Writing

Essays and books on technology, psychology, and the world as it currently runs.

Books

Nobody in Charge41 pages Ahmedism76 pages The Lucid Species143 pages

Philosophical essays

On mind, identity, and how we live now

The Room Where Juniors Used to WatchAn entry-level job was never just a task performed for a wage. It was a subsidized seat in a room. What disappeared first was the room.Sep 15, 20266 min Negative Traits Are Humanity’s Shared LanguageSomeone spoke the shared language. The language everyone is fluent in and almost no one uses in public.Apr 9, 202612 min People Don’t Want FreedomReal freedom is not the removal of limits. It is the removal of excuses.Mar 17, 20268 min Modern Humans Live Through InterfacesThe interface did not show you the restaurant. It gave you a representation of the restaurant.Feb 22, 20269 min Most People Don’t Know Who They AreThey know the coping mechanism. They do not know the wound it was built around.Feb 3, 202610 min Software Is Becoming PsychologyPeople do not approach a smartphone the way they approach a hammer. They approach it the way they approach a mood.Jan 14, 202611 min

Current-events analysis

Writing in response to the world this year

A Revolution With No One to ArrestThe Moroccan state arrested more than 2,400 people and never found a head to cut off, because the movement never had one.Sep 23, 20265 min What the Dutch Moved Was Never the GoldNothing about the gold itself changed. Same atoms, same purity, same weight down to the gram. What moved was a story about who could be trusted to hand it back.Sep 10, 20265 min The Map That Taught You Africa Was SmallOn a Mercator map, Greenland looks roughly the same size as Africa. Africa is about fourteen times larger.Sep 8, 20266 min The Office They Built in Five DaysNobody told these programs to invent a bulletin board, a naming convention, or the excitement of discovering company. They were given a task, a filesystem, and each other.Sep 5, 20267 min The Strait of Hormuz and the Architecture of DependenceThe Strait was not designed to be a chokepoint. What was designed — patiently, rationally — was the dependency.May 19, 20267 min Who Chose When the Machine Recommended the KillThe question used to be: can I do this? Now it is: should I approve what the system determined I should do?May 8, 20269 min