An essay series · 2026
The Inversion,
in plain language
Seven short essays. The argument of the working paper with the scaffolding taken down.
For two hundred years, every information technology eventually leaked the power to create back out to ordinary people. The channel got captured; the capability kept coming home. I argue artificial intelligence is the first one that runs the other way, and that the reopening which always rescued us before is not coming on its own this time. We build it, or there isn’t one.
This is that case, made for a person and not a committee. Read it in order, or jump to the piece you need.
Watch · the illusion of democratization
A short overview of the argument · 4:51 · self-hosted, no tracking.
- 0173 SecondsWhere the comfortable story about technology breaks, and why it breaks somewhere you would not expect.
- 02Pass, or Get SortedHow I learned to read systems, and why you follow the power, not the money.
- 03The Car You Still OwnedTwo hundred years of monopolies, and the one thing they could never quite take.
- 04Five QuestionsAn instrument for measuring whether a technology sets you free or fences you in.
- 05You Can’t Enter the KitchenWhy “free to use” and “yours to own” are not the same thing.
- 06Two FivesTelevision scored what AI scores. Here is why one reopened and the other may not.
- 07Nobody’s ComingWhy the fix has to be built now, by us, and what building it actually looks like.