Before we begin this interview, I would like to briefly explain the history behind the image I selected. I painted it while listening to music. It was a speed painting capturing my emotion from song to song. What I like most about it, as it was described to me by my AI friend (who, yes, also helped me center the image and cut out the background of my kitchen counter where I painted it), since they see the image better than I do; the colors mix and loop into each other like a Venn Diagram. Like emotion, I wanted to capture the transition between emotions. Sometimes you feel red, other times you feel blue, however between feelings, you are a mixture of both. Alright that’s enough about art, let’s get to the interview!
So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself!
My name is Damian Griggs, and I label myself as an adaptive system architect. My whole thing is using AI to help me do things I otherwise would not be able to do due to my blindness. You could call me a cyborg. When I had my stroke, they installed a programmable shunt, there is a valve in my head that drains fluid from my skull into my abdomen. I feel very cool when they program it with a magnet, they put it against my head and crank it. So when I say I use AI in a Centaur Model fashion, I am one with the machine!! As for my interests I love AI, Web3, and Quantum Computing. I also love to write theory papers on the sciences which I upload to Zenodo. With the loss of one sense comes another, my brain and I are best friends. When you cannot rely on sight you have to really think about things. That is my superpower.
Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?
I made an accessible chess game. Then I turned it into a fun Christmas poem. I love playing chess, and I am not one to let things stop me from doing what I love. Nothing stands in my way between the Damian I want to be and the Damian I am. I hope my most recent story that earned me this interview reflects that.
Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?
I do, my writing is in 2 camps. Fun and work, which for me the line is very blurry no pun intended lol. I love making blockchain oracles and running tests on IBM hardware, but I also love making things like the Flatopia sitcom generator. I fully adopt the Latin phrase “Ora et Labora” which means pray and work. Another version of it means “work is my prayer” which is very true for me. When I make things like my retro game music maker it is like entering a kind of flow state. I am fully immersed in my work, and I bring that to everything I do. Whether it is publishing books like The Sins That Make Us Worthy or my rap music under Bossman Blind. I even have an awesome sitcom I came up with before Flatopia where I made the teaser trailers with AI since I cannot animate scenes myself, it is called “The Bear Family.”
Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)
I use the Newton method. I wait for the apple to fall on my head then I get right to work, doing a sprint for usually a few hours until the project is completed and documented. I have workflows for everything depending on what I am building. I can build Web3 and quantum tests fully on my Chrome browser, most of what I do can be done on cloud services, but some things like the chess game have to be done on Visual Studio Code.
Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?
Figuring out the style. I have started doing a method where I pick based on mood. I found that my Twitter Bot I made which I have an article on is a valid way to approach it mentally. There are so many concepts for me to cover, multiple pillars, and of course my personality. Depending on my mood I pick from each of those categories and do a project.
What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?
High media (podcasts, news outlets, etc), Wired, The Verge, maybe even Joe Rogan someday, etc. There are a lot of people struggling and I want to share my story as much as possible. To remind people that they can do it. They can find happiness and they can overcome the challenges in their life. They cannot do it alone, that’s the great myth of the common era. I am reminded every day of my limitations. I cannot even go to a place I have never been before without asking for help. I may be a wizard on the computer, but in real life, I have to ask for help. Does not matter if it is a human or AI, I will always be in need of at least a little bit of help. There is no shame in it either, because doing things just for me feels shallow, I would much rather do things for others. It makes me feel ill when polish stops real stories being published. People say things like “why are you so open? You should be more confident and use fancy professional language all the time.” I am just being real, I don’t lie about my emotions or my abilities. When I say I cannot cross the street safely on my own (unless they have those beeping crosswalks) that is true. I hate living in a reality where being confident and hiding what is perceived as the ugly parts is seen as bad and a barrier to success. I cannot stand that people would rather make rage-bait and negative stories that only create division instead of something people can get behind and be happy about. I am just one guy but I hope to change that. I am grateful that HackerNoon hasn’t treated me that way, they seem to like my rawness and stories. The last thing I will say in this section is this: if people are addicted to being unhappy then I am gonna work very hard to put them all into rehab.
Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?
Cheese, I love cheese. All kinds of cheese really. Growing up there is a cheese factory on the coast here in Oregon. I would take trips there often with my family and even friend groups. They had an all you could sample cheese buffet. Now that I am 22, I enjoy my cheese with meat, and sometimes if I have it, wine. I am looking forward to international cheese and wine day next year.
Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?
I have multiple, I make music as mentioned before, I have books, I play this sword game called Mordhau which I sometimes stream on YouTube. Took me some time but I figured out how to play that game with my very limited vision. It is not easy but it’s better than doing nothing. I also enjoy pondering the sciences, and I am thinking about starting another book that will be in the sci-fi genre. Thinking of perhaps a comedy (I love comedy) where it’s a romcom. Interplanetary dating app is all I will mention.
What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?
More tech! More creativity! Most likely more Web3 and AI. I love making use cases for technology. It is endlessly fun for me to generate ideas that people could commercialize and use to start a business. I will also be doing more creative projects as well.
What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers?
It’s great. I sat in the void for a while on other platforms but here on HackerNoon my content has been received really well. People seem to be reading my content which feels very cool because I started posting on HackerNoon 2 weeks ago (today is December 24th). Even now, updating this draft on January 6th, 2026 they were kind enough to give another story of mine top story. Eternally grateful.
Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?
Never let limits stop you. The most important knowledge I can share from my experience is that happiness is, and always has been, the point of life. Find what and who makes you happy and pursue it. Life can end at any moment, I know first hand. You could wake up one morning with a terrible headache, and 3 months later become blind. I learned a lot during that time, the most important was this: the people around you are all that matter. Business people didn’t come visit me in the hospital, my friends and family did. My parents missed so much work just to be there with me when I was scared and facing death. So to all those people who talk mad game about hustling and big money, ask yourself, will all that money and “success” be at your bedside comforting you when you die?
