Pamphlets
Essays
On the desire to live in a cabin in the woods
What does it say about modern life that I dream of escaping it?
Why do I romanticize 18th-century chores?
Was churning butter a beautiful way to spend the day or a chore to be automated away?
This sewing machine powers AI
Meet the anti-AI AI.
Even Christopher Nolan prefers 70mm film
With all the technology in the world, sometimes the more beautiful thing is less of it.
Yes, let’s abolish federal governments
And replace them with international governments we can join à la carte.
Fractional ownership works for Banksy paintings—not cities
Micro-sovereignties should be collectively owned by residents. Not fractionally owned by investors.
America created the world order—what happens when it leaves?
A new world order is emerging.
What comes after the nation-state?
And how can we build safety nets without borders?
The internet needs ecologists
Not just engineers.
The Internet has no benches
The case for internet neighborhoods we can hang out in.
The algorithm doesn't have to destroy us
We can build internet platforms that actually work.
The hidden labour of the internet
And how design can bring it out into the open.
I quit Spotify—now I buy albums like it's the 90s
We're renting our music and platforms instead of owning them. New internet platforms want to change that.
The case for taxing AI slop
A minuscule levy on the largest AI producers can usher in a New Deal for cultural workers in the AI Age.
It's obvious why we hate social media
We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
Decentralize America: The case for cities that don't need Washington
Cities should be richer than the federal government. Mayors should matter more than the president.
An indigenous nation just built a better city than California Forever
We should build more cities. But they should benefit residents, not just developers.
Stop idolizing Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Próspera
There are much more utopian cities than these.
Singapore: Where your home loses value & everyone's better off
Singapore solved private property by making it worthless over time.
Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam
Land autonomy beats governance autonomy every time.
Disney World has more autonomy than any US city
And it built a much better one.
San Francisco should be profitable—instead property owners are
Or how the Gilded Age screwed American cities and how we can reverse it.
Ebenezer Howard built a better city than the government
That time a group of investors built the welfare city London couldn't.
Cadbury built a city for workers—then gave it to them
It's still community-owned 100 years later.
The Scottish island that bought itself
100 residents now own the island they live on—not some billionaire.
Land should be a public good—not just private property
An introduction by the Center for Land Economics.
We could return three continents of land to the wild
And create an interspecies future that benefits humans and ecologies alike.
Building an operating system for Earth
How we went from an architecture of collapse to a simulation for survival
How much of the planet should we harm for our comfort?
Becky Chambers’ gentle sci-fi on the right amount of carbon, AC, airplanes, and yachts.
We should all participate in scientific research
So we can study the Earth at scale.
Maybe an exowomb is better than pregnancy
The Pod Generation’s near-future satire pits nature against technology. Which is the better curator?
How can we rewild the Earth at scale?
From global targets to backyard projects
The future used to be better
How contemporary art reflects our waning belief in progress.
A self-governing forest
Terra0 thinks nature should become economically independent.
No, we shouldn't return to the climate of the 18th century
Improving the climate is a better goal than trying to fight change.
We can terraform the Earth—not just Mars
If we can revive a dead planet, we can revive our own.
How Silicon Valley got rich
And how everyone else can get rich too.
Who should control AI?
Nonprofits aren't our only option.
How we achieve the borderless future of Terra Ignota
On Ada Palmer’s utopian sci-fi series and an exploration of how we might bring it to life.
Maybe villages are our future—not just cities
Italy's Matera as a case study for revitalizing small governments and creating a future of interconnected villages.
We should create more US states
Inside the growing movement to redraw state lines, and why it might be better for liberals and conservatives alike.
US states should have autonomy—like EU countries
All we need to change is taxation.
Companies will usurp the nation-state
That’s why we need to build better ones.
The Cooperatist Manifesto that inspired Mondragon
Father José María Arizmendiarrieta didn’t just imagine a better economic system, he built it.
Mondragon as the new City-State
This cooperative could be its own country.
Founders can get much richer by selling to employees
This is how we create a wave of employee ownership.
Every company should be owned by its employees
Central States Manufacturing as a model for exiting to employee-ownership.
Decouple federal government from nation-states
A world of city-states should join federal governments à la carte.
What if countries had to compete for citizens?
Just like companies compete for customers.
Opening our borders will solve just about everything
Here's how.
Obscurity, The Epilogue
In which a young man inherits the Estate St. Vincent.
Obscurity, The Fortieth Chapter
In which the truth is revealed.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Ninth Chapter
In which a baby is born into the swamp.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Eighth Chapter
In which we learn the secrets of the third Marie.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Seventh Chapter
In which the philanthropist meets his fate.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Sixth Chapter
In which things go awry at the philanthropist's wedding.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Fifth Chapter
In which a gentle haunting awaits the widow.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Fourth Chapter
In which the widow's retinue prepares for her return.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Third Chapter
In which the town descends into hysterics.
Obscurity, The Thirty-Second Chapter
In which the philanthropist prepares for his pending nuptials.
Obscurity, The Thirty-First Chapter
In which we spend a sleepless night in the company of those left behind by the widow.
Obscurity, The Thirtieth Chapter
In which the Comte finds his wife alone, at last.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Ninth Chapter
In which the mercenary hunts the Comte.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Eighth Chapter
In which a rose wilts.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Seventh Chapter
In which the mercenary discovers a rather unsettling scene.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Sixth Chapter
In which the abbess has a premonition.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Fifth Chapter
In which the territory faces unrest.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Fourth Chapter
In which a young debutante celebrates her engagement.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Third Chapter
In which the widow is discovered in a rather unusual part of town.
Obscurity, The Twenty-Second Chapter
In which we meet the second of the Maries.
Obscurity, The Twenty-First Chapter
In which the widow is haunted by her past—and a protection spell must be put into place.
Obscurity, The Twentieth Chapter
In which we meet the businessman once again.
Obscurity, The Nineteenth Chapter
In which we learn the philanthropist's secrets.
Obscurity, The Eighteenth Chapter
In which a missionary turns up dead and drifting in a canoe.
Obscurity, The Seventeenth Chapter
In which we learn the history of three nuns named Marie, and perceive a threat to their future.
Obscurity, The Sixteenth Chapter
In which the couturier discovers something in the philanthropist’s quarters, and it reveals a defect in his character.
Obscurity, The Fifteenth Chapter
In which we meet the Comte, and discover him in the rather unfortunate company of his wife.
Obscurity, The Fourteenth Chapter
In which someone is alive who was thought to be dead.
Obscurity, The Thirteenth Chapter
In which the widow has something the philanthropist wants.
Obscurity, The Twelfth Chapter
In which a corpse is discovered behind the Cabaret St. Vincent.
Obscurity, The Eleventh Chapter
In which a scream is heard within the widow's estate.
Obscurity, The Tenth Chapter
In which daughters must atone for the sins of their fathers.
Obscurity, The Ninth Chapter
In which a bottle of poison is discovered in rather familiar company.
Obscurity, The Eighth Chapter
In which blood is spilled at the Mardi Gras ball.
Obscurity, The Seventh Chapter
In which the widow ventures into the swamp for a cure.
Obscurity, The Sixth Chapter
In which we discover three men with rather nefarious intentions.
Obscurity, The Fifth Chapter
In which the widow confesses her sins in the sacrament of reconciliation.
Obscurity, The Fourth Chapter
In which a rather mysterious figure appears to know the widow’s secrets.
Obscurity, The Third Chapter
In which the widow enters society and rumors about her become a rather ghastly thing.
Obscurity, The Second Chapter
In which the ménagère of the Estate St. Vincent has a disturbing premonition.
Obscurity, The First Chapter
In which we meet Monsieur Le Propriétaire at his death bed.
Obscurity, The Prologue
The first chapter of my gothic novel, in which a mysterious woman turns up at the Plantation St. Vincent.