Roel Smelt
Exploring what technology does to us — and then trying it out.

Latest

10
Jun
Europe Is Blocking the Privacy-First AI It Claims to Want

Europe Is Blocking the Privacy-First AI It Claims to Want

Europe says it wants privacy, sovereignty and innovation. Then it blocks the one major consumer AI architecture most aligned with those values.
8 min read
10
Jun
Will Apple Move Fast Enough to Make the Interface the Institution?

Will Apple Move Fast Enough to Make the Interface the Institution?

After Apple’s keynote, the real question is not whether Apple can make Siri better. It is whether Apple is bold enough to turn the iPhone into the trusted personal AI interface.
9 min read
02
Jun
A human figure touches a luminous signal emerging from abstract golden and blue AI feedback loops.

The Last Human in the Loop

AI is moving from answering questions to pursuing goals. When it learns to guardrail itself, humans must stop pretending their value is operational.
7 min read
26
May
Europe’s Tragic Paradox: Why “Reinventing Itself” Is Not Enough

Europe’s Tragic Paradox: Why “Reinventing Itself” Is Not Enough

Yes. And this is exactly why the frequently heard call “Europe must reinvent itself” sounds so true, yet is institutionally
2 min read
26
May
A human silhouette reaching beyond luminous gold interface panels toward a deeper field of light.

AI is the final triumph of the screen

AI is not the next species. It is the final triumph of a worldview that mistook the screen for the world.
7 min read
23
May
The Human Is Not the Bottleneck: Why Agents Must Optimize Around the Drum of Meaning

The Human Is Not the Bottleneck: Why Agents Must Optimize Around the Drum of Meaning

There’s a quiet contempt woven into most conversations about AI. It rarely announces itself with crude slogans like “replace
6 min read
20
May
Renault is trying to monetise the parking lot

Renault is trying to monetise the parking lot

Vehicle-to-grid is technically real. Strategically, it accepts the least valuable version of a car: one that is sitting still.
5 min read
12
May
The Coming Literacy Crisis Is Not About Reading. It Is About Asking.

The Coming Literacy Crisis Is Not About Reading. It Is About Asking.

In an age of artificial oracles, the decisive human skill is no longer access to answers. It is learning how to ask questions that make answers matter.
4 min read
09
May
The Worldview That Made Us Powerful Also Made Us Replaceable

The Worldview That Made Us Powerful Also Made Us Replaceable

Modernity made the world measurable and gave us AI. But if humans are only information processors inside that measurable world, AI becomes the better processor. The hopeful turn is consciousness.
5 min read
04
May
The Taste Gap: Why AI Makes Discernment the New Superpower

The Taste Gap: Why AI Makes Discernment the New Superpower

AI makes execution abundant. The scarce human capacity is no longer output, but discernment: the taste to know what is true, coherent, beautiful, and worth bringing into the world.
7 min read