise.
Foundational Independence: I use a Proxmox server to host virtual machines for testing agentic AI and running OnionShare. This architecture provides the groundwork for decentralized workflows that operate independently of centralized gatekeepers.
Private Inference: By utilizing Ollama on my Mac, I run a local library of Large Language Models. These models query information from a personal repository of weights, ensuring that my inquiries are never harvested or contributed to external datasets.
Creative Autonomy: My primary workspace is a Linux KDE environment which serves as the hub for creative production including music composition with Ardour and a Genos Arranger alongside intellectual exploration through various open-source development environments.
The Exit Protocol
The Exit Protocol is my response. It is not a manifesto of anger but a working blueprint for cognitive sovereignty. It is the practice of reducing dependency on platforms that monetize presence and replacing them with tools under my own control.
My current environment reflects this choice:
- Local AI models hosted on my own hardware, avoiding vendors whose models log every query.
- Proxmox for infrastructure resilience, allowing me to roll back critical workloads in seconds.
- Tor and hidden services to maintain a presence that avoids tracking infrastructure and external gatekeepers.
- A primary workspace running KDE on Linux, hosting everything from music sequencing in Ardour to the development of Little Composers.
The result is a lack of compromise. No dashboards measuring my online value, just functional tools and silence when needed.
A Note on Autonomy
This is not about technical perfection or moral superiority. It is about autonomy. I believe you should be able to install a tool, read its code, examine logs, and revoke permissions with absolute certainty that your environment obeys you.
By automating the mechanical, I preserve space for the things that do not scale: face-to-face conversation, music composed from genuine emotion, and time with family where devices are simply off.
Why This Site Exists
These pages exist for those who feel stuck in the noise. Instead of vague theories, I offer practical paths and functional tools. I show what works in practice and let those who care figure out the rest.
If your interest lies with technical specifics, such as stack details or real-world Local AI setups, you will find them noted in the Reading Room.
You may contact me if you wish to discuss any part of this path, whether practical or philosophical.
I remain online only as long as it serves this aim: helping others regain their focus, and reminding myself why I stepped away in the first place.