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Build Something · Essays

ESSAYS

Arguments for a different kind of technology.

A mother and daughter looking out over Lisbon from a café window
Newest essay · October 6, 2026

Maybe China Should Win

What does it mean if China wins?

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A mountain road branches through mist, with one route opening into sunlight
Essay · September 11, 2026

The Path Forward

America’s AI: Divided We Fall. Humans have to decide where we want to go before giving machines the power to get there.

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A woman pauses with her pencil over an architectural plan, choosing before acting
Latest essay · September 10, 2026

We solved the alignment problem in five questions or less.

Five questions. The proposed master prompt. The evidence. An open challenge to the AI labs.

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A woman’s face and fragmented reflections in dark architectural glass
Latest essay · September 8, 2026

AI Labs Are Lying to You.

AI alignment is an incentive problem. The evidence, the unanswered questions, and a demand for human authority.

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A sunlit evidence file on a courtroom table, held open by a human hand
Essay 01 · Build Something

The Internet Is on Trial.

Not because it is evil. Because it keeps guessing.

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A human hand beside a watch in a brief pool of sunlight
Essay · Build Something

One Minute a Day Is Worth at Least $50,000 a Year.

A public hypothesis about the economic value of one minute of declared human judgment each day.

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A diver’s inspection light reveals steel from a sunken ship
Essay · Build Something

Is AI Poisoning Your Mind? Time To Find Out.

Is AI actually poisoning your mind? We don’t know. Nobody does. That’s the problem this essay is about.

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A hand reaches for a pen beside rules already written by somebody else
Essay · Build Something

Someone Wrote the Rules. It Wasn’t You.

This is not an article you read. It’s one you answer.

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A woman caught in a spontaneous laugh at a comedy club
Essay · News From The Jon

You Laughed. Was That AI?

Three jokes. Three guesses. Can you tell which were written by AI?

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A hand chooses one meaningful photograph from hundreds of prints
Essay · Build Something

The Future’s Most Valuable Skill Won’t Be Creating. It Will Be Recognizing.

Anyone can make anything now. The making was never the hard part. Choosing was.

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A worn green thermos on the passenger seat after work
Essay · Build Something

A Machine Should Notice You, Not Optimize You

Same technology. Opposite intent. One of them was always the wrong one to build.

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An older person’s hands opening a family photo album
Essay · Build Something

We Built a Memory Crisis and Called It Content

We recorded everything and remembered nothing. The feed was built to keep your attention, not your life.

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An unposted moment alone at a kitchen table after an event
Essay · Build Something

Social Media Preserves Performance. It Doesn’t Preserve People.

The feed keeps the performance. The person is in the parts you never posted.

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A person seen through rain and reflections, beyond the data on their laptop
Essay · Build Something

You Are Not Your Search History.

The data is real. The person it describes was never there. They sold the file and called it you.

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A construction worker rests over tacos and a beer beside a café window
Essay · Build Something

Advertising That Stops Interrupting.

Recognition advertising: the brand was never the answer. It’s the evidence the moment was real.

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