Local Maxima
In math, local maxima are points on a graph that look like peaks when you zoom in, but aren't the highest points overall (those are called global maxima (see the sketch below)).
This blog is a collection of those — observations, philosophical inquiries, and the occasional half-formed argument from someone fully aware that there are far higher summits than whatever I happen to write about (many of which you can find here).
Most of it lives at the intersection of ethics, venture, and emerging technology. Some of it is rigorous. Most of it is not.
If you have thoughts or feedback, please do reach out. I'd love to chat.
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A response to Kant's 'What Is Enlightenment?' (1784), asking whether modern democracies can cultivate citizens who think for themselves, and what that means for the kind of democracy we live under today.
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A follow-up on rebuilding the engine that scores Whel's drug-repurposing signals for under-researched hormonal conditions affecting women.
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A follow-up detailing the most significant updates and setbacks to Whel, including its new external validation architecture and grounding plans.
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Takeaways from Betaworks' Agent Systems Camp Demo Day, including standout companies, big themes, and lingering questions about agentic software.
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A working theory applying social-movement research and participation thresholds to consumer apps, with Facebook and BeReal as case studies.
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How and why I built Whel, a drug-repurposing research tool mining scattered evidence for under-researched hormonal conditions affecting women.
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Why the SaaS sell-off may be net-positive: cheap software frees early-stage capital to fund hard, capital-intensive things.
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Why whole categories of problems can only be touched if non-technical people decide to build anyway, framed through Aristotle's delight in knowing.
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Why certain nascent technologies deserve to exist at scale, and how early-stage investing is a disciplined form of moral imagination.
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How SpaceX and a new cohort of defense startups are reviving American defense innovation through risk-taking, speed, and entrepreneurial spirit.
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An industry report mapping software-first innovation across water, utilities, construction, and built environment, with investment criteria and market trends.
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How a distributed network of Ukrainian startups and volunteer engineers turned the battlefield into a rapid-prototyping accelerator for drone technology.
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How linguistic and cultural inclusion drives adoption of digital finance platforms like GCash, GoPay, and MoMo across Southeast Asia.
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Aging infrastructure, a retiring workforce, and AI-driven modernization are turning 'boring' utilities into a frontier for innovation and investment.
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How Morocco fused decarbonization with water policy — solar-powered desalination, female-founded startups, and state capital — into a model for climate-stressed economies.
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An interview with NVIDIA's Dr. Karthik Kashinath on Earth-2 — the AI digital twin built to simulate and forecast weather and climate at global scale.
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