how we created a simulation of language

One of the many insidious effects of technological advancement is that more of our places are becoming non-places.

It’s human nature to be inquisitive.

how tech companies structure our conversations

Last month, Dictionary.com chose “67” as its word of the year, and I’m not surprised in the slightest.

The wooden stairs in my childhood home had a creaky step.

A man in a gnome hat stands on a soapbox.

There are two ways you can look at media: immerse yourself, or detach yourself.

“Slop” is subjectively defined, and yet shares certain universal features: it is always seen as negative, and connotes mass distribution to an ignorant group of consumers.

Today I write in anticipatory nostalgia for the cornerstone of a more democratic internet—one which is slowly being stolen from us.

how we replaced attention with its own metric

a guide for regaining agency in the algorithmic milieu

Any time I think too hard about how social media is affecting us, I always end up back at the television.

Last week, I published two op-eds that initially seem unrelated but actually aren’t.

I’ve always felt that it’s very strange to have “followers” on social media.

(within reason)

You’re hunched over on the toilet, pants around your ankles, watching me on TikTok.

Chat, we all act differently when we’re being watched.

oh my god it’s been a crazy week.

At some point in the last century, we collectively began looking at more representations of stars than stars themselves.

Museums have kind of been freaking me out recently.

mom can you pick me up i'm scared

This Tuesday, my father and I drove up to Bard College to pay our respects to the grave of Hannah Arendt.

One of the silly little quirks of being human is that we pretend that some experiences are more real than others.

how scrolling becomes a religious act

Isn’t it so convenient how I can upload a video to TikTok, and then the algorithm immediately understands that you’re my target audience?

“I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was.”

at the end of the day, everything is slop

I don’t think I’ve ever outwardly articulated my goals on social media, so here goes:

Let’s start with the basics: humans do not think like machines do.

I’ve always been a stubborn holdout against food delivery apps.

what do we think is happening online?

on algorithms, identity, and spectacle

on spectacle, simulation, and content hustle culture

Early this January, while we were all looking the other way, the slop revolution unfolded right under our noses.

how computers changed the way we write

how algorithms broke our ability to interpret stories

you can't see what you can't see

In their 1947 Dialectic of Enlightenment, the philosophers Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer voiced their concerns about how the popular media of the time—film, radio, and magazines—primarily functioned to pacify the general population.

we're losing so much aura

but it feels so good to think you are!

but especially our attitudes

the internet is screaming out in pain

kek poggers doge wojak manlet