These notes accompany the project EVERYTHING. They are not required to experience the work itself, but provide additional context about its mathematical foundation and its unusual development process.
At first glance, the matrix appears to be nothing more than random noise. Every second reveals a new arrangement of colored pixels, seemingly unrelated to the one before it. In reality, however, every image is produced by a deterministic mathematical process that always follows exactly the same sequence of steps.
Everything begins with a single value: the number of seconds that have elapsed since the project started on June 16th, 2026, at 20:45:23 UTC.
Nothing else is required.
No images are stored. No database is consulted. No previous states are remembered. At any moment, the current image can be reconstructed entirely from this single number.
The timestamp is first processed by the cryptographic hash function SHA-256.
A hash function converts information of any length into a fixed 256-bit output. More importantly, it possesses a remarkable property known as the avalanche effect: changing the input by even a single second produces a completely different output. There is no gradual transition between consecutive hashes. Every moment receives an entirely new digital fingerprint.
Although SHA-256 was originally developed for cryptographic applications, it serves a different purpose here. It transforms the smooth progression of time into values that are uniformly distributed across an enormous mathematical space.
The resulting 256-bit hash is then divided into four equal parts of 64 bits each.
Together, these four values become the internal state—or seed—of the pseudo-random number generator xoshiro256**.
The generator itself contains no randomness. Given the same four seeds, it will always produce exactly the same sequence of numbers. Every image generated by the project is therefore perfectly reproducible.
Once initialized, xoshiro256** generates a continuous stream of numbers.
These numbers are interpreted as pixel values. One after another, they determine the state of every pixel in the 160 × 144 matrix until the entire image has been constructed.
The process contains no artistic decisions and no subjective choices. The appearance of every image follows inevitably from the mathematical sequence generated from its timestamp.
To a human observer, the resulting images appear indistinguishable from random noise.
Yet they are not random.
If the same timestamp is entered again—even years later—the algorithm will recreate precisely the same image, pixel for pixel. Every apparent coincidence is the consequence of deterministic computation.
This illustrates an important principle of information theory: complexity does not necessarily require randomness. A deterministic system can produce structures whose statistical properties are virtually indistinguishable from those of true random processes.
One consequence of this design is easily overlooked: The project contains no collection of images.
There is no archive holding millions of previously generated states. Instead, the website stores only the mathematical procedure required to recreate them. Every image exists only while it is being calculated and displayed.
In that sense, EVERYTHING is less a gallery than a machine: a compact algorithm capable of unfolding an immense visual universe from nothing more than the passage of time.
The matrix demonstrates how extraordinary complexity can emerge from remarkably simple rules.
A single integer becomes a cryptographic fingerprint.
The fingerprint becomes four numerical seeds.
The seeds initialize a deterministic generator.
The generator becomes a stream of values.
The values become an image.
Every second, this chain begins again.
Nothing is remembered.
Nothing is repeated.
Only time moves forward, and with it, one unique mathematical state after another.
EVERYTHING is not only an experiment in mathematics. It is also an experiment in creation.
The project began with a simple question: Can a technically demanding website be conceived, designed and implemented by someone who writes (almost...) no code, but instead develops every aspect through conversation with an artificial intelligence?
Every visual decision, every mathematical refinement, every structural change and every conceptual adjustment emerged from dialogue. Rather than programming line by line, the process consisted of describing ideas, evaluating results, identifying imperfections, reformulating intentions and gradually approaching the desired outcome.
Contrary to popular imagination, this process is neither automatic nor effortless. Artificial intelligence does not eliminate creative work; it changes its nature. Progress depends less on programming syntax than on the ability to formulate ideas precisely, recognize subtle inconsistencies and refine a vision through continuous iteration.
In this sense, the creator becomes less a programmer than an architect of intent. The code is generated through AI, but the conceptual framework, the aesthetic direction and the countless decisions that shape the final work remain fundamentally human.
Whether this approach should ultimately be called vibe coding is almost beside the point. The project investigates something more general: whether modern artificial intelligence can lower the technical barrier to software creation without reducing the importance of imagination, critical thinking, patience and persistence.
The process was far from linear. Ideas were proposed, tested, discarded, reconsidered and refined over hundreds of iterations. Some solutions appeared elegant at first, only to reveal subtle conceptual flaws later. Others emerged only after long discussions about mathematics, visual perception or philosophy. The website itself therefore became part of the experiment.
The collaboration also demonstrated an important limitation. Artificial intelligence can generate code remarkably quickly, but it cannot decide what ought to exist. Direction, taste, judgement and conceptual coherence still originate from the human participant. The machine contributes implementation; the project contributes intention.
EVERYTHING therefore explores two finite spaces simultaneously. The first is the combinatorial universe of all possible images. The second is the emerging creative space between human intention and machine implementation. Both are vast. Both remain largely unexplored.