Davos is once again upon us as the little gods of this world confab over how to manage us wayward peasants. For decades the men and women who gather annually at Davos have presented themselves as the stewards of progress. They speak the language of the future: innovation, disruption, optimization, resilience, while casting their vision...
Category: Essays
If Liberty Matters, Then Culture Matters As Well.
Modern liberal societies often comfort themselves with a simple proposition: that neutral laws, applied equally, are sufficient to preserve liberty regardless of cultural change. Yet recent controversies surrounding speech policing in England, particularly in cases involving religious offense, suggest this confidence may be misplaced. When laws apply equally in theory but are enforced unevenly in...
The Fortunate Misadventures of Julian Fog Episode Nine Graveyard of the Warborn
The stars out here were wrong. Thin. Dead-looking. This part of space felt like something had carved a hole in reality and left it to rot. The Fogrunner slid through it, engines on whisper-burn, every external light dimmed. Outside, the Irexis Belt sprawled. A loose collection of rock, ice, and metal twisted into a lazy,...
Nobody Likes A Know-It-All
Nobody likes a know-it-all. That alone should probably tell us something. And yet, the know-it-all persists. Not because he’s especially wise, but because he wants something - admiration if possible, domination if necessary. The point isn’t understanding; it’s authority. The goal isn’t learning; it’s winning. Ideas become trophies. Conversations become competitions. Humility becomes optional. This...
Managed Reality – Prophetic Warnings from 1999
Cinema occasionally functions not merely as entertainment, but as a kind of cultural semaphore, a coded alert transmitted to the collective psyche when certain truths cannot yet be confessed openly. Between 1998 and 1999, three films emerged in uncanny proximity: Dark City, The Thirteenth Floor, and The Matrix. Each examined a world in which human...
Julian Fog Episode Seven – Ghosts, Guns, And The Iron Funeral
A storm of shattered stars and drifting nebular mist hung outside the cockpit windows like the aftermath of a cosmic fistfight. The Fogrunner drifted through it, engines on low burn, cloaked in the pale blue glow of stealth mode. Inside, Julian Fog sat hunched in the pilot’s chair, eyes narrowed, tapping his fingers on the...
If I Were An Honorable Man
If I were an honorable man, I suppose I might say a few things I’m apparently no longer qualified to say. I might say that grown adults shouldn’t speak to one another like feral children playing dominance games on the schoolyard. I might say that public power, the kind held in trust, not seized for...
Global Stability – Ananke’s Tale
Ananke never blinked, never slept, and never made mistakes. It was humanity’s masterpiece, the global optimizer. It managed power grids, food distribution, transportation logistics, emergency response, and climate stabilization. After decades of wrestling with famine, war, and political paralysis, Ananke became a welcomed stabilizing force in a fractured world. Humans still occupied positions of leadership,...
Hope In A Failing Age
I'm not sure how many out there are like me, someone who's stepped back from the noise. I appreciate all the folks I see on here who try to enlighten and elevate others. I appreciate those who simply create and think. In a crumbling world, I see hope in individuals. On the other hand, I’ve...
The Fragile Human: Tragedy and Villainy
I was told this week of parents who lost a child in a household accident. It reminded me of a close friend absentmindedly leaving his child in the car at the store. It didn’t turn into tragedy; but the dad was traumatized by those brief moments for years afterward. Had it turned tragic, I’m sure...