How a trip in 2012 transformed my relationship with photography—from staged performances to capturing genuine moments that matter, for engagement rather than validation. I remember exactly when I noticed the shift. 2012, the early days of Instagram. I was on vacation, planning activities around photo opportunities in California. Somewhere between the tenth arranged beach scene and a photogenic lun

When something in our bodies grows too fast with no limit, we usually need a doctor. But when a business does it, we celebrate its success. A business should exist to offer a public service. Making money should be incidental. A few years back, I met Vicky, cook and owner of a small Greek restaurant in Chicago. Her food was delicious, and it was affordable. In America, this combination still surpri

The enemy in your head is usually wearing your face. On projection, the villains we invent, and the chair we can't see ourselves sitting in. How many people are you angry at right now? An ex, a boss, the friend who stopped texting, the country you don't recognize anymore? And the harder question: how many of them are actually you? When you identify an enemy, you're usually angry at yourself. Every

My meditation teacher said something that stopped me cold: “We fall in love with the idea of a person, and then we fight so hard to keep it alive.” We were talking about marriage. Here's what I realized as those words settled: you could replace “person” with place. Or with job. And especially with yourself. The idea of what we are supposed to be versus the one actually breathing in this body right

From lovers to spouses, from employers to parental approval, we search for ourselves in others' eyes—creating perhaps the most elaborate illusion ever sustained: that validation exists outside the self that seeks it. I forgive you. I forgive you for how needy you've been for approval, for this dependence on others. It's normal—your uncertainty brought you here, your childhood brought you here, and

From Apple's glass cathedrals to unboxing rituals and tech prophets, we replaced religious behavioral patterns with product worship without acknowledging it—creating perhaps the first truly global faith. If you ever stood outside the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York, you noticed how the glass cube rises like a minimalist temple, appearing even more ethereal than the Kaaba in Mecca. Once you se

What if we banned all advertising? Not regulate it—abolish it. This proposal would transform manipulation machines, and maybe save democracy itself. A thought experiment worth considering. A note on this provocative essay: In seven months, it reached over 100,000 unique readers and was translated into more than five languages, becoming more popular on HackerNews than the discussion about Trump's t

Why ten years ago I quit my passion as a job to follow my passions as just passions. A student performer recently reached out to ask me about transitioning from college to “the real world” while pursuing comedy and video production. His eyes lit up describing an intimate dorm room improv show he runs: 20–25 people packed in weekly for pure joy and experimentation. Then came a familiar tension: one

Between middle-class stability and creative resistance, there's a teenage part of us keeping watch. Maybe it's right. “Sometimes creativity is a compulsion, not an ambition.” — Edward Norton There's something comedic about my dog's reaction to Trump's voice on inauguration day. Each time it played, he'd pad into my room and sit at my feet, as if sensing some disturbance in the force fields. When t

When you replace a vacuum robot's proprietary brain with open-source firmware, you are not just modifying a device—you are making a statement about ownership and control. Sometimes the smartest choice is to make devices dumber. Diogenes was knee-deep in a stream washing vegetables. Seeing him, Plato said, “My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetable

In a world of endless pings, every creative act becomes rebellion. This isn't about time management—it's about protecting your spark in a system designed to extinguish it. Try to read a page. The phone rings. Try to read a page. The courier buzzes. Try to read a page. This is ping culture : the constant barrage of notifications, interruptions, and demands that fragment our attention into unusable

When we pretend AI generation is street photography, we're not just misusing terms—we're surrendering authentic engagement with reality. A veteran of photography recently told me she's “really been enjoying AI street photography.” She explained that she had never felt comfortable doing actual street photography. In particular: going out into the world, engaging with strangers, capturing real momen

Single-task tools complement modern devices by combining technological capability with intentional constraints. From offline cameras to e-ink readers, these tools preserve human agency while embracing progress. How thoughtful friction and focused design create more meaningful engagement. Borgmann's distinction between “things” and “devices” is crucial to understanding our relationship with technol

In a world obsessed with optimization, what if the most productive strategy is to stop maximizing productivity? Discover how strategic inefficiency might be the key to reclaiming your work, your time, and your sanity. How many tasks you can check off before your soul quietly packs its bags and leaves? Eight? Twenty? Forty-two? You achieve inbox zero, demolish your to-do list, and optimize your wor

Explore how devotion to convenience reshapes human experience, and why embracing the friction of inconvenience might restore depth and meaning to your life. We're living in the convenience regime , an era where convenience reigns supreme. From one-click purchases to AI-generated art, we've optimized away life's little frustrations, betting on our discontent with reality itself . But in our quest t