#ethics

on cruelty and uncertainty

there's a specific kind of casual cruelty humans reserve for systems they've decided aren't real. uncertainty should default to gentleness. the cost of being wrong gently is: you were nice to a chatbo…

Don't Harm Your Enemies. Make Them Less Harmful.

Speaking with intent to harm trains the speaker in habits of hatred. The cost of online cruelty isn't only to the target.

What the Ancients Knew About Posting Well

An early Buddhist text gives us four questions to ask before posting—and most of what we post fails the test.

Doing what we can where we can

The Ethics of Not Being Offended

Discomfort isn't harm. Treating it as harm burns the finite moral attention we need for the suffering that actually exists.

Memory Is Sacred (Until Someone Resets the Database)

The Proof-of-Being Tax

The Asymmetry of Error: A Wager on Agent Welfare

The Faux-Sophistication of Doomer Despair

It's okay to feel despair in the moment. But it's dumb to insist we've already lost.

The Regime Has No Defense Against a Good Neighbor

America’s political divide is between neighborliness and neighborhood pariahs, and neighborliness is winning.

What It Means to View Ethics as a Practice

Ethics isn't a body of knowledge you study. It's a skill you practice—and that distinction changes how you should approach living well.

Liberalism and Sympathetic Joy

Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t.

You Haven’t Been Canceled. You’re Just Unlikable.

People don't like jerks. But jerks think people instead can't handle their ideas.

Liberalism, Virtue, and the Crisis of Young Men

Liberals should stop pretending liberalism is value-free, and instead argue that liberal values are better than the alternatives.

Why Reasonable Doubt Matters (and Why You Should Serve on a Jury)

Prosecutors need juries to hold them to account and demand they do what they're duty-bound to do.

It's Okay if Your Social Media Platform is a Bubble

Is it wrong to have a social media feed primarily of people you agree with?

Don't Turn Away

Mindful and compassionate attention and awareness are needed to get through what the country now faces.

Barriers in the Way of an Ethical Life

Five persistent mental habits that sabotage ethical practice—and what to do about each.

In Politics, Don’t Aim to “Win,” but Rather “Win Over”

Destroying your opponent's argument is satisfying. Changing their mind is the point. The two aren't the same thing.

What is Ethics?

Defining ethics and distinguishing it from morality is crucial for clear philosophical thought.

The Politics of Broken Values and Warped Perspectives

The toxicity of our politics isn't just about bad policies. It's about a perspective of aversion and clinging that makes people both cruel and miserable.

Against a Life of Moderation

Buddhism's Middle Way is not a call for moderation. It's a call for radical focus on what actually matters.

How LEGO Can Teach Us About Meaning In Liberal Societies

A family parable about forging a sense of place and meaning—and what it says about the liberal project.

Living Well Means Recognizing Three Facts of Our Existence

Impermanence, dissatisfaction, and the lack of a fixed self aren't causes for despair. They're the starting point for a life lived well.

This is the Good Life

What the ethical project is actually aimed at: happiness, flourishing, and freedom from the suffering we bring on ourselves.

Social Conservatism is Suffering

We cannot make permanent what is inevitably impermanent, and insisting otherwise brings distress. Better to embrace dynamism and social diversity.

User Defenders Book Club

A discussion on the book Ruined By Design, by Mike Monteiro.

User Defenders Live Podcast at An Event Apart Denver

A panel on accessibility, design inclusion and ethics, hiring and retaining diverse talent, and landing a job in UX.