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
Seedling
23- SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Wu Wei and the Backwards Law
The harder you chase something, the more it evades you. Alan Watts' backwards law and the paradox of effortless action. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Against Optimization
You cannot life-hack your way to meaning, and the productivity industry is counting on you not noticing. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Effort Without Striving
Working hard and trying hard look identical from the outside, and only one of them burns you out. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Flow States Are Not Achievements
You can't grind your way into flow, and the harder you try to manufacture it the further off it gets. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
ICE Kills Americans
US citizens have been killed and deported by immigration enforcement. The machine doesn't care about papers. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Bureaucratic Violence
How 'just following protocol' diffuses responsibility until atrocities happen with nobody to blame. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
The Deportation Machine Has No Off Switch
Once built, enforcement systems don't stay confined to their original targets. Institutional momentum keeps the machine running. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Cruelty As Policy
Some policies hurt people on purpose, and the architects say so out loud when they think it polls well. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Platform Feudalism
You don't own your digital life; you rent it from lords who can evict you at will, and that's a description of digital property relations rather than a metaphor. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
The Myth of the Neutral Tool
Technology embeds politics, and the design is the argument. No tool is a mere instrument; every one shapes what's possible and what's thinkable. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
Climate Change Is a Labor Issue
The workers who extract, transport, and burn fossil fuels are the same ones who'll build what comes next. Climate transition requires labor organizing. - SEEDLING — Rough notes, still forming.
The Problem With Green Capitalism
You can't consume your way to sustainability, and the market that built the crisis won't be the thing that ends it.