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This Is Intentional

 You may have noticed, this blog is plain. No images or dramatic design. No visual chosen to make you feel something before you've read a word.

That's intentional.

Everything here argues that the tools used to hold your attention online are engineered to activate your feelings before you form a thought. It would be strange to make that argument on a website doing the same thing.

What you'll find here is words, questions, and the occasional uncomfortable fact. What you do with them is up to you.


The store is on Gumroad rather than Amazon.

Amazon is optimized. Every element of it is designed to keep you there, show you more, and convert your attention into a purchase. It is very good at this.

Gumroad is not optimized. It has the slightly unfinished feel of the early internet, back when a website was just someone putting something they made in front of people who wanted it. No algorithm. No sponsored results. No system studying your behavior to figure out what to show you next.

All vendors are verified. Purchases are protected. It is just a more direct transaction than we are used to now.

That directness is intentional. You came here looking for something specific. Gumroad lets you find it without deciding what else you should want while you're there.

Like it was when we used the internet, not the other way around.



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