Not an anti-MAGA rant, a genuine concern. — We’ve really been put through it. Truthfully, we put ourselves through it. We built an economic system that created a massive wealth gap, that sucked our core values down a pipe drain, that chased immediate and unreasonable profit over our collective mental health. And now we face an accountability crisis…

AI will be less than we’re promised and more than we need The Great Promise of Silicon Valley AI Technology Technology is framed as the Great Promise. I feel a little deceived. Maybe even betrayed. Not me exactly, but all of us. Led down a garden path. Promised something never delivered. What are the roots of these feelings of betrayal? What do we trust? Where is the compass? I was…

The real issues behind the creative unions strike. SAG-Aftra is on strike. My career in entertainment has been marked with a marginalization of talent in favor of driving profit. Well, of course you say. You need a robust profit. Yes, but there’s other costs to the WAY we do business. I can give you an example. There used…

It can leave whelps. Your tender skin will show the marks. It eats at your brain. It drains your confidence. It can leave you on the bridge rail thinking the dark waters below look mighty inviting. Rejection. The core of our success as writers, composers, entrepreneurs is how we deal…

We’re going through a deep crisis of leadership. — Nowhere is the current crisis of leadership more exposed than in the tech industry. In the last 12 months, over 120,000 people have lost their jobs in tech companies. But this systematic gutting of the American workforce makes no sense. Statistics support the opposite. Firing workers does little for a…

Sacrifice. That’s what this day is about. Memorial Day. Flags and parades and statues and wreaths. The wars in my life were of a different sort. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. I didn’t understand them, I didn’t want them, and I didn’t want to pay for them. But I’m supposed to put…

Here’s where it breaks down.

In the AI era it’s an important question. Where does music begin? It’s always the same place. In my head. Since I was a kid I’ve walked around with music in my head. I’d go on long walks through London composing dramatic symphonies. It was one of my favorite things to do. I played imaginary games, always accompanied…

Sometimes the hardest choice is to be yourself. Looking back on your path. You could be anything. Every choice you make there were dozens of other choices to make. I’ve made some weird choices. Good and bad. In my life, I could have been a lighting designer. I loved that job. I could have been an ad executive…