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Writing

Arguments about the institutions we live inside.

Essays on housing, the attention economy, immigration, AI and the role of the state, in English on Substack and in Portuguese in Observador.
essays on Substack
37
essays on Substack
words published
45,420
words published
columns in Observador
7
columns in Observador
essays in the eight months from May 2025
34
essays in the eight months from May 2025

§ 01The recurring argument

The Gardener State

Most of the essays circle one idea. The century-old contest between the free-market “jungle” and the central-planning “machine” is the wrong frame. A state should act like a gardener: it does not grow the plants, but it is responsible for the soil, the light and the weeds.

In practice that means pragmatic levers over ideology: zoning reform instead of rent control, friction in engagement-optimised feeds, taxing speculation rather than homes, and treating loneliness, attention and birth rates as structural failures that policy can reach.

Read “To Govern A Garden”Subscribe on Substack

§ 02Selected

Eight to start with.

The essays that best represent the range, from political strategy to the economics of attention.
  1. To Govern A GardenBeyond the market and the machineThe state · 19 Jul 2025 · 1,529 words
  2. Democracy Needs Dangerous MenHow the left’s failure to value masculinity fuels fascismPolitical strategy · 27 Nov 2025 · 1,896 words
  3. Your Panic Is For SaleHow the business of attention “accidentally” broke the Western mindAttention economy · 7 Dec 2025 · 1,556 words
  4. The Rent Control ParadoxThe distortionary consequences of rent controlHousing & cities · 12 Aug 2025 · 869 words
  5. After The FactoryWhy AI demands a human renaissanceAI, work & education · 22 Jul 2025 · 1,410 words
  6. The Unwinnable GameCivility, violence, and the prisoner’s dilemma in modern politicsPolitical strategy · 16 Sept 2025 · 1,178 words
  7. Haunting the MarketWhy time travel is the only cure for addictionAttention economy · 1 Dec 2025 · 1,626 words
  8. Your Data Is UselessLiberals must stop bringing data to a story fightPolitical strategy · 22 Aug 2025 · 852 words

§ 03In print

Opinion columns in Observador.

Seven columns in Portuguese for one of Portugal’s national online newspapers, published between May and September 2025. Several develop arguments first made in the essays.
  1. 07O punho e o ramo de oliveiraThe fist and the olive branch21 Sept 2025
  2. 06Para além dos mitos: o imperativo da imigraçãoBeyond the myths: the immigration imperative1 Sept 2025
  3. 05Um manifesto por um novo paladar na era digitalA manifesto for a new palate in the digital age4 Aug 2025
  4. 04O paradoxo da tolerância e o liberalismo militanteThe paradox of tolerance and militant liberalism19 Jul 2025
  5. 03Sobre a lógica industrial do sistema educativoOn the industrial logic of the education system26 Jun 2025
  6. 02Sem cafés, sem conversa, sem comunidadeNo cafés, no conversation, no community15 Jun 2025
  7. 01A liberdade de expressão não é gratuitaFreedom of expression is not free31 May 2025

§ 04Archive

Every essay, by theme.

The complete public archive, newest first. Filter by theme to follow a single line of argument.
  1. 7 Dec 2025Your Panic Is For SaleHow the business of attention “accidentally” broke the Western mindAttention economy
  2. 1 Dec 2025Haunting the MarketWhy time travel is the only cure for addictionAttention economy
  3. 27 Nov 2025Democracy Needs Dangerous MenHow the left’s failure to value masculinity fuels fascismPolitical strategy
  4. 25 Nov 2025The Mandate for Speed BumpsHow to protect our minds from manipulative designAttention economy
  5. 23 Nov 2025The End of EngagementIt’s time to fix the internet’s business modelAttention economy
  6. 21 Nov 2025The Neutrality TrapWhy true liberty requires an active, not passive, stateThe state
  7. 25 Sept 2025The Lonely NeighborhoodHow housing policy created the modern loneliness epidemicHousing & cities
  8. 22 Sept 2025Our Post-Work CrisisUBI solves for money. What solves for meaning?AI, work & education
  9. 19 Sept 2025The Cost of Algorithmic MisalignmentWhy social media’s business model is a threat to democracyAttention economy
  10. 16 Sept 2025The Unwinnable GameCivility, violence, and the prisoner’s dilemma in modern politicsPolitical strategy
  11. 22 Aug 2025Your Data Is UselessLiberals must stop bringing data to a story fightPolitical strategy
  12. 19 Aug 2025A Common GroundThe case for a smarter, more purposeful, and disciplined governmentThe state
  13. 12 Aug 2025The Rent Control ParadoxThe distortionary consequences of rent controlHousing & cities
  14. 8 Aug 2025An Insecure NationWhat the fear of immigration revealsImmigration
  15. 5 Aug 2025The Empty Nester CrisisA pragmatic plan to solve the housing affordability crisisHousing & cities
  16. 2 Aug 2025The Language of FailureThe dehumanising immigration discourseImmigration
  17. 30 Jul 2025The Speculator’s GameHow our tax system fuels the housing crisisHousing & cities
  18. 27 Jul 2025The Western ChoiceManaged immigration or managed declineImmigration
  19. 22 Jul 2025After The FactoryWhy AI demands a human renaissanceAI, work & education
  20. 19 Jul 2025To Govern A GardenBeyond the market and the machineThe state
  21. 13 Jul 2025The Age of SlopNavigating the event horizon of short-form AI slopAttention economy
  22. 10 Jul 2025A Defense of HumanityHow we must approach AI in creative fieldsAI, work & education
  23. 7 Jul 2025The Great MalnourishmentThe brain-rot obesity epidemicAttention economy
  24. 4 Jul 2025The Liberalism ParadoxThe paradox of tolerance and militant liberalismThe state
  25. 29 Jun 2025Lighthouse CapitalismAn alternative model for the economy and state in the 21st centuryThe state
  26. 23 Jun 2025The Criminalization of HumorThe trial of the court jesterPolitical strategy
  27. 19 Jun 2025The Mind FactoryThe absurdity of the education systemAI, work & education
  28. 16 Jun 2025From Pamphlet to PulseWhy names, colours and chants will decide the next chapter of progressPolitical strategy
  29. 13 Jun 2025Why Liberals Keep Losing the Information WarThe faulty liberal media machinePolitical strategy
  30. 3 Jun 2025How To Fix Portugal’s Housing CrisisAn analysis of zoning reformHousing & cities
  31. 30 May 2025The Integration CrisisThe European immigration crisisImmigration
  32. 27 May 2025Systemic LonelinessThe death of third placesHousing & cities
  33. 23 May 2025Freedom of Speech Isn’t FreeThe case for the regulation of speechThe state
  34. 8 May 2025The Birth CollapseWhy the future is quietly vanishingSociety & science
  35. 15 Apr 2023Barcelona SuperblocksLiberated streets and the metamorphosis of the cityHousing & cities
  36. 5 Apr 2023Redefining Education in the AI EraChatGPT and the path to equitable learningAI, work & education
  37. 3 Apr 2023Unlocking the Potential of mRNA Cancer VaccinesA new era in personalised medicineSociety & science

Background

How I came to writing

I hated writing as a child. I asked for the minimum word count on every assignment up to the IB. Two things changed that: subjects I actually cared about, and writing on a computer, which finally let me keep up with my own thoughts and restructure them as I went. My journal is now over 400,000 words long, and I am working on several books.

I am open about using AI. It helps most with the highest-friction step, turning a mass of ideas into a linear argument, and its role tapers off as a piece nears the end. I keep it out of my daily journal on purpose, so that the underlying skill does not atrophy.

The essays come from frustration with default systems we could simply design better: housing that prices people out, schools built on a factory model, feeds that optimise for attention over judgement. I am less interested in grand ideologies than in mechanisms: which zoning law, which bit of friction, which tax actually changes the outcome. The thread running through most of it is the Gardener State.