I went to college with Eric and spent a lot of time working with him on projects while we were in school. He was a great developer who even then, like 15 years ago, was committing himself in so many ways to the open source community. Back then he was a big Drupal guy and had been doing free lance work in Drupal and made contributions to the Drupal ecosystem
He was a great man and fantastic developer that pushed Wordpress forwards, he pushed me forward as a peer when we were both trying to get out computer science degrees and I am glad to have known him. Rest in peace Eric
He was diagnosed end of March, told he had six months in May. Handled with incredible grace. RIP.
While the news isn’t great, not much changes for me personally. We’ll still show up and do the work as I’ve previously talked about, on the chance that we can prove the oncologists wrong. Outside of that, I’ll prioritize spending time with the kids, trying to handle as much as possible to make things as easy as possible for Sara after I die, and enjoying the days that I have left.
His last blog post was well written, to the point, and sobering. The friends website measuring his lines of code and pull requests is making me feel sick to my stomach. I feel reminded to reflect on how I would measure my own life.
The very first word on the memorial website is "Automattician". I may have an ego, but even I cannot fathom having such a large ego that I would make my memorial to someone else about me and their work on my project.
well people just need to look at the "head" to understand, but i doubt people will go that far, he has a away of sanitizing history. in any case, RIP to this man.
I think that's a symptom of Matt generating a website for "an Automattician". They had a working relationship. If I died today, my husband would remember my life as someone who laughed and cried, my work might think of me as someone more inquisitive and analytical.
His last blog entry was a tough read this morning as I sit at my desk for another day at the long day factory wondering if I should be doing more with the time I have because you just never know when it is up. RIP.
According to his blog his life was going along until it changed. I have experienced the same where the one phone call or appointment changes the trajectory of life without one's consent.
I am prepared when "The Man Comes Around". I would hope others think deeply about that coming day.
What part of "humans completely surrender genuine connection, automatically generate memorials with AI" doesn't sound like it came directly from a dystopian science fiction novel?
The word does not mean what you appear to think it means. Being strict about your own misconceived definition is not helpful to communication. If you're going to be pedantic, you really owe it to everyone around you to hold yourself to the same 'strictness' and make sure you're actually correct about your pedantry.
"Claude write me a memorial for my employee. Make no mistakes. His life started when he joined my company."
People do weird things when grieving. This probably seemed like a wonderful tribute. From the outside, it seems tacky. But lots of things are tacky and memorials are for the living.
He was a great man and fantastic developer that pushed Wordpress forwards, he pushed me forward as a peer when we were both trying to get out computer science degrees and I am glad to have known him. Rest in peace Eric
I have a friend with ALS and I dread for the moment this happens. In fact, I'm feeling sad right now.
While the news isn’t great, not much changes for me personally. We’ll still show up and do the work as I’ve previously talked about, on the chance that we can prove the oncologists wrong. Outside of that, I’ll prioritize spending time with the kids, trying to handle as much as possible to make things as easy as possible for Sara after I die, and enjoying the days that I have left.
https://eric.blog/2026/05/24/six-months/
https://friendsofericbinnion.wordpress.com/
According to his blog his life was going along until it changed. I have experienced the same where the one phone call or appointment changes the trajectory of life without one's consent.
I am prepared when "The Man Comes Around". I would hope others think deeply about that coming day.
Dystopian.
They could have hand-done it in a few hours and rolled then.
People do weird things when grieving. This probably seemed like a wonderful tribute. From the outside, it seems tacky. But lots of things are tacky and memorials are for the living.
Eric's post was well written.
> Our design team will make that less AI and more humane in the coming days.
Not an AI-edifice to yourself.
Fucking automated love indeed. It's the Fleshlight of eulogies. One that has an accelerometer that counted usage stats.