02

Discovery & Dignity

How do we push the frontier while preserving human value?

Latest10.26.26

There’s a story I heard years ago, on This American Life, that I think about often. A hot dog factory, here in Chicago, moved from their old factory to a gleaming new one and found that their hot dogs lost the bright color and snap that was their trademark. For a year and a half, they experimented with ingredients,…

Read note
10.08.26

That’s the grand bargain: build it, but make it work for everyone. That means discovery, progress, and growth alongside safety, shared prosperity, and the protection of—the exaltation of—what is distinctly human.

Read note
09.09.26

This tweet thread about leaving Anthropic has gone viral. In brief, the poster, Jacob Coxon, left because he saw the extreme recklessness of 1) believing that AI can (or will) destroy humanity and 2) building it anyway.

Read note
08.29.26

Bill Gates wrote an essay where he talks about what AI is going to do to the world, and how we’re not doing enough to prepare for it.

Read note
08.19.26

We’ve got to stop calling AI companies “labs.” They’re companies wearing “lab” as sheep’s clothing.

Read note
08.18.26

There’s a story about The Beatles’ Yesterday that I love. From Wikipedia (condensed):

Read note
08.17.26

Nan Ransohoff argues that we’re at the dawn of the third wave of American philanthropy.

Read note
06.21.26

Gary Shteyngart, in conversation with Ezra Klein:

Read note
06.16.26

Innovation demands integrity.

Read note
02.21.26

Anthropic is reportedly in a dispute with the Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the use of its models.

Read note
12.01.25

Last week, the Trump Administration issued an executive order launching the “Genesis Mission.” In brief, it kicks off a national effort led by the Department of Energy to coordinate AI-driven scientific research across fields including advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear fission and…

Read note
10.02.25

This week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of senior military leaders to a meeting in Quantico so he could lecture them about setting and meeting higher standards .

Read note

Essays

6 volumes