Westenberg.
Field Notes on Now.
$ ls ./posts/
Manufactured Anxiety: How Self-Improvement Became a Self Destruct Sequence
The modern world has perfected the art of making us feel like we are never enough. Every waking moment is steeped in a vague, simmering anxiety, a sense that we
We’re Dying. Here’s How to Make Better Decisions.
The night my friend died, I spent 20 minutes debating whether to order takeout or just scavenge through my fridge for leftovers. I’d already scrolled through three different food
RIP Expertise (The Death of Knowledge)
The world is collapsing under the weight of its own stupidity, and somehow, we’ve all collectively agreed that it’s perfectly fine. No, better than fine — it’s preferable.
The Art of Long-Term Thinking in a Short-Sighted World
Imagine you’re offered a bet: You can have $1 million today, or you can have ownership of one square mile of Manhattan real estate, but you can’t sell
Why Elite Education is the Next Ponzi Scheme to Collapse
Last week I recorded a podcast with a friend who works in private equity. More on that later. He mentioned that his firm looks at education the same way they
How Defining Yourself By What You Hate Makes You Miserable
I’ve been thinking lately about the “anti-identity trap.” It works like this: Someone starts out reasonably disliking something — let’s say corporate greenwashing. Fair enough. They join online communities
Why Your Social Capital is Probably Worthless
In 1973, sociologist Mark Granovetter published one of the most influential papers in social network theory. "The Strength of Weak Ties" demonstrated something counterintuitive: when it comes to
Welcome to the Protestant Reformation of Social Media
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, fracturing the unified Catholic hierarchy that had dominated European spiritual and social life
The Matthew Effect of Post-Twitter Social Networks
The Matthew Effect was first coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman in 1968, who noticed that eminent scientists tended to get disproportionate credit for collaborative research compared
Why the Internet Era Might Be History's Least-Documented Period
Last week, I tried to find some photos from my college graduation. Despite being only fifteen years ago, they proved surprisingly elusive - trapped on a defunct Photobucket account, lost
How We Became the McWorld - Global Culture is Getting More Boring
In the 1990s, we were promised a digital utopia. The internet would be a uniting, democratizing force, they said, bringing diverse voices and perspectives from every corner of the world
You Got Dragged on the Internet. Stop Building a Shrine to It.
“Once the bear’s hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.” — Harold MacMillan A pattern, common to the internet in 2024. Someone has a conflict with