🌻 statement of purpose

Neo-cities : When do people start new cities vs. reforming existing ones? Is Singapore an urbanist paradise or technofascist dystopia? What can the US learn from Special Economic Zones? Can you do urban renewal right? What’s the difference between Esmeralda and California Forever? Why do most charter cities fail? How might they succeed?

21st century privacy : Why do teens have so many randos on Find My Friends? Do CCTVs work? Who ought we most fear surveillance from: corporations, the government, or each other? Should I tell Claude my secrets? Should I use a period tracking app? How much will people trade privacy for safety and convenience? What is being lost, and how might we rec... See more

one of my favorite Ken Liushort stories reflects on the narrator’s attempt to remember his departed wife. He writes:

I can’t remember the dress she wore or what she had bought; I can’t remember what we did for the rest of that afternoon; I can’t re-create the exact timbre of her voice or the precise shapes of her features, the lines at the corners o

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That is: we don’t—we can’t—remember everything. Humans are at least as lossy as AI is, but the details we keep matter. Two people can attend a party and leave with entirely different impressions; 300 million can witness the same election and debate whether a fraud or landslide has occurred. A photograph says more about its creator than its subject.... See more