Brad Barrish

Perfectionism often wears the mask of high standards , ambition , discipline. It parades itself as virtue, a propriety. In reality, it is rarely about the pursuit of excellence but the terror of being perceived as inadequate.

As of September 2025, approximately 170 million Americans spend, on average, one hour every day in an app that is designed to maximize psychological grip. While Congress fixates on TikTok’s data collection usages, what hasn’t received enough attention is how the platform has successfully industrialized human attention itself.

We know these platforms are bad for us, so why are they still so widely used? They tell a compelling story: that all of your frantic tapping and swiping makes you a key part of a political revolution, or a fearless investigator, or a righteous protestor – that when you’re online, you’re someone important, doing important things during an important... See more

Most AI researchers roll their eyes if you bring up the idea of consciousness. That’s for philosophers, not engineers, they say. Since no one has been able to define it, what’s the point in talking about it? I get this frustration. Few concepts are as elusive and seemingly circular as the idea of a subjective experience. Despite the definitional... See more