Recent articles
September 2, 2026
Neuromancer Book Club, Chapters 7-9: The City of Dub
This is the stretch where the novel leaves orbit, literally and figuratively.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 31, 2026
Sorry to Bother You
I had this friend - haven’t seen him in at least fifteen years, not for any reason other than that life happens and you drift - I had this friend and he was a recovering addict.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 29, 2026
I Think LLMs Will Prove to Be Consequential Enterprise Software
but that’s not enough, is it?
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 26, 2026
Neuromancer Book Club, Chapters 4–6
three beings who are running on somebody else’s hardware
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 25, 2026
The Edu-Optimists, Part II: CREDO, the Pro-Charter Research Shop That Won’t Take No Effect for an Answer
how “days of learning” explains the education reform shell game
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 18, 2026
Neuromancer Book Club, Chapters 1, 2, 3 - Welcome to Chiba City
a man who hates his own body in a city that will happily sell you a new one
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 17, 2026
Perhaps "Woke 1.0" is an Admission of Past Mistakes and a Commitment to Doing Better
you can't make progress if you're obsessed with not being owned
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 13, 2026
My Dog Died During Lockdown
I’m tempted to say that Brooklyn was an odd place to ride out Covid, but I guess it was an odd experience everywhere.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 11, 2026
Neuromancer Book Club: Before We Jack In
Welcome to the Neuromancer book club, and thanks for being here.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 10, 2026
Disability is the Current Meta
one more time: human behavior is the product of incentives
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 5, 2026
"I'm Not the Kind of Person Who Criticizes That Sort of Thing"
avoidance as the inescapable political meta
freddiedeboer.substack.com
August 3, 2026
How to Produce a Pangram 4 False Positive
they're impossible to 100% eliminate, but that's OK if we're chill and have integrity
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 31, 2026
All In Your Head Excerpt: Psychiatry and The Isolated Demand for Rigor
disorders without objective tests and medicines that work despite a lack of understanding of their physiological mechanism are perfectly common
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 29, 2026
The Project of Software is Complete
what is progress, when there are no more unique arrangements of 0s and 1s?
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 27, 2026
Please, Don't Screw Up Neuromancer (Which Will Be the Subject of Our Next Book Club!)
I ask for so little, God
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 22, 2026
Imposing Modern Progressive Morality On The Odyssey... and On Christopher Nolan
Nolan's film portrays Odysseus as a figure of conventional contemporary morals in much the same way cinephiles erase the conservatism from Nolan's work
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 19, 2026
I Wouldn't Say Pangram is Broken, But I Would Say That It's Brittle
it seems way too easy to provoke Pangram into contradicting its own results
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 16, 2026
Yes, David Ellison's Merger is Bad, But a Netflix Takeover of Warner Bros Isn't Much Better
The future of Warner Bros is again up in the air.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 13, 2026
The Bear Fell a Little Too Deeply In Love with Itself
The lasting image of the now-completed FX series The Bear, for me, will always be the fourth season spectacle of the entire cast sitting under the world’s largest banquet table.
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 10, 2026
Subscriber Writing, July 2026
Hello folks!
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 8, 2026
Let's Avoid the Language-Policing Fingertrap In the Future, OK?
the more you forbid transgression, the more they want to transgress
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 6, 2026
Do the YIMBYs Want to Do Politics or Not?
with his YIMBY cap on, Matt Yglesias acts just like the DSA types he abhors
freddiedeboer.substack.com
July 1, 2026
Call for Subscriber Writing, July 2026
It’s that time again!
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 29, 2026
Fat Acceptance : Ozempic :: Heteropessimism : The Right Guy
we're only human
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 24, 2026
Recovered Memories Aren't Real
non-falsifiability and life-altering accusations are a bad match
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 22, 2026
Toy Story 2 is the Best Toy Story Because It's Actually For Children
and Toy Story 3 was critically acclaimed because it was made for critics
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 17, 2026
Google Made a Sad Boomer Mark Out of Me and There's Nothing I Can Do About It
I hate writing this so much
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 15, 2026
Like All Good Things, Sports Are Owned by the Rich Now
the Knicks have brought joy to a city that's being eaten by the worst people alive
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 10, 2026
The Watch's Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald in... True Detective Season One
a loving teleplay parody
freddiedeboer.substack.com
June 8, 2026
There's No Such Thing as "The Trades"
broadening the potential professional pathways for young workers = great, conflating a bunch of disparate jobs with very different conditions = not great
freddiedeboer.substack.com