The Inner Monologue

Thinking Out Loud

The Hidden Waste in the Wires: Why You Shouldn’t Go from AC to DC to AC and Back Again

We live in a world where portable power stations and battery banks are becoming as common as backpacks. They’re the modern campfire — powering laptops in coffee shops, lights in tents, and even refrigerators in off-grid cabins. They promise freedom, mobility, and self-reliance. But hidden inside that freedom is a quiet inefficiency most people never…
The End of Lying? More Like the End of Fun(How AI Is About to Ruin Everyone’s Favorite Pastime)

Let’s face it—lying is a time-honored tradition. From “That haircut looks great!” to “The check is in the mail,” dishonesty is the social glue holding society together. But thanks to our relentless march toward dystopia (sorry, “progress”), AI is coming to wreck all that. Soon, you won’t just feel guilty about lying—your smart fridge will…
The Rise of Danger Tech: When Deregulation Meets the Digital Marketplace

It used to be that if you wanted to buy something that could kill you, you had to know a guy. Now, you just need an Amazon account. Across the digital marketplace, a new genre of consumer product has quietly taken root — what some call danger tech. It’s a catchall term for the kinds…
The Mountains Beneath the Sea

Stand at the rim of the Grand Canyon and look out across its vastness—the red and gold walls, the shadowed depths, the ribbon of river glinting far below. You are not just looking into a canyon. You are looking into time itself. Each layer of rock tells a story that began long before humans, long…
When Rationalization Replaces Reflection

There’s a moment, subtle but unmistakable, when conviction turns into rationalization. It’s the pivot point where people stop asking “Is this right?” and start explaining “Why this exception makes sense.” That is the moment every person, every movement, and every institution should stop and go back to first principles — to ask whether they still…
Will “Miles Per Hour” Mean Both Speed and Charging by 2030? Revisiting My 2022 Prediction

In 2022, I made an intriguing forecast about the future of electric vehicles (EVs): By 2030, the term “miles per hour” (mph) will refer to both a vehicle’s speed and its charging rate. At the time, this seemed like a bold claim—but as EV technology evolves, it’s worth examining whether this dual meaning could become…
The First Time I Felt Like a Grown-Up

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)? It wasn’t when I got a job, paid taxes, or bought something with a warranty. It wasn’t a birthday or a milestone. It was the day I realized that no one in charge actually knows what they’re doing. That’s the real…
The Paradox of Surrender: Liberty in the Name of Liberty

There is a peculiar irony that runs through the history of civilization: the ease with which free people surrender their freedom when told that doing so is the only way to protect it. Nations founded in liberty, built on suspicion of power, eventually hand that power to the very entities they once feared—always for reasons…
The Great Paperless Irony: the Bureaucracy of Going Green

There’s a certain comedy in the mailbox these days—a thick irony wrapped in recycled paper. It arrives faithfully each month, nestled among supermarket flyers and preapproved credit offers: a letter from your bank, utility, or insurance company announcing that you’ve gone paperless. In black ink, on actual paper, they remind you that you will no…
The New American Inquisition: How the Prosecution of Political Enemies Became a Campaign Strategy

In every republic’s life, there comes a moment when law ceases to be law and becomes merely the sharpest weapon in the ruling party’s arsenal. America, in late 2025, appears to be approaching that precipice. I. The List No One Wanted to See ABC News recently published a chilling inventory — a list of individuals…