ESSAYS
Essays and reflections
Long-form writing on philosophy, technology, culture, faith, work, and the questions that shape a life.
The Fiction of Global Authority
The View from the Northern Balcony Every October, an elaborate ritual takes place across the Scandinavian capitals. In Oslo and Stockholm, small committees meet…
Light, Spacetime, and the Return from Separation
The Limit of Motion and the Stillness of Light The speed of light in a vacuum, fixed at precisely 299,792,458 meters per second, is…
Toward the Century of Meaning
The Disappearance of the Save Command When the browser window became the primary writing surface in the mid-2000s, an ancient muscle memory began to…
Voices Carried Across Decades
The Distant Theater of Print and Celluloid My first awareness of Vietnam was formed through the medium of paper and ink, long before I…
Memory, Modernity, and the Latinization of the Vietnamese Voice
Observations on the Northern Road Walking through the wide, tree-lined boulevards of Hanoi, one encounters a society moving with calm, unmistakable velocity. At street…
The Pragmatist in Rubber Sandals
The Red River Behind Us Our second morning in Vietnam begins with the hum of a tour coach making its deliberate way out of…
The Cult of the Deterministic Mind
The Eclipse of the Spoken Word Every major technological shift eventually undergoes an intellectual narrowing, an inward retreat where radical possibilities are quietly reshaped…
The Poetics of Transparent Sound
The Moving Frame Every philosophy of listening is, at its root, an autobiography of temperament. The music we return to over decades rarely reflects…
Walking Home from the Library in an Age of Ease
The Surprising Turn Toward Ancient Sanctuaries News reports over the past few seasons have noted an unexpected pattern emerging across the United States. Significant…
Where Merit Ends and Providence Begins
The Pew and the Passing Verdict Sunday morning in a Philippine parish unfolds with a sensory density that leaves little room for abstract detachment.…
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