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Modern Adulthood
Modern life rewards a kind of “maturity” that often has very little to do with being right.
Feb 4
•
Kanav Jain
1
January 2026
"We Condemn the Excesses"
"We condemn the excesses" isn’t an apology, it’s a tactic. From Amritsar 1919 to Minneapolis 2026, discover how governments use condemnation to protect…
Jan 28
•
Kanav Jain
2
1
1
Don’t Let Reassurance Do Engineering's Job
Why “we care” substitutes for obligation—and how delay gets disguised as kindness.
Jan 22
•
Kanav Jain
If Every User Is a Potential Threat...
People are not becoming inherently dishonest, lazy, or cynical. They are becoming game-theoretically optimal for the environment they have been placed…
Jan 20
•
Kanav Jain
1
3
1
You Don’t Have the Right
We are living through a divergence between rights and remedies. If a system is "95% accurate" but concentrates errors on the vulnerable, fairness…
Jan 15
•
Kanav Jain
4
3
How to Design for Cognitive Scarcity
Stop designing for the idealized "Hero User." Learn how to build resilient interfaces that work when your user is stressed, tired, and operating on 15…
Jan 14
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Kanav Jain
2
Optimizing the User
Resilience is a subsidy we pay to cover the cost of structural failure
Jan 11
•
Kanav Jain
3
The Post-User Web
The interface is dying because the “User” is obsolete. On the post-user web, AI agents, friction economics, and the rise of adversarial infrastructure.
Jan 8
•
Kanav Jain
2
1
We're On It! The Age of Abundant Acknowledgement
Across healthcare, bureaucracy, and customer service, systems increasingly avoid decisions while appearing responsive. This essay argues that modern…
Jan 7
•
Kanav Jain
1
December 2025
Pending: The political economy of waiting
The loading screen is a weapon. "Pending" is a governing strategy of attrition designed to make you carry the weight of the process until you give up.
Dec 30, 2025
•
Kanav Jain
2
Credibility/standing as an access-control system
We keep describing our institutional crisis as one of 'belief' or 'truth.' But in practice, the bottleneck is 'standing.' An essay on why 'we hear you…
Dec 28, 2025
•
Kanav Jain
2
1
Toothless Ethics: Why Principles Don’t Stop Machines
A guide to the difference between moral language and structural constraint
Dec 17, 2025
•
Kanav Jain
1
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