Essays on AI, software, and the world they're reshaping.
Mostly arguments about power, money, and attention — with notes on the systems I build in between. Grouped by what they are about; filter by stage for the date-ordered archive, or browse by topic.
SEEDLING Rough notes, still formingBUDDING Developing, partially revisedEVERGREEN Considered finished and maintained
Evergreen
12- EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
The Rational Actor Is Dead
Homo economicus never existed but we still build policy like it does, and people keep getting hurt. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Silicon Valley's Death Problem
Transhumanism is terror management theory funded by venture capital, and it is telling on itself. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
The Water Wars Are Already Here
Two billion people already lack reliable drinking water, and the conflicts over what's left are well underway. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Actual Reformation
A look at what we as individuals must do to reform instead of more grandiose gestures that would only cause short-term fixes like electing a new president for example. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Nick Land: The Philosopher Who Became Explicitly Racist
Nick Land went from calling for feminist guerrilla war to advocating 'hyper-racism,' and the innovations of his early work don't excuse what he became. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
When Machines Learned to See: A Century of Art and Technology in Conflict
From the camera obscura controversy to AI lawsuits in 2025, each wave of technological disruption has forced artists to confront what is irreplaceably human about creative expression. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Building RAG Systems in Production
Simple RAG fails in production. Notes on what actually fixed it: hybrid retrieval, reranking, contextual chunking, and measuring before adding anything. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Digital Minimalism Beyond the Hype
What the peer-reviewed evidence on intentional technology use actually supports, what it oversimplifies, and where it's still uncertain. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
The Automation Apocalypse That Wasn't (And What's Actually Happening)
Oxford predicted 47% of jobs at risk, and since then 16 million jobs were added; here is what the data on AI and automation actually shows. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
The Empirical Case for 'Impractical' Majors
Philosophy majors now have lower unemployment than computer science graduates, and the salary gap reverses by age 40. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
Bostrom's Simulation Argument Is Less Than You Think
Bostrom's trilemma is logically valid and empirically empty, and the real question is whether 'simulated' is even a meaningful category. - EVERGREEN — Considered finished and maintained.
The Psychology of Self-Deception: What Research Shows About Ego
Self-enhancement bias averages d=0.86, the Dunning-Kruger effect is misunderstood, and Terror Management Theory explains why ego threats feel like survival threats.