When we think about what modern capital incentivizes and compare it to what’s human—a group of strangers, gathered in a dark room, focused on an artist’s vision, their craft, their passion—it becomes easy to see what we’re losing.

2026 slop is the normalization and proliferation of intellectual laziness.

Who said it?

When we make a mistake, we recognize that something’s gone awry. There is an awareness of the right answer and the wrong answer. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini do not have this awareness.

The Trojans ignored Laocoön’s warning. We don’t have to.

You need something to slow you down if you’re not intrinsically inclined to do it on your own.

There’s no “mole” emoji. Or mallet.

This isn’t in any way related to Susan Sontag’s 1966 essay collection, Against Interpretation, though I did try to shoehorn that into the first draft of this piece. (It could have worked, but a writer is only as good as what they’re willing to cut.) UX writers are expert interpreters, like Mariko in Shogun.

Audiences, media, and motives.

Grow, because it’s good for you.

Our Work Directories and Life Directories compete for our attention. Does it have to be this way?

About the looking-glass self, personal branding, and how I view myself.