Are we ever justified in lying?

If you could go back in time, you'd be the same schmuck you've always been, only younger.

Trying to make computers pass as human can tell us a good bit about what it means to be human in the first place.

All technologies have an implicit model of what a user is, and the more we use them, the less we can help living up to however much or little they expect of us.

A good checklist can change the world.

In a world that's never before been so civilized, there remains something deeply wild about the sea.

We can better understand and orient ourselves to technology if we consider it a living thing.

When you escape North Korea, many hardships are over, but many more are just beginning.

Everything is a virus.

The virtue of a goal is not to be found as much in its accomplishment as in the direction and meaning it can give a life.

How William Adams became the first caucasian samurai.

People can do awful things to get what they want, and they may still turn out worse for getting it.

War is a narcotic for societies.

Not all neurological conditions are deficits; some heighten their bearers' brain function in ways beyond our capacity to easily recognize.

Don't let high ideals distract you from the needs of those you're designing for.

Reflections on completing my twenty-fifth year on earth

Our lives comprise many stories at a time, even though we can't always see them all.

Beware anything that's defended most often by attacking its alternatives.

Obsession is never about the thing you're obsessed with.

Heroism is much more fraught for real people than it is for superheroes.