Tangent: February Digest
What caught my eyes and ears
Hello everyone!
This month, I’m starting with something I haven’t done in a while: sharing what's captured my attention lately.
These were thought-provoking essays that changed my perspective, TV shows I kept thinking about in the shower, and hidden sources for musical discovery.
I’ll be back next week with an essay. If you’ve been following me for a while, you will have noticed that I’ve been publishing less. However, this doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped writing. But since Spring is upon us, now is the time to let some of the words I’ve sown bloom for your enjoyment (hopefully).
What I’m Reading
Thank you for the roses - Michael Dean
Man, what a trip. Michael dives into TikTok's bizarre world of "NPCs" (Non-Playable Characters) – performers who earn serious cash by robotically following viewer commands in exchange for virtual "roses." Beyond the spectacle, the essay explores deeper questions about human agency, audience captivity, and how this strange corner of the internet has become an unexpected platform for society's outcasts.
Here is an excerpt from the essay:
When everything is anchored in pretending, you lose your grip on what’s real.
One night I saw a young black kid playing out the trope of being a slave on a plantation: he was in overalls and a straw hat, with a cotton field in the background, rehashing racist stereotypes around fried chicken and shoot-ups, all with a goofy frozen smile (again, bobbing in place to the Wii theme song). Like a professional wrestler, a good NPC knows how to provoke a crowd. The comment section started bidding on him like it was a live auction ($10. $12. $25!). Of course it’s an act, which means someone can be disturbingly racist and you don’t know if they’re part of the bit or not.
We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It by Charles C. Mann
This essay kicks off a series featured in the New Atlantis publication. It explores the invisible systems we depend on daily (like for instance, the miraculous agricultural system that results in most of you reading this to have food security).
I'm drawn to writing that reveals wonder in the mundane, and Charles delivers exactly that. His premise is compelling: we're dangerously ignorant about the foundations of our modern comfort, and if we don't recognize these marvels, we risk losing them. Our children could inherit a diminished world – reason enough to pay attention.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
There’s another, equally important reason for thinking about the systems around us. Water, food, energy, public health — these embody a gloriously egalitarian and democratic vision of our society. Americans may fight over red and blue, but everyone benefits in the same way from the electric grid. Water troubles and food contamination are afflictions for rich and poor alike. These systems are powerful reminders of our common purpose as a society — a source of inspiration when one seems badly needed.
BrAIn DrAIn by Erik Hoel
One of my most persistent themes for me this year is questioning the role of AI in our lives and what the lightning-fast adoption of LLMs means for society. Hoel articulates my concerns perfectly, using Microsoft's own research to examine AI's double-edged impact.
The takeaway that keeps me up at night: we need to be very careful about children's AI exposure. Think about smartphones – we should limit access as long as possible (even if Mandy's dumbass parents already caved and bought her an iPhone 16 for her 10th birthday).
Neither Hoel nor I advocate abandoning AI completely, but his conclusion resonates deeply: "pro-human bias and AI distrust are cognitively beneficial." Stay tuned – I'm cooking up my own thoughts on this.
Here is an excerpt from the essay:
Similarly to how people use the internet in healthy and unhealthy ways, I think we should expect differential effects. For skilled knowledge workers with strong confidence in their own abilities, AI will be a tool to chunk up cognitively-demanding tasks at a higher level of abstraction in accordance with Miller’s law. For others… it’ll be a crutch.
Honorable mentions (which you should check out):
Why You Can’t Build Creator Gravity (Pt. 1) by Alice Lemee
Did I Miss Anything? by Melissa
Gen Z and the End of Predictable Progress by kyla scanlon
What I’m Watching
Severance (Apple TV)
There's something about this show that has enraptured everyone in my circle (my sister-in-law is practically becoming a Severance scholar). You would think that a show like this shouldn't work in today's binge-watch era. The pacing can be deliberate, the scenes can feel like held breaths, the mystery so Gordian knot-like that some might prefer the simpler pleasures of Love is Blind.1
But Severance transcends precisely because every bit of dialogue, every scene, every camera angle feels intentional. What begins as commentary on work-life separation unfolds like a millefeuille2, revealing layer after layer that challenges what makes us human3. It's the rare show I find myself thinking about days after watching.
Paradise (Hulu)
This show surprised me. It began like a standard "who dun it?" thriller—the President was murdered and I thought I'd be following the main character on a quest to uncover who, how, and why. But then the first episode ends, and suddenly the show evolves into a sci-fi drama with vibes reminiscent of Apple TV's Silo.
The characters are compelling, the twists unexpected, and the pacing so perfect that my mother and I find ourselves counting down the hours until Tuesday's new episode drops.
If you are not convinced, watch all the way up to the seventh episode; that was one of the most intense hours of television I remember watching.
What I’m Listening To
This month, instead of specific tracks, I'm sharing two internet corners that have become my delightful windows into music I might never have discovered otherwise.
Herbert Music
Created by the lovely Daria, this Instagram and Substack gem makes classical music approachable for everyone. Her storytelling and knowledge expand our palates beyond the usual Beethoven and Mozart, introducing both old masters and contemporary composers with equal enthusiasm. I’ve been on a classical music kick lately, and this account has been a nice melody that indulges my curiosity. Here is one of her Spotify’s playlists:
Art not Algorithms
This Spotify playlist curated by the organization Live2 has become my go-to for discovering indie music gems. While Spotify's algorithmic recommendations are impressive, there's something special about finding these human-curated collections that algorithms would never serve up (because it keeps trying to shove Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso down my eardrums).
It satisfies my not-so-secret desire to be a hipster (and yes, I listen to this playlist with a beanie on).
Apparently, it’s juicy this season, but I cannot be bothered to watch strangers cosplay romance. Yes, I have equally strong feelings about shows like The Bachelor.
This is my Mom’s favorite pastry. Now you know.
Do innies/outies have different souls, different values, different fates?
Thank you so much for the mention Camilo!
…very cool shares brother…