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First and Fifteenth
Essays from a critical technologist, told through the interpretative lens of Black Studies and conceptual art.

Latest

01
Aug

F&F Fiction: Perfection

A dawning realisation settles as I finish reading Vincent Latronico’s Perfection (2025). The novel’s symbiotic protagonists are an
11 min read
15
Jul

Fifteenth #20: On algorithmically aggravated addiction, with Dr. Romy Gad el Rab

10:20am, and I have already picked up my phone 16 times. I have been awake four hours and have
22 min read
01
Jul

First #20: Logging Off

⚠️ This review is about a book that discusses self-harm and suicide. We have passed the point at which our
12 min read
15
Jun

Fifteenth #19: On water

London is a city of forgotten streams and lost rivers; of sedimented layers encasing ancient waterways that have long since
9 min read
01
Jun

First # 19: Natural Connection

Technology is manufactured — chemically intensive and extractive processes are deployed to transform raw materials into sophisticated digital devices. Technology demands
13 min read
15
May

Fifteenth #18: On the slopcore aesthetic

There is a strange glaze mediating your perception of the synthetic images in your feed. At first glance, you sense
14 min read
01
May

First #18: Enshittification

If you are steeped in internet culture, this is a word that you might have encountered sometime in the last
16 min read
15
Apr

Fifteenth #17: On unlearning

Why do we do research? This might seem like an insultingly simple question, yet perhaps we have never paused to
15 min read
01
Apr

First #17: Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create

Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create is a slender manual written by Dirk Vis — a Dutch lecturer
13 min read
15
Mar

Fifteenth #16: On the Men (and sometimes Women) Who Corrupted Hadleyburg

In 1899, Mark Twain published the short story The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg. Written towards the end of his two-
10 min read