One definition of cognitive dissonance is a feeling derived from holding two contradictory beliefs at the same time. It's a discomfort arising from the inconsistency, the logical gap in reality. I feel it now between my internal interpretation of an experience vs how others interpreted that same experience.
In the past few years I've been thinking a lot about curses. How do we keep repeating these cycles of choosing hatred of others instead of our own interests? And all my thoughts have led back to the original sin of the West that's never been atoned for. Racism.
Working in tech, you're bombarded by people with crazy goals and promises to change the world. Oftentimes, it's hard to tell if they're being delusional or just lying. But that attitude is what attracted me to this field. The premise of aiming as high
Typically, I take a sceptical look at tech and the trends of the day, but there are several areas I feel very optimistic about. While the modern tech industry deserves all the scepticism it receives (and likely more), there are a lot of areas companies are pursuing that truly have
After Meta revealed their new Ray Ban Displays I've been further convinced that smart glasses will be the next device category to become a part of our daily life. The tech industry has been in search of the next platform for a long time, and every attempt has
About a year ago, I decided to stop posting on Instagram. For years, it had been the only social media app I regularly shared anything from my life. Every trip, every concert, every notable event. It was nice to feel connected to friends who now lived far away, and we
In the past, I've been negative about the prospects of the world moving to decentralised social media platforms. The average person doesn't care if their data is being misused or locked in. Not enough to leave at least, they just want to have a good time.
The Kendrick Lamar halftime show reminded me of the importance of authenticity. Going into it, I expected a lot of compromises. I expected him to lean into his biggest hits and more melodic songs. Instead, he did the most authentic performance I've ever seen. It was political. It
It feels like the right time to move on from Twitter. For a long time, Twitter was my favourite social network. It felt like the beating heart of the internet. Whenever something happens, you can go to Twitter to find expert opinions alongside memes. It wasn't a social
I always get this question and a curious look when I explain that I'm building a project for email newsletters. "Those annoying emails?" is what I think most people are thinking. Newsletters do have a bad reputation due to being classed with shitty marketing so the
2024 has been a year of pretty much no growth for my main project, InboxReads. I did start the year with lofty ambitions but those have failed to materialise. Yet I'm still optimistic about the project. Learning my market I started the year thinking I knew what the
It seems that major tech companies are placing two major bets on the "next platform:" Artificial Intelligence and Augmented/Virtual Reality. Meta has dabbled in AI, but it's poured a ton of money into AR and VR in the past decade. They've been tackling
Tech
The following tweet might easily be one of the most unintentionally dystopian posts I've seen. At first, it seems fine. Changes to APIs on iOS can harm the app ecosystem and what's possible for developers. But this part sticks out. Have you seen it yet? a
Politics
For a long stretch of human history, meritocracy would have been a foreign concept. People were born into positions and no one expected to be in a different position at the end of their lives. The promise of meritocracy must have been intoxicating for the masses when it became a
Thoughts
There I've said it. The decision by major tech companies to add native dark mode support to their operating systems is the biggest mistake in the last decade. Does it look like you're doing some cool hacks with Angelina Jolie? I guess. But does it look
Side Projects
Pieter Levels recently kicked off a big discussion online about the state of web infrastructure. He says that developers are being pushed towards using frameworks and services for their products with the promise that they take away a lot of complexity in exchange for high subscription fees but doing things
It's been a hell of a year. At one point I dubbed it the year of rejection. Getting laid off certainly felt so. Everything I had been building towards in the last few years was about to be snatched away from me. The foundation I built was just
Tech
Things tend to come in pairs. The Illusionist and The Prestige were two films about magicians released within months of each other inviting inevitable comparison. This year we have the AIs-in-a-box with the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin both dropping just weeks apart. The search for the next platform
Apple's Vision Pro is undoubtedly the best VR headset ever made. They've created an experience that surpasses what others have been doing for years and it looks cool too. But is it enough? Many will say just give it time and this is how every other
Life
I remember reading this Sam Altman post almost a decade ago about important lessons he learnt before turning 30. At the time 30 seemed like such a significant number. The end of youth. A moment where you're accumulated wisdom and your experiences would be so vast you could
Streaming
There's been an uproar online since Netflix's plans to block "password sharing" leaked. And it feels pretty justified. In an attempt to make shareholders happy with their plateauing growth, Netflix has decided to squeeze more out of the users it already has. First came
Politics
Or princesses and princes for that matter Just as there are no good billionaires. You can't be a good person and a monarch. You can't believe in the divine right of your bloodline to rule, and be a good person. Any good person in that position
Tech
Every few years some new trend comes along and promises to reshape the tech industry and wider world. It usually starts in niche spaces, then a few startups, then the tech giants join, and pretty soon everyone is talking about it. It's in the news, on late night
Streaming
James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was released this past weekend to disappointing box office results of just $26.5 million in the US. There are a lot of mitigating factors for this though. The pandemic, of course, the surge in new cases due to the Delta variant and