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116  <main id="main" class="container"></file>    <div class="site-promo">
117      <a href="https://smallstuffbook.com" class="site-promo-inner">
118        <div class="site-promo-label">My new book, <i>The Small Stuff</i></div>
119        <div class="site-promo-text">
120          Hi! Please read my new book, <i>The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life</i>, out summer 2026. You can click up here to order it. &mdash;love, ian 
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124  <header>
125    <h1 class="content-title">Writing</h1>
126    <p class="content-dek">I write both general-readership magazine stories (mostly for <i>The Atlantic</i>, where I am a contributing writer), and scholarly work in media studies, game studies, computer science, and design.</p>
127    <p class="content-dek">This page includes my latest stories, then favorites by category: <a href="#technology">technology</a>, <a href="#videogames">video games</a>, <a href="#politics">politics</a>, <a href="#education">education</a>, <a href="#design">design & architecture</a>, <a href="#travel">travel & transportation</a>, <a href="#food">food & beverage</a>, <a href="#grabbag">a grab-bag of miscellany</a>, and <a href="#scholarly">selected scholarly papers</a>.</p>
128    <p class="content-dek">For other magazine/popular venues&mdash;or all my academic work&mdash;<a href="/about/#CV">consult my CV</a>.</p>
129  </header>
130
131     <h2 >Recent Writing at The Atlantic</h2>
132      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="writing-cards" aria-live="polite">
133       <!-- Populated by writing.js -->
134      </div>
135      <p class="muted" id="writing-fallback" style="display:none">Can’t load feed right now. <a class="link" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ian-bogost/">See all on my author page</a>.</p>
136    </section>
137
138    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="technology"></a>
139      <h2>👩🏻‍💻 📱 Technology</h2>
140      <section class="content-body">
141      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of the tech industry and tech culture.</p>
142      </section>
143      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="writing-cards" aria-live="polite">
144        <article class="card card-wrap">
145            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/07/velvet-sundown-ai-band-spotify/683410/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
146              <h3 class="card-title">Nobody Cares If Music Is Real Anymore</h3>
147              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">“​​Rubber burns, the map fades away / Chasing the ghosts of yesterday.” Sure, fine.</p>
148              <img src="/assets/creatures/20.png" alt="" class="mascot">
149            </a>
150        </article>
151        <article class="card card-wrap">
152            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/05/amazon-returns-have-gone-hell/678518/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
153              <h3 class="card-title">Amazon Returns Have Gone to Hell</h3>
154              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">What happened?</p>
155              <img src="/assets/creatures/25.png" alt="" class="mascot">
156            </a>
157        </article>
158        <article class="card card-wrap">
159            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/twitter-facebook-social-media-decline/672074/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
160              <h3 class="card-title">The Age of Social Media Is Ending</h3>
161              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It never should have begun.</p>
162              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
163            </a>
164        </article>
165        <article class="card card-wrap">
166            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/fix-facebook-making-it-more-like-google/620456/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
167              <h3 class="card-title">People Aren't Meant to Talk This Much</h3>
168              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Breaking up social-media companies is one way to fix them. Shutting their users up is a better one.</p>
169              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
170            </a>
171        </article>
172        <article class="card card-wrap">
173            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021
173/10/facebook-metaverse-name-change/620449/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
174              <h3 class="card-title">The Metaverse Is Bad</h3>
175              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It is not a world in a headset but a fantasy of power.</p>
176              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
177            </a>
178        </article>
179        <article class="card card-wrap">
180            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/before-smartphones-boredom/674631/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
181              <h3 class="card-title">What Did People Do Before Smartphones?</h3>
182              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">No one can remember.</p>
183              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
184            </a>
185        </article>
186        <article class="card card-wrap">
187            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/retailers-consumer-tracking-data-personalized-ads-influence/675181/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
188              <h3 class="card-title">You Should Worry About the Data Retailers Collect About You</h3>
189              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">But probably not for the reasons you think.</p>
190              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
191            </a>
192        </article>
193        <article class="card card-wrap">
194            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/the-age-of-privacy-nihilism-is-here/568198/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
195              <h3 class="card-title">Welcome to the Age of Privacy Nihilism</h3>
196              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Google and Facebook are easy scapegoats, but companies have been collecting, selling, and reusing your personal data for decades, and now that the public has finally noticed, it’s too late. The personal-data privacy war is long over, and you lost.</p>
197              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
198            </a>
199        </article>
200      </div>
201    </section>
202
203    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="videogames"></a>
204      <h2>🎮 👾 Video Games</h2>
205      <section class="content-body">
206      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of video gaming. (I've also written <a href="/books">many books</a> about video games.)</p>
207      </section>
208      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
209        <article class="card card-wrap">
210            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/video-games-are-better-without-characters/387556/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
211              <h3 class="card-title">Video Games Are Better Without Characters</h3>
212              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The real legacy of SimCity is its attempt—and failure—to make complex systems the protagonists instead of people.</p>
213              <img src="/assets/creatures/18.png" alt="" class="mascot">
214            </a>
215        </article>
216        <article class="card card-wrap">
217            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
218              <h3 class="card-title">Video Games Are Better Without Stories</h3>
219              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Film, television, and literature all tell them better. So why are games still obsessed with narrative?</p>
220              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
221            </a>
222        </article>
223        <article class="card card-wrap">
224            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/10/dont-play-the-goose-game/600472/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
225              <h3 class="card-title">Video Games Are Better Without Gameplay</h3>
226              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Untitled Goose Game is fun. The problem is, all games are also work.</p>
227              <img src="/assets/creatures/6.png" alt="" class="mascot">
228            </a>
229        </article>
230        <article class="card card-wrap">
231            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/01/the-last-of-us-video-game-hbo-show-episode-3/672889/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
232              <h3 class="card-title">Television Is Better Without Video Games</h3>
233              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us offers a definitive case for games’ narrative impoverishment.</p>
234              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
235            </a>
236        </article>
237        <article class="card card-wrap">
238            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/01/solving-wordle-puzzle/621413/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
239              <h3 class="card-title">I Figured Out Wordle's Secret</h3>
240              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It took me four guesses.</p>
241              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
242            </a>
243        </article>
244        <article class="card card-wrap">
245            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/04/animal-crossing-isnt-escapist-its-political/610012/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
246              <h3 class="card-title">The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing</h3>
247              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">In the midst of a pandemic, it’s delightful to imagine doing whatever you like without worrying about making a living.</p>
248              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
249            </a>
250        </article>
251        <article class="card card-wrap">
252            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/the-tragedy-of-pokemon-go/490793/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
253              <h3 class="card-title">The Tragedy of Pokémon Go</h3>
254              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">What it takes for good ideas to attract money.</p>
255              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
256            </a>
257        </article>
258        <article class="card card-wrap">
259            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/12/hq-trivia-future-dystopia/549071/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
260              <h3 class="card-title">HQ Trivia Is a Harbinger of Dystopia</h3>
261              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">What do you get from a live game-show app? a. Fun b. Money c. Social collapse</p>
262              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
263            </a>
264        </article>
265      </div>
266    </section>
267
268    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="politics"></a>
269      <h2>🏛️ 🗳️ Politics</h2>
270      <section class="content-body">
271      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of the politics of technology.</p>
272      </section>
273      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
274        <article class="card card-wrap">
275            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/04/american-panopticon/682616/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
276              <h3 class="card-title">American Panopticon</h3>
277              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next. (with Charlie Warzel)</p>
278              <img src="/assets/creatures/25.png" alt="" class="mascot">
279            </a>
280        </article>
281        <article class="card card-wrap">
282            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/02/doge-god-mode-access/681719/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
283              <h3 class="card-title">DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data</h3>
284              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies. (with Charlie Warzel and Matteo Wong)</p>
285              <img src="/assets/creatures/21.png" alt="" class="mascot">
286            </a>
287        </article>
288        <article class="card card-wrap">
289            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/02/doge-god-mode-access/681719/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
290              <h3 class="card-title">The Government's Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified</h3>
291              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be. (with Charlie Warzel)</p>
292              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
293            </a>
294        </article>
295        <article class="card card-wrap">
296            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/blockchain-of-command/528543/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
297              <h3 class="card-title">Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism</h3>
298              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Extreme libertarians built blockchain to decentralize government and corporate power. It could consolidate their control instead.</p>
299              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
300            </a>
301        </article>
302      </div>
303    </section>
304    
305    <a name="favorites"></a>
306    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="education"></a>
307      <h2>📚 🎓 Education</h2>
308      <section class="content-body">
309      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of higher education.</p>
310      </section>
311      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
312        <article class="card card-wrap">
313            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/grade-inflation-college-fix/684808/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
314              <h3 class="card-title">Why Students Are Obsessed With ‘Points Taken Off’</h3>
315              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Students and professors are in a drawn-out battle over grade inflation. It may never end.</p>
316              <img src="/assets/creatures/8.png" alt="" class="mascot">
317            </a>
318        </article>
319        <article class="card card-wrap">
320            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/computing-college-cs-majors/677792/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
321              <h3 class="card-title">Universities Have a Computer-Science Problem</h3>
322              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The case for teaching coders to speak French</p>
323              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
324            </a>
325        </article>
326        <article class="card card-wrap">
327            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/03/end-of-college-life/682241/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
328              <h3 class="card-title">The End of College Life</h3>
329              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">If they persist, Donald Trump’s attacks on universities will destroy a cornerstone of American life.</p>
330              <img src="/assets/creatures/24.png" alt="" class="mascot">
331            </a>
332        </article>
333        <article class="card card-wrap">
334            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/02/nih-trump-university-crisis/681634/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
335              <h3 class="card-title">A New Kind of Crisis for American Universities</h3>
336              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The ivory tower has been breached.</p>
337              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
338            </a>
339        </article>
340        <article class="card card-wrap">
341            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/12/partner-hiring-academia/680918/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
342              <h3 class="card-title">How to Marry Into Academia</h3>
343              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">When you get a job as a professor, your partner may get one too.</p>
344              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
345            </a>
346        </article>
347        <article class="card card-wrap">
348            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/chatbot-cheating-college-campuses/674073/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
349              <h3 class="card-title">The First Year of AI College Ends in Ruin</h3>
350              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">There’s an arms race on campus, and professors are losing.</p>
351              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
352            </a>
353        </article>
354        <article class="card card-wrap">
355            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/01/plagiarism-war-claudine-gay/677020/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
356              <h3 class="card-title">The Plagiarism War Has Begun</h3>
357              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Claudine Gay was taken down by a politically motivated investigation. Would the same approach work for any academic?</p>
358              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
359            </a>
360        </article>
361        <article class="card card-wrap">
362            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/10/college-was-never-about-education/616777/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
363              <h3 class="card-title">America Will Sacrifice Anything for the College Experience</h3>
364              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The pandemic has revealed that higher education was never about education.</p>
365              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
366            </a>
367        </article>
368      </div>
369    </section>
370
371     <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="design"></a>
372      <h2>🏘️ 🏗️ Design and Architecture</h2>
373      <section class="content-body">
374      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of domestic life, design, architecture, and the built environment.</p>
375      </section>
376      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="writing-cards" aria-l
376ive="polite">
377        <article class="card card-wrap">
378            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/02/laguardia-airport-redevelopment-american-infrastructure-lesson/673015/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
379              <h3 class="card-title">America Built an Actually Good Airport</h3>
380              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">LaGuardia is reborn, and it has a message for the nation.</p>
381              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
382            </a>
383        </article>
384        <article class="card card-wrap">
385            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/06/pandemic-suburbs-are-best/613300/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
386              <h3 class="card-title">Revenge of the Suburbs</h3>
387              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Suburbia was never as bad as anyone said it was. Now it’s looking even better.</p>
388              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
389            </a>
390        </article>
391        <article class="card card-wrap">
392            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/05/the-curse-of-an-open-floor-plan/560561/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
393              <h3 class="card-title">The Curse of an Open Floor Plan</h3>
394              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">A flowing, connected interior—once a fringe experiment of American architectural modernism—has become ubiquitous, and beloved. But it promises a liberation from housework that remains a fantasy.</p>
395              <img src="/assets/creatures/23.png" alt="" class="mascot">
396            </a>
397        </article>
398        <article class="card card-wrap">
399            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/10/how-technology-sabotaged-public-safety/599611/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
400              <h3 class="card-title">Technology Sabotaged Public Safety</h3>
401              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Without us even noticing.</p>
402              <img src="/assets/creatures/4.png" alt="" class="mascot">
403            </a>
404        </article>
405        <article class="card card-wrap">
406            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/why-cities-flood/538251/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
407              <h3 class="card-title">Houston's Flood Is a Design Problem</h3>
408              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It’s not because the water comes in. It’s because it is forced to leave again.</p>
409              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
410            </a>
411        </article>
412        <article class="card card-wrap">
413            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/02/right-way-heat-your-home/618141/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
414              <h3 class="card-title">You're Thinking About Home Heating Wrong</h3>
415              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Getting a heat pump is one of the easiest ways for homeowners to fight climate change.</p>
416              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
417            </a>
418        </article>
419        <article class="card card-wrap">
420            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/09/why-wework-was-destined-fail/598891/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
421              <h3 class="card-title">The Wildly Appealing, Totally Doomed Future of Work</h3>
422              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">WeWork was supposed to reinvent office life. Unfortunately, it did.</p>
423              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
424            </a>
425        </article>
426        <article class="card card-wrap">
427            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/when-malls-saved-cities-from-capitalism/553610/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
428              <h3 class="card-title">When Malls Saved the Suburbs From Despair</h3>
429              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Like it or not, the middle class became global citizens through consumerism—and they did so at the mall.</p>
430              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
431            </a>
432        </article>
433      </div>
434    </section>
435
436    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="travel"></a>
437      <h2>✈️ 🚗 Travel and Transportation</h2>
438      <section class="content-body">
439      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of aviation, travel, and transportation.</p>
440      </section>
441      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
442        <article class="card card-wrap">
443            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/stick-shift
443-manual-transmission-cars/671078/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
444              <h3 class="card-title">The End of the Manual Transmission</h3>
445              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Stick shifts are dying. When they go, something bigger than driving will be lost.</p>
446              <img src="/assets/creatures/6.png" alt="" class="mascot">
447            </a>
448        </article>
449        <article class="card card-wrap">
450            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/02/airplane-carry-on-luggage-crisis-conspiracy/677452/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
451              <h3 class="card-title">The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop</h3>
452              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Airplanes aren’t made for this much luggage.</p>
453              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
454            </a>
455        </article>
456        <article class="card card-wrap">
457            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/07/airplane-wi-fi-bad/683667/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
458              <h3 class="card-title">Why Is Airplane Wi-Fi Still So Bad?</h3>
459              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The service has been stuck in a limbo of mediocrity for two decades.</p>
460              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
461            </a>
462        </article>
463        <article class="card card-wrap">
464            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/07/google-maps-apple-glitches/678904/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
465              <h3 class="card-title">Do Navigation Apps Think We’re Stupid?</h3>
466              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Why Apple and Google can’t stop map-splaining to their users</p>
467              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
468            </a>
469        </article>
470        <article class="card card-wrap">
471            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/piaggio-gita-jeffrey-schnapp/554222/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
472              <h3 class="card-title">The Cute Robot That Follows You Around the City</h3>
473              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Piaggio, the Italian company that makes Vespa scooters, is building cargo droids for city pedestrians.</p>
474              <img src="/assets/creatures/13.png" alt="" class="mascot">
475            </a>
476        </article>
477        <article class="card card-wrap">
478            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/09/minivan-suv-family-car/679919/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
479              <h3 class="card-title">The Death of the Minivan</h3>
480              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It was a perfect vehicle.</p>
481              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
482            </a>
483        </article>
484        <article class="card card-wrap">
485            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/ebike-electric-bikes-climate-change-exercise/671305/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
486              <h3 class="card-title">The E-bike is a Monstrosity</h3>
487              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Neither bicycle nor motorbike, the two-wheeler’s future demands an identity of its own.</p>
488              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
489            </a>
490        </article>
491        <article class="card card-wrap">
492            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/11/life-in-a-driverless-city/545822/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
493              <h3 class="card-title">How Driverless Cars Will Change the Feel of Cities</h3>
494              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Autonomous vehicles promise safety and efficiency. But nobody knows what it will be like to live with them.</p>
495              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
496            </a>
497        </article>
498      </div>
499    </section>
500
501    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="food"></a>
502      <h2>🍔 🥤 Food and Beverage</h2>
503      <section class="content-body">
504      <p>A few of my favorites from my coverage of food, drink, and other comestibles.</p>
505      </section>
506      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="writing-cards" aria-l
506ive="polite">
507        <article class="card card-wrap">
508            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/04/slushie-icee-company-quiktrip-freezoni/629728/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
509              <h3 class="card-title">The Truth About Slushies Must Come Out</h3>
510              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Every slushie is different. Every slushie is the same.</p>
511              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
512            </a>
513        </article>
514        <article class="card card-wrap">
515            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/soda-lemon-lime-starry-sprite-pop/674857/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
516              <h3 class="card-title">All Soda Is Lemon-Lime Soda</h3>
517              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">It's not a flavor; it's a vibe.</p>
518              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
519            </a>
520        </article>
521        <article class="card card-wrap">
522            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/07/j-d-vance-mountain-dew/679204/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
523              <h3 class="card-title">J.D. Vance Has a Point About Mountain Dew</h3>
524              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The soft drink has long been associated with the joy and despair of white America.</p>
525              <img src="/assets/creatures/10.png" alt="" class="mascot">
526            </a>
527        </article>
528        <article class="card card-wrap">
529            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/starbucks-pumpkin-spice-latte-autumn-legacy/675634/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
530              <h3 class="card-title">How Starbucks Perfected Autumn</h3>
531              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The pumpkin spice latte has defined fall for 20 years.</p>
532              <img src="/assets/creatures/9.png" alt="" class="mascot">
533            </a>
534        </article>
535        <article class="card card-wrap">
536            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/10/candy-corn-halloween-existentialism/671667/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
537              <h3 class="card-title">You Must Respect Candy Corn</h3>
538              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Even in paradise, death lurks.</p>
539              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
540            </a>
541        </article>
542        <article class="card card-wrap">
543            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/04/how-youll-shop-for-groceries-after-the-pandemic/610135/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
544              <h3 class="card-title">The Supermarket After the Pandemic</h3>
545              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The coronavirus will change grocery stores, and probably not for the better.</p>
546              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
547            </a>
548        </article>
549        <article class="card card-wrap">
550            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/08/when-crystal-pepsi-saved-the-world/495506/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
551              <h3 class="card-title">How Crystal Pepsi Anticipated Silicon Valley</h3>
552              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">The clear cola’s nostalgic relaunch harkens back to a time when the world’s problems seemed simple.</p>
553              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
554            </a>
555        </article>
556        <article class="card card-wrap">
557            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/the-mcrib-enjoy-your-symptom/281413/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
558              <h3 class="card-title">McRib: Enjoy Your Symptom</h3>
559              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">How McDonald’s strange, seasonal sandwich explains the rest of its menu</p>
560              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
561            </a>
562        </article>
563      </div>
564    </section>
565
566    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="grabbag"></a>
567      <h2>🎁 🎉 Grab Bag</h2>
568      <section class="content-body">
569      <p>A few of my favorites from topics that don't fit into other categories.</p>
570      </section>
571      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
572        <article class="card card-wrap">
573            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/03/what-cow-therapy-taught-me/627044/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
574              <h3 class="card-title">Feeling Herd</h3>
575              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">What I learned from a steer named Chico</p>
576              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
577            </a>
578        </article>
579        <article class="card card-wrap">
580            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/sandra-boynton-bard-of-bedtime/598342/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
581              <h3 class="card-title">Sandra Boynton’s Captivating Universe</h3>
582              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Her picture books have sold 75 million copies in the past four decades. What’s the secret to her far-reaching appeal?</p>
583              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
584            </a>
585        </article>
586        <article class="card card-wrap">
587            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/star-trek-tng-and-the-limits-of-language-shaka-when-the-walls-fell/372107
587/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
588              <h3 class="card-title">Shaka, When the Walls Fell</h3>
589              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">In one fascinating episode, <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> traced the limits of human communication as we know it—and suggested a new, truer way of talking about the universe</p>
590              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
591            </a>
592        </article>
593        <article class="card card-wrap">
594            <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/07/75-years-after-bomb/614260/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
595              <h3 class="card-title">A Bomb in the Desert</h3>
596              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Seventy-five years ago, America set off the world’s first nuclear explosion.</p>
597              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
598            </a>
599        </article>
600      </div>
601    </section>
602
603    <section class="rail index-page" aria-label="Writing"><a name="scholarly"></a>
604      <h2>🧐 💭 Scholarly Work</h2>
605      <section class="content-body">
606      <p>A few relevant papers from my scholarly work, which might be hard to find elsewhere. (For more of my academic work, see my <a href="/books">books</a> or <a href="/about/#CV">consult my CV</a>)</p>
607      </section>
608      <div class="cards cards-4 cards-writing" id="" aria-live="polite">
609        <article class="card card-wrap">
610            <a href="/downloads/Bogost%20Object%20Oriented%20Ontology%20as%20a%20Design%20Philosophy.pdf" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
611              <h3 class="card-title">Object-Oriented Ontology as a Design Philosophy</h3>
612              <p class="muted date">2018</p>
613              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">In <i>The Secret Life of Buildings</i>, eds Michael Benedikt and Kory Bieg</p>
614              <img src="/assets/creatures/3.png" alt="" class="mascot">
615            </a>
616        </article>
617        <article class="card card-wrap">
618            <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/3066/chapter-abstract/83869/Why-Gamification-is-Bullshit?redirectedFrom=PDF" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
619              <h3 class="card-title">Why Gamification Is Bullshit</h3>
620              <p class="muted date">2014</p>
621              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">In <i>The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications</i>, eds Steffen P. Wanz and Sebastian Deterding</p>
622              <img src="/assets/creatures/16.png" alt="" class="mascot">
623            </a>
624        </article>
625        <article class="card card-wrap">
626            <a href="https://electronicbookreview.com/publications/video-games-go-to-washington-the-story-behind-the-howard-dean-for-iowa-game/" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
627              <h3 class="card-title">Video Games Go to Washington: The Story Behind <i>The Howard Dean for Iowa Game</i></h3>
628              <p class="muted date">2008</p>
629              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">What we did, and what I learned, making the first official video game for a U.S. presidential candidate.</p>
630              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
631            </a>
632        </article>
633        <article class="card card-wrap">
634            <a href="/downloads/I.%20Bogost%20-%20Asynchronous%20Multiplay.pdf" class="card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
635              <h3 class="card-title">Asynchronous Multiplay</h3>
636              <p class="muted date">2004</p>
637              <p class="muted excerpt line-clamp">Futures for Casual Multiplayer Experience</p>
638              <img src="/assets/creatures/0.png" alt="" class="mascot">
639            </a>
640        </article>
641      </div>
642    </section>
643
644    
644<script>window.WRITING_ITEM_COUNT=15;</script>
644
645    
645<script src="/assets/writing.js" defer></script>
645
646  </main>
647
648  <footer class="site-footer" role="contentinfo">
649    <div class="container footer-wrap">
650      <p class="copyright">&copy;2003 &ndash; 2026 Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games LLC. All rights reserved.</p>
651      <nav class="footer-nav" aria-label="Footer">
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653          <li><a href="/about/#contact">Contact</a></li>
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