Hi, I'm Anil Dash

I’m a tech entrepreneur and writer trying to make the technology world more thoughtful, creative and humane. You can read more about me here. This is a blog about how culture is made, continuously updated since 1999 for free, with no ads or trackers.

While you're here, check out my writing about tech, systems, Prince, nyc, or the Best Of the first 25 years of this blog.

My most recent writing

Understanding DOGE as Procurement Capture

For the last few months, there's been a lot of conversation around the "Department" of Government Efficiency, which is ostensibly an effort at improv...

Lessons learned from burning things.

One thing I like to do is make fires. It’s often considered a less socially-acceptable pastime than my other wood-destruction hobbies like writing and woodwork...

Don't call it a Substack.

Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and dis...

It feels like 2004 again.

I keep having a conversation with people around the tech world about how the industry’s current state of change — especially the potential disruption of incumb...

How I got pitched by Anna Delvey

Many people will be familiar with Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, who was one of the most high-profile of the wave of hipster grifters during the 2010...

23: What was 9/11?

It’s hard to really take in, after all these years, that most people have no memory of the day. The majority of people in the world were either not born, or no...

How Oprah will screw up the AI story

As I write this, we’ve just heard news that Oprah is planning to do a big broadcast special about AI and society. Despite the fact that it hasn’t aired, and I...

Systems: How the Ultra-Wealthy Think About Money

A lot of the ways that the ultra-wealthy think about, and act about, money seem almost incomprehensible to those outside of their orbit. Having had a chance to...

Systems: Q&A about boards of directors

Okay, previously we covered many of the most common things you'd want to know about a board of directors at an organization, including the basics like what a...

Systems: What does a board of directors do?

Nearly every organization that is designed to have impact has a board of directors, whether that's a small non-profit, or a giant corporation, or anything in b...

The New Alt Media and the Future of Publishing

You might have noticed, it’s not a super fun time to be in the publishing industry, especially if you’re trying to do journalism. The years-long drumbeat of ba...

Systems: The Purpose of a System is What It Does

When trying to understand systems, one really eye-opening and fundamental insight is to realize that the machine is never broken . What I mean by this is, whe...

My most recent writing

A little less recent

Systems: What warms the heart?

Prince, Letterman and Insufferability

Make better documents.

“Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement.

Personal blogs are where tech news happens.

The Web Renaissance takes off

That goddamn mug

It's unrecognizable

I am the answer to the Single Puzzle.

"VC qanon" and the radicalization of the tech tycoons

Today's AI is unreasonable.

What was selling out?

Never Do Without You: Adding the seasoning

The tech tycoon martyrdom charade

How you could build a search that the fediverse would welcome

Cook These Two Things

There is nothing to remember.

I went to a coffee shop.

Ending Healthcare

I am the answer to the Rites of Spring Puzzle

I am the answer to The Sexual Tension Puzzle

Everything U Think Is True

The content moderation battle is a failure of innovation

A Web Renaissance

Community Safety and Ignoring the World

That broken tech/content culture cycle

You have to start with the principle.

How Stevie Celebrates a Birthday

Tech I'm Watching in 2022

On "inventing NFTs" and how we don't have any good way to talk about tech