Ask HN: Can I just open source a new technology or should I write a paper?

I'm a master's student working on Bio-inspired AI. I'm making some progress on a new, online architecture that can do some cool things.

Is it advisable to write a paper before open sourcing it? Why can't I just share my code, and if people care to they can tear it apart or support it?

Why would this be any less effective than spending that time writing a paper to submit to a conference?