About me

Hello,

my name is Adrien Chauvet. I was born in 1986 and I live in France. My main interests are technology, epistemology, faith, walking , weightlifting, and surfing. I like to joke around and enjoy being proven wrong.

Projects

This year is dedicated to software as a service (SaaS) and books.

Surfing For Beginners 2025: How Not to Die, How to Belong, and Why You’ll Never Master It.

Wanna learn how to surf? Buy my ebook on Amazon or Gumroad.

Failed attempt: translating the Taking Children Seriously website from English to French

I started machine translating the content of the Taking Children Seriously website from English to French in November 2023 using ChatGPT, Python with its BeautifulSoup library, Notepad++, the professional DeepL API and XAMPP. The translation was far from perfect, and errors remained in the 412 articles, totaling 600,000 words.

On X, I privately asked two AI engineers, Yacine (former X engineer) and near (former Stripe engineer) what to do. They both assured me that I could wait a little while and use large language models (LLMs) to finish this project in a few minutes instead of spending an entire month proofreading all the articles. Unfortunately, by October 2024, LLMs still could not produce accurate translations, only approximations. This type of software doesn't understand context or nuance. I relied on the wrong advice! The Scaling Hypothesis doesn't work.

I would have had to proofread everything, but my situation at the time prevented me from completing such a long project. Eventually, I sent all the draft translations to Sarah Fitz-Claridge, the primary author of the website, who was looking forward to this translation. I'm disappointed this didn't work out. I wanted the French locutors to know about the Taking Children Seriously philosophy. Hopefully, future AIs will soon be able to properly proofread these articles.

In the meantime, Aaron Stupple's book, The Sovereign Child, is available in English and will be translated into French in 2026.

The websites where I post and comment:

• X (It's addictive, a noise factory, so I'm distancing myself.)

• Reddit (not all subreddits though, for some are fully censored by their mods. Avoid mainstream subreddits like the plague.)

• Wikipedia (but not political articles because Wikipedia admins erase my contributions. They're corrupt in this field.)

• Quora (I used to post there a long time ago. It's full of know-it-alls.)

• Ancestry (Note: Do not merge your family tree with that of other users who have ancestors in common with you, as you will accumulate errors. Always check everything, like a maniac.)

Political involvement

I am a member of the centrist party "Le Mouvement Démocrate". I have been involved in several elections:

• The municipal campaign of Michel Veunac in Biarritz in 2014. He was elected.

• The regional campaign in Burgundy in 2015 with my cousin, Vincent Chauvet, to support the candidacy of Christophe Grudler. He was not elected.

• The municipal campaign of Pascal Blanc in Bourges in 2020. I was one of his running mates. He was not re-elected.

• The Bourges support committee for the presidential re-election of Emmanuel Macron in 2022. I do not agree with many of his terrible decisions and statements. He was the least bad candidate and was re-elected.

• For the 2024 legislative elections, I was a proxy for outgoing MP François Cormier-Bouligeon of the Renaissance party.

• The municipal campaign of Philippe Mercier (diverse right-wing party) in Bourges in 2026.

I also take action by buying organic food, avoiding meat and being a minimalist.

I'm curious about libertarian ideas: the night-watchman state (aka minarchy) and anarcho-capitalism: What is the right amount of government power? I want much less regulation and more freedom for individuals and markets.

Tracks and playlists I listen to

Spotify    -    Mixcloud    -    Soundcloud    -    YouTube    -    Bandcamp    -    Petites Planètes

Readings

These books are listed more or less in the chronological order in which I read them. The titles of the books are written in the language in which I read them.

La Trilogie Des Fourmis, Bernard Werber

Les Thanatonautes, Bernard Werber

L'encyclopédie Du Savoir Relatif Et Absolu, Bernard Werber

L'invasion De La Sicile Par Les Ours, Dino Buzzati (forced reading in middle school)

W, Georges Perec (forced reading in middle school)

Le Mariage De Figaro, Beaumarchais (forced reading in middle school)

La Vénus d'Ille, Prosper Mérimée

Stupeur Et Tremblements, Amélie Nothomb (forced reading in middle school)

Le Seigneur Des Anneaux, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (during high school, a gift from my parents)

Devenez Sorciers, Devenez Savants, Georges Charpak (a gift from my parents)

Soyez Savants, Devenez Prophètes, Georges Charpak (a gift from my parents)

Matin brun, Franck Pavloff

L'Émeraude des Garamantes - souvenirs d'un Saharien, Théodore Monod (recommended by my father)

Phares, Jacques Attali

Voyages avec un âne dans les Cévennes, Robert Louis Stevenson

L'éducation Sentimentale, Gustave Flaubert

Germinal, Emile Zola

La Condition Humaine, André Malraux

How Google Works, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg (borrowed from my Irish roommate Paul Robinson in Biarritz)

C'est beau une ville la nuit, Richard Bohringer (read at my brother-in-law's and sister's house)

Anthologie De La Poésie Française, Georges Pompidou (partly read)

L’Alchémiste, Paulo Coelho

Introduction À La Pensée Complexe, Edgard Morin

Méditations, Marcus Aurelius (free book available on my iPhone 4 on Apple Books)

L'Évolution créatrice, Henri Bergson (lu en 2019 à Ribiers, ou peut-être un de ses autres ouvrages ?)

Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

Lettre À Ménécée, Epicure

Antigone, Sophocle

Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit, Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Des Souris Et Des Hommes, John Steinbeck

Siddhartha, Herman Hesse

Le Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Children Of Húrin, J.R.R. Tolkien

How I Made $2 Million In The Stock Market, Nicolas Darvas

Comment Je Vois Le Monde, Albert Einstein

Le Guide Du Voyageur Galactique, Douglas Adams

Le Joueur D'échecs, Stefan Zweig

The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant: A Guide To Wealth And Happiness, Naval Ravikant (read in 2021-2022)

Guerre, Louis-Ferdinand Céline (read in 2022)

Incerto (the french edition), Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I'm taking notes from these five books. (currently reading. 2022-????)

The Fabric Of Reality, David Deutsch (read in 2023-2024)

Two books by Thích Nhất Hạnh (currently reading. 2024-????)

Not to mention countless magazines, comics, manga, news (I wasted my time!), scientific papers, blogs, quotes, poems, forum posts and videos.

My reading list

The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch

Lettres à Lucilius, Seneca

Books recommended by my cousin Philippe Chauvet that I haven't read yet: Le Joueur (Dostoïevski), Le Cheval / Albert (Tolstoï), Le Menteur (H. James), The Road (Cormac McCarthy), La Femme D'un Autre, Le Mari Sous Le Lit (Dostoïevski), La Route Des Flandres (C. Simon).

La Rochefoucauld, Epictetus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Montaigne, Ibn Khaldun, Pascal, Rumi.

My coding horrors

GitHub: When I tried to become a developer one last time.

I also developed several small personal websites using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, JQuery and Bootstrap. They're no longer online. I created:

• A website about surfing

• My personal website, several times.

• TUMT (The Ultimate Movies Timeline): An attempt at a chronological classification of the events depicted in films, coded in collaboration with Vincent Jacquenet.

• My brother's website for one of his musical projects: Chevalien.

• I also helped a psychologist in Anglet, France to create her professional website with WordPress: Estelle Malvy.

Now that large language models exist, I use them for various tasks, such as coding scripts, maintaining websites, and troubleshooting computers and smartphones.

Useful knowledge

Plum Village: A global community of mindfulness practice centres offering retreats and teachings on engaged Buddhism and the art of mindful living, founded by Zen master Thích Nhất Hạnh.

What is Mimetic Desire? by Luke Burgis.

Our World In Data: If you want to know about the world, this website is much closer to reality than the mainstream media.

Awesome Nassim Taleb: Books written by Nassim Taleb, a few of his interviews and some books he read.

Lulie Tanett: Epistemology (Karl Popper, David Deutsch and others).

James Pierce: A Buddhism blog.

Bret Hall: Epistemology (Karl Popper, David Deutsch and others).

Taking Children Seriously: A philosophy of family life in the tradition of the Enlightenment, fallibilism, and freedom, that takes everyone seriously as equals, including children.

IMFDB, the Internet Movie Firearms Database: Discover what guns characters use in movies, TV shows, video games, and anime.

Excursions

A lot of people can't travel. I am grateful to have visited so many places.

Vehicles I owned

I learned to drive in my paternal grandfather's PEUGEOT 309 Chorus, white paint.

CITROËN ZX  Break (N2) 1.9 D 68 horsepower, gray paint

I owned it from June 2013 until July 2014. I sold this car in Charenton-le-Pont. The buyer wanted to use cooking oil as fuel. This vehicle had a tendency to skid on roundabouts and I spun out several times in the rain.

RENAULT Clio II Société Phase 2 1.5 dCi 65 horsepower, white paint

I owned it from Mars 2015 until January 2017. I sold it in Anglet.

RENAULT Twingo I Phase 2 (X06) 1.2 i 60 horsepower, orange paint

I borrow it from my parents since 2019. I pay the insurance, the fuel, and the maintenance.

International trips

Norway, 1996: A month-long trip with my family and my parents' childhood friends and their kids. We traveled in an RV from France, through Germany, and Denmark.

Latvia, 2007: A five-day school trip across the country to discover wildlife and the people who care for it.

London, England, 2008: A two weeks trip with Geoffrey Lalanne.

Pamplona and Bardenas Reales, Spain, 2012: A few days in the north of the country with Baptiste Gourdin and Vincent Jacquenet.

Chongqing, China, 2013: A three weeks trip to attend the wedding of Vincent and Sisi Jacquenet and to discover the city.

Skiing in France

Le Poizat-Lalleyriat, 1990: With my family.

Habère-Poche: With my family.

Morillon: Two middle school trips.

Modane: Swimming and skiing with the CNMG.

Mont-Dore: With my family except my sister.

Fondettes, 2010: With a few other students from the UPPA Bayonne campus.

La Pierre-Saint-Martin, 2012: With Sisi Jacquenet, Baptiste Gourdin and Vincent Jacquenet.

Artouste, 2013: With Vincent Jacquenet.

Surf trip

San Vincente De La Barquera, Spain, summer 2012: with the Anglet Surf Club.

Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France:

• October 2024: with my parents' car (a RENAULT Twingo  I Phase 2 (X06) 1.2 i 60cv) and my tent.

• June 2025:  with the Twingo again and my tent.

• September 2025:  with my parents' car (a Renault Clio IV) and my tent.