American competitive culture—the belief that you prove your worth by sacrificing everything, that love must be earned through achievement, that there is no second place—is a choice. Not fate. Not human nature. A cultural invention.
And a cruel one. Continue reading The Wrong Race: What Winning Costs in America
But those rough edges were never the source of authenticity. They were just markers of who could and couldn’t afford good editing.
The machine didn’t give me my ideas, create my arguments, or manufacture my voice. It did what my human editors did—helped me find the words that were always there but just out of reach. Continue reading Breaking Down Barriers: AI’s Role in Authentic Writing
It’s been a quiet week or so here on Better Places. After many weeks of posting twice a week, I’ve … Continue reading Drifting Toward Home (and What Comes Next)
“The question isn’t, ‘Is the mirror alive?’ The real question is, ‘Are we?’ If we lose touch with our own humanity, the AI mirror will reflect only our shallowness. Reclaim the humanities. Read deeply. Be your own mirror.” Continue reading The Magic Mirror and the Lost Humanities
But implementing that vision meant confronting my own paternal instincts. I had to unlearn habits built over years: controlling outcomes, protecting people from discomfort, making decisions for them. It was uncomfortable. It required humility. But it was liberating. Continue reading Why I Stopped Being the Boss: How Teal Leadership Changed My Life
That question might sound naive in today’s climate. The headlines are full of anxiety: AI is coming for your job. Deepfake campaigns are undermining elections. Automation is about to render human labor obsolete. And yes—those risks are real. But I think we’re asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking what AI will take from us, we should be asking: Continue reading The 25 Hour Week
I’ve tried hard not to mention active political figures on this blog. I do that intentionally—not because I don’t have opinions, but because I don’t want to lose readers to the haze of partisan vitriol. Political passion, as we see it now, is often short-sighted and misdirected. It burns hot, fizzles fast, and rarely invites the kind of careful thought that builds understanding or trust.
But this week, I’m making an exception. Continue reading Taming the Jackal: Why Language Matters More Than Ever
Yet—just as in 1995—I also feel a flicker of frustration. So much power, and yet so few ideas come to mind for how to wield it. Innovation still begins with inspiration. Continue reading Welcome to the Inspiration Economy
Despite having some of the highest taxes in the world, Denmark consistently tops the World Happiness Report. Danes pay up to half of their income in taxes, then face a 25% value-added tax on most goods, and up to a 150% tax on new cars. Yet somehow, they—and their Nordic neighbors—consistently rank among the happiest populations on Earth.
So what gives? What do they know that we don’t? Continue reading What Denmark Can Teach Us About Happiness, Humility, and a Better America
Why do we hurt the ones we love the most? Why does our language, especially under stress, so often betray us? Continue reading The Buddy Promise
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