There was a time when finding your way required more than a signal. In the early years of my military service, I used a PLGR, a Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver. The name suggested something more refined than the device itself. It was large, deliberate, and slow to orient. Acquiring a signal could take time, and … Continue reading The Machines That Verify Us
Category: Technology and Modernity
Essays examining how modern technologies shape society, culture, and human behavior.
When “Accredited” Isn’t Enough
A young student asks a simple question: Is this college accredited? The answer is yes. The better question is never asked. In the American imagination, accreditation functions as a kind of institutional seal. It suggests legitimacy, baseline quality, and a degree that will carry weight beyond the walls of the issuing school. It is a … Continue reading When “Accredited” Isn’t Enough
Never Trust, Always Verify
There is a phrase in cybersecurity that, once heard, is difficult to ignore. Never trust. Always verify. It is presented as a principle of good design, a response to hostile networks and persistent threats. But like many such principles, it carries with it a quiet assumption, that trust, as a default posture, is no longer … Continue reading Never Trust, Always Verify
The Age of Authentication
There is a quiet shift underway in how we are expected to exist online. It does not announce itself with the force of a new technology, nor with the clarity of a single policy. It appears instead as a requirement, a small prompt during account creation, a field to be filled, a box to be … Continue reading The Age of Authentication
The Robot Monk
A humanoid robot named Gabi reportedly took Buddhist vows this week at a temple in Seoul. The headlines wrote themselves almost immediately. “Robot monk.” “AI converts to Buddhism.” “Humanoid takes vows.” The story circulated with the predictable mixture of fascination, amusement, and mild existential discomfort that seems to accompany nearly every modern AI milestone. At … Continue reading The Robot Monk
You Thought It Was Free
There is an old saying—updated for the digital age—that if something is free, you are the product. It is a useful warning, though I am no longer sure it is sufficient. Because now, it seems to me, you may also be the labor. I am reminded, as well, of the older phrase from The Moon … Continue reading You Thought It Was Free
The Economics of Modern War: Factories, Drones, and the Fragile Ecology of Trust
The Price of Interception Modern warfare has developed a strange economic imbalance. A missile interceptor costing several million dollars may be launched to destroy a drone assembled from a few hundred dollars’ worth of electronics. The exchange is tactically successful yet economically unsettling, revealing how the structure of war may be changing. In some recent … Continue reading The Economics of Modern War: Factories, Drones, and the Fragile Ecology of Trust
