Different blacks and other essays, (Paperback)

Different blacks and other essays

Three essays on what remains when making is easy.

Different Blacks examines design in the age of AI-not as disruption but as revelation. The essay argues that most creative work has always been mimicry; AI simply exposes the templates that were already there. Surface variations mask underlying sameness. Different blacks from the same black.

Handmade follows the problem-solver-engineer, designer, architect-from training through career. The education promised understanding; the job delivers assembly. You optimized your own work until it no longer required you. Everyone did. The essay ends not with escape but with recognition: you'll chase again, but now you know you're chasing.

Easy asks what remains when wanting itself is managed. The feed answers before you ask. The algorithm decides who you are. A prince once left the palace and saw suffering; you never leave because the outside is already content. Underneath the profile, underneath the scroll, everyone who wants is there. But quieter each year.

The trilogy moves from work to worker to wanting. From revelation to interruption to suspension. Each essay shorter than the last. Each closer to the question that has no answer yet.