The slow death of the California dream- Published in The Spectator, Jan 2025

The Romans built aqueducts stretching hundreds of miles in less time than it takes to permit an outbuilding in California — and their aqueducts actually held water Monday, January 13, 2025 The Pacific Ocean is seen in the distance beyond palm trees and the charred remains of homes destroyed by the

No matter who wins, you lose - Published in The Spectator, Nov 2024

What do you think one man and a few ‘based’ people can do against hundreds of rotting bureaucracies? Monday, November 4, 2024 For some of us, watching newly minted Republican tech bros giddy at the thought of a Trump win fills us with a painful nostalgia. There’s a sadness

Has Libertarianism in Tech Died? - Co-Authored with Erik Voorhees, May 2023

Twitter commentators claimed as much after technology entrepreneurs demanded a Federal bailout of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”). This bank, which provided financial services to ~50 percent of all US venture-backed tech and life science companies, had taken customer deposits and invested them into what are supposed to be risk-free investments:

Barbie McWorld- Published in IM-1776, August 2023

Escaping the Malibu Longhouse: A Review of Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" When IM—1776 invited me to write a review of the new Barbie movie, my first impulse was to decline. I watch a couple of movies a year, usually under duress, on account of my aversion

Walking With Nietzsche- Published in IM-1776, October 2022

A Tour Through Friedrich Nietzsche's Favorite Cities and Walks “Friedrich Nietzsche knew the fullness of spirit that tempts the unknown; the Will to Power that drives the hero.” — Plaque at Piazza Carlo Alberto, Turin “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

Land Of The Free?- Published in IM-1776, Jan 2021

America was built on freedom. A freedom that descends from painstakingly crafted documents that defined an objective: to protect the individual from systems that could encroach their natural rights. These ideas were put forward by minds lost to the myths of history. The Federalist Papers were written by pseudonymous polymaths

Leveraging Compute Talk- Columbia University, November 2019

With access to data and compute allowing for demonstrable breakthroughs in machine learning, what role does Moore’s Law play for those working in software? How does data science and machine learning contribute to Moore’s Law continuation? What does technology progress look like in practice?

Your Walden Moment- Unpublished, June 2017

Did you ever read Thoreau’s Walden? In the book, Thoreau lays out his 2 year adventure cutting himself off from society and living in woodland owned by his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s an amazing tale of seclusion, self-sufficiency, introspection and personal growth. It's definitely worth

Endemic Pathogens Are Making You Crazy And Then Killing You: Toxoplasmosis Spotlight

In February 2022, Jim Keller organized a scientific anarchism event in Woodside, California. Scientific anarchism, a term borrowed from the controversial philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, concerns the way science is performed in the laboratory and the way that ideas are generated, refuted, and incorporated into the accepted scientific body

Scientific & Philosophical Anarchy with Justin Murphy- March 2022

Science, philosophy and doing whatever you want. Other Life Show - Recorded March 2022

Why Our Belief Systems Create Misperceptions- Published in The European, Nov 2014

Should we be shocked that people believe irrational things? Not really. We bombard children with information before we teach them how to think critically. It’s a daily mass murder of malleable mindsets. Since I can remember, I’ve contemplated that perhaps I might just be an imposter, some sort

Our Inability to Plan Strategically- Published in The European, May 2015

We would do better for the world spreading critical reasoning tools than raising endless sums of capital to be fluttered around. Last month, I was asked to present at a Silicon Valley conference focused around ‘Strategy’. This gave me hope, as strategy seems to be one of the most under-appreciated

The Death Of My Father- Diary March 2021

They asked me if I wanted to see the body. I wasn't sure what they meant. There was my father- who a few days before I had been shouting at to try and fight harder- crumpled, small, wrapped up in a white sheet. The rigor mortis of his

Viva Las Vegas? Published in The Spectator, May 2020

The West is dying and we are killing her. We’re proud to destroy our own freedoms and repackage failure as democratic progress. We champion our rolling-out of red tape, the bureaucratic creep that strangles a nation’s liberty. The American Dream has been replaced by mass-packaged mediocrity porn, encouraging

Joining Intel- Published on Medium, May 2019

In February 2019, I joined Intel as Senior Director for Strategic Technology Initiatives. Here’s why I joined: * The role of hardware. After five years of focusing on artificial intelligence and software in VC, it appeared to me that all tech progress (and potentially then *all* scientific progress) fundamentally depends

Epistemological Anarchism- Diary, Feb 2022

My aunt died on Valentines Day. I knew it because I couldn't sleep. I stayed up the whole night having heart palpitations. I texted my close friends to tell them I was having an anxiety attack, for no apparent reason. The same thing had happened two years back,

Marvin Minsky Didn’t Live To See Artificial General Intelligence. You Might Not Either. - Unpublished, January 2016

As we mourn the loss of Marvin Minsky, one of the founding fathers of Artificial Intelligence, let us look at the significance of what he started. AI is an undertaking that should be considered one of the most significant attempts to improve the human condition. Yet, much more of today’

The Hazy Blur Between Parody and Reality In The New Technological Era- Unpublished Essay, August 2018

‘We can get you the capital by end of day’ was just one of the many emails that the Rocket AI team had received after unveiling a website about their new startup. Launching in 2017, Rocket AI claimed to be the new global leader in neurologically-inspired applied machine learning, building

Love and Beauty in a Time of Machine Intelligence- Published in The European, Jan 2015

Why we find beauty where we least expect it. Last year at a conference titled Transhumanist Visions, I presented on a question that had perplexed me for the last few years- the idea of whether a futurist technological age - some sort of singularity era - was aesthetically beautiful.  As

6am- Published in The Idealist Magazine, Nov 2015

It’s an appropriate time to write about sleep. 6 am in San Francisco, the morning light jabbing in like lightning bolts through the blinds of my bedroom bay windows. The sound of early risers in nearby houses, opening shutters, closing doors, going to work, again, again. It’s the

The Grandest Vision For Humanity- Wedding Speech, 2014

Wedding speech for Miranda and Ruby, Berkeley Planetarium, March 2014 The universe is complex and beautiful. When we listen to stories of humanity, life and death, we can’t fathom the complexity of the narratives of all those who have lived before us, of all those who will live after

Finance: An Industry Based on Psychology- Published on Medium, November 2015

Can Bayesian causal maps improve investor decision making? Contents PART 1 1. Holding Venture Capital in the Wrong Regard 2. Testing Old Assumptions in Venture Capital 3. LPs Need to Not Outsource by Necessity 4. Why Investment is a Psychological Game 5. Investment from First Principles- the Need for Systematic

The Future Doesn’t Care About Your Start-Up- Published on Medium, July 2014

Venture Capitalists of the future need to resemble the Philosopher-Kings of the Past. How do we find a way to ensure and safeguard a positive advancement for humanity whilst fulfilling short-term financial incentives? Innovation and venture capital in a world of global risks Throughout a philosophy degree, you’re confronted

Rocket AI: 2016’s Most Notorious AI Launch and the Problem with AI Hype- Published Medium, December 2016

It’s 3 AM on a warm Thursday night in December, a usually quiet street in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona is bustling with activity, as a cohort of 200 artificial intelligence researchers leave in single-file out of a sprawling yellow mansion. The police count heads as the researchers film

Dangerous Minds- The Risk of Belief Systems. Published in The European, November 2014

On the dichotomy between belief and action. As a species, we are faced by global threats and potential existential risks. An existential risk, as defined by Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, is a situation that would either annihilate Earth-originating intelligent life or permanently and drastically curtail its potential...one where