Twenty Years of Firefox
Little did I know how consistently Firefox would be my window to the World Wide Web, nor how its security, and in time privacy focus, would shape my understanding of what it means to be online.
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Essays
Everything published, most recent first. Two a week: a standalone piece, and a reflection on that week's conversation.
333 essays
All
LeadershipGovernanceManagementOrganisationsStrategyEthicsPhilosophyHistoryPoliticsPsychologyTechnologyArtificial Intelligence
On Fairy-Stories and the Art of Fantasy
'Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent.'
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With a Quiet HeartOpinion
The Queen was an ever constant in a changeable and unpredictable world. Over seven decades, she was always there for us.
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The Subjective Nature of 'Nothing to Hide'Opinion
Whether you have something to hide has far more to do with who is looking than what they can see.
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Marginalia: Anatomy of a Search Engine
I wonder if there is an alternative reading in which they did not make a conscious decision to be 'evil'?
Inner Circle
5 reasons I will be celebrating the Queen’s Platinum JubileeOpinion
It becomes a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
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Pseudo-Profound Bullshit
In this context, we do well to reject the bullshitters of this world, but we do our understanding a disservice if we are sceptical to a fault.
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At A Journey's End
I have a thesis of which I am proud, and a marriage to my beautiful wife Halaina—who has been a constant source of love, joy, and support as I laboured in the archives.
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They Are TeachableOpinion
One of History's lessons is that once a group is deemed unteachable they will be placed in the category of an ever present threat to the preferred social order.
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Hugo: Or, There and Back Again
Time again at a premium, I mused on my latest quest for minimalism. In doing so I realised that I was creating as many problems as I was solving.
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Response: Sitting with Ambiguity
Sit with ambiguity, but be aware of when a seemingly circular conversation is enhancing a definitional understanding and when it is just a group of individuals unable to comprehend ambiguity hoping that a drawn out conversation will nail down the problem.
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How I Write—Long Form Research
From time to time, I contemplate how I publish. Mostly because I like 'the elegance of a refined workflow'.
The Commons
Teflon Leadership
Those who rise to the top jobs, do so not because they are better leaders or have fewer blots on their copybook — it is because they are better able to shrug off criticism and weather the blistering attacks that are directed at all holders of public office.
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Moxie and the Server
To determine if the statement is 'true', we don't need to poll everyone — only to understand the category of the statement.
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The Linux Paradigm
In science, a paradigm is a model or pattern — a typical instance or exemplar. But in rhetoric, my chosen field, it is an example or guide as to how one should behave.
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