The Inner Monologue

Thinking Out Loud

That Time a Sheriff’s Big Brain Solution to Drugs Was… Just Poison Everyone

Because nothing says “justice” like a little casual mass murder. You’ve heard this one before. Some grizzled, mustachioed sheriff—probably while chewing tobacco and glaring at a mugshot of a teenager who dared to smoke weed—declares, “Hell, I could solve the drug problem overnight if they’d just let me lace all that crap with poison!” Cue…
Why Skyscrapers Don’t Topple Like Your Elm Tree in a Thunderstorm.

Oh, hello there, concerned citizen of the internet! I see you’ve been staring up at a skyscraper, sweating nervously, wondering if the next stiff breeze will send it crashing down like a giant steel-and-glass Jenga tower. Fear not, you anxious little gremlin, because physics—yes, that thing you slept through in high school—has already solved this…
Why America’s Health Care System is a Hot Mess (And How to Fix It)

Let’s be real: the U.S. health care system is like a Rube Goldberg machine designed by a sadist. You jump through hoops, fill out forms in triplicate, and still end up with a bill that looks like the national debt of a small country. Meanwhile, 30 million people are uninsured because—surprise!—tying health care to your…
Why Bother Learning When You Can Just Google It?

Ah, education—that thing we all suffered through for 12+ years just to immediately forget 90% of it the second we got our hands on a diploma. Remember algebra? Of course you don’t. Remember the causes of the French Revolution? Nope, but hey, at least you can drunkenly argue about politics on Facebook without any of…
“AI Will Decide the 2028 Election—And No, You Don’t Get a Say”

Oh, good news, democracy fans! By the time the 2028 U.S. presidential election rolls around, your vote won’t just be competing with gerrymandering, dark money, and cable news pundits—it’ll also be up against an army of hyper-intelligent AI systems that know you better than your therapist, your ex, or even your Alexa. Remember when we…
Surplus Eggs and the Alienation of Reproduction

Marx argued that capitalism does not merely extract labor; it reorganizes life so that extraction appears natural. The most effective systems of exploitation are not enforced by violence, but by internalization—when the worker’s body, habits, and expectations align with the needs of production. The modern laying hen is a biological case study in this process.…
The Case for a Minimum Standard of Government:

Why the World Must Draw a Line Against Institutionalized Inhumanity There is a dangerous idea woven into the fabric of modern international relations—so embedded, so unquestioned, that we rarely bother to say it out loud: any entity that calls itself a government is entitled to be treated as one. It need only control territory, exert…
Two Visions of Progress: For the Greater Good, or for the Few

Every society carries a hidden dualism within its conception of “progress.” It is rarely spoken aloud, but it is always present—two competing visions that define how nations grow, what they value, and whom they ultimately serve. Progress can be imagined as a rising tide that lifts the entire community, or as an ever-higher pedestal for…
When Humanity Decided It Had Gone Far Enough

The modern world likes to tell a simple story about progress. It is linear. It is inevitable. It is self-justifying. Each generation inherits more technology, more knowledge, more power than the last, and any resistance to this trajectory is framed as ignorance, fear, or nostalgia. But history tells a messier, more honest story. Again and…
I Am Not Prolific. I Am Inconsistent.

One of the most common questions I get is some variation of:How do you write so much? It’s a fair question. By the numbers, it looks a little absurd. Over the past 261 days, I’ve published 759 posts. Do the math and you land just shy of three posts per day. To an outside observer,…