Here are pieces that are either my personal favorites or have been well-received.
(Click here to see more of my published work.)
Rat Traps — Asterisk
Why do rationalist writings sound all the same?
Talk Therapy: A tribute to the Longform podcast — The Point
On the end of the great Longform podcast.
When Literature Meets Philosophy — On Philosophical Science Fiction — The New Republic
A review of Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories in praise of philosophical science fiction.
Steven Yeun’s Perfect Accent in “Minari” — The New Yorker
On the film “Minari” and the experience of living as a non-native speaker in America.
The Magic of Tiny-Home Videos — The New York Times Magazine
About my year of watching tiny-home videos on YouTube.
A Reading List on Why We Run — Longreads
An essay and commentaries on six pieces of writings on running.
A Tale of Two Clubs — Nassau Weekly
On Princeton’s eating clubs: Ivy and Terrace.
Inside the Cult of the Haskell Programmer — WIRED
On Haskell — a cult classic of programming languages.
JavaScript Runs the World—Maybe Even Literally — WIRED
A defense of JavaScript — a silly-ass language that everyone loves to hate but more powerful (and egalitarian) than you think.
What We Lost When Twitter Became X — The New Yorker
About my time at the bird app and what the future might hold.
The Case for Software Criticism — WIRED
Why isn’t there “software criticism” like there is film criticism or book criticism? Software may be the defining cultural artifact of our time. So why isn’t there a culture of critical analysis around it?
How Google Docs Proved the Power of Less — WIRED
A piece of software criticism on Google Docs.
The Hidden History of Screen Readers — The Verge
On blind programmers who have, for decades, created screen readers for the visually impaired community.