A Perfectly Suitable Desk
“A man of habit, Hemingway does not use the perfectly suitable desk in the other alcove.” (George Plimpton, 1958)
a public explorer of emerging futures
I build little pieces of the future to probe what they mean.
Experiments, speculative artifacts, and field notes from the seam where technology meets being human — shared out loud, while they’re still messy.
// Off My Bench · most weeks
Free, and a little weird. Or browse the breadboard ↓
Me and a friend at the Bench
The Breadboard
The latest things I’ve made, broken, or figured out. Newest first.
Tastes Like Chicken
“There is no way you will ever be able to write something so straightforward that Elon Musk will understand it the way that you intend it.” (Ted Chiang)
He'll Never Leave Me
A food app pictured a bacon and egg soda as a glass of fizzy drink with an egg in it. McDonald's forecast one man's next six weeks to the penny and gave him zero chance of leaving, so he left. And a 65-year-old writer would rather not ask a machine the date of his death.
Sixty Yards Ahead
A woman in Philadelphia was arrested for standing in front of a delivery robot. In 1865 the law required a man to walk in front of the machine. Also a six-foot grocery robot that one shopper is sure is following him.
Puppy Log
2026 · A puppy app for two tired people. Tap a button on one phone and it shows up on the other in about ten seconds.
No Plan Survives the Puppy
A puppy came home a week early, so I built him an app with eight buttons. Also frigatebirds that sleep 40 minutes a day, a collar that can't tell when you pet the dog, and the X-ray AI that is good at saying nothing is wrong.
Whistling to the Machine
A blind kid whistled at the phone company and it answered. Also four very small horses, and a taxi that took an hour to go ten minutes.
Off My Bench
The good stuff from the Bench, plus the unfinished things I’m still chasing — in your inbox most weeks. One curious human, writing to other curious humans. No hype, no “in today’s fast-paced world.”
Free. Unsubscribe whenever the dot stops being interesting.
Work With Me
Pick something I don't understand. Build the smallest version that would tell me if I'm wrong. Put it where people can see it. Do it again.