Westenberg.
Field Notes on Now.
$ ls ./posts/
Apple’s Diet of Worms
On a crisp April morning in 1521, the twenty-one-year-old Emperor Charles V entered the Bishop’s Palace in Worms. The weight of a continent rested on his adolescent shoulders, and
The Age of the Fractured Soul
We were promised freedom. And we got it. The freedom to scroll endlessly. To share anything. To curate, to filter, to block, to ghost. The freedom to express ourselves in
The Bismarck Principle
The battleship Bismarck lasted eight days. Eight days from the moment it sank HMS Hood to the moment British torpedoes tore through its hull and sent 2,200 German sailors
How Convenience Kills Curiosity
I’ve been thinking about the death of curiosity. Remember when you had to figure out how a new piece of software worked by poking around its menus? When finding
"AI Will Create Plenty of Jobs"
Every wave of technology comes with a promise. Electricity would end poverty. Radio would unify the world. The internet would make us all smarter. Blockchain would decentralize power. AI, we
From Penny Press to Protocols: The Structural Shift AI Forces on the Internet
In 1833, Benjamin Day had a crazy idea. What if newspapers didn't have to cost six cents? What if you could sell them for just one penny and
The Curse of the Spanish Armada: When Scale Becomes Self-Sabotage
In 1588, King Philip II of Spain launched a naval campaign that should have been the climax of Catholic Europe's struggle against Protestant England. The Spanish Armada, 130
A World Without Touch Is a World Without Trust
Touch is our first language. Older than words, deeper than thought. Before we can speak or remember, we understand the grammar of skin against skin; the newborn’s cry quiets
Why I Gave Up My Smartwatch
Somewhere between the first time I tapped my wrist to skip a song and the three hundredth time I anxiously checked my resting heart rate, I started to hate my
The Cult of Hard Mode
How Founders Hide Behind Their Stacks
Smart People Don't Chase Goals; They Create Limits
A few years ago, I sat across from a friend at a late dinner. He was telling me about his new promotion, the big title, the bonus, the corner office.