Beat

Essays

Long-form thinking on technology, culture, and the future.

6 stories
Essays

The last human advantage

As AI systems exceed human performance across more cognitive tasks, the question of what remains distinctively human becomes less philosophical and more urgent.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min . Read story
Essays

On slowness, in an industry that worships speed

A meditation on the value of deliberate, unhurried work in a technology culture that treats latency as a moral failing.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min
Essays

The internet we wanted and the internet we got

A history of the web's broken promises — and an argument that some of them are still worth keeping.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min
Essays

Technology is not neutral — and it never was

The myth of technology neutrality has survived every counterexample. We examine why the framing persists and what it costs us.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min
Essays

What we owe the algorithms that shaped us

An examination of the moral questions that arise when the recommender systems that determined what we read, watched, and believed are finally being audited.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min
Essays

The attention merchants are losing

After two decades of optimising for engagement, the platforms that built the attention economy are discovering that attention is finite.

Apr 23, 2026 . 1 min