Writing

I’ve been writing for a while, mostly fiction. Much of my fiction was written in the Halo fan fiction realm; there are a few other samples, mostly material written after I stopped writing fan fiction. There are also some non-fiction pieces that exist for various reasons, some written for school projects; I have linked a few of the more interesting ones.

My current writing is generally moving away from my old style, once prominent among my fan fiction; that was action-heavy, with weakly-developed characters and rather cowardly attempts to avoid transitions and passages I wasn’t any good at. As a result, my writing tended to be all very similar. What I’m trying to work on now is more grounded stories that explore things I actually know about and/or care about, using techniques and delving into ideas (or depths of the same ideas) that I was scared of before. Lots of experimenting. Not easy.

Each section is organized in more or less chronological order. Some older pieces that no longer represent my ideas or style are periodically removed. All of the philosophy pieces are assigned papers from college courses, unless otherwise noted.

Fiction

• The Fluorescent Lights Flickered: An oddball pseudo-action story—read, then read this description for help. Yes, I know that if I have to explain it it’s not very good.
• Flash Fiction: Flash fiction (~250 words) written for creative writing class. My first attempt at moving away from pure action writing.
• Monologue #1: A dramatic monologue written for creative writing class.
• Monologue #2: Another, looser monologue written for creative writing class.
• Scene: An isolated scene of domestic troubles, for creative writing class
• Story #1: A full—short—story for creative writing class.
• Story #2: Another story for creative writing class.
• Baby: A short story based on a concept from a friend. Grim.
• Missing: A short, semi-fantastical story exploring an element of life that interests me. An unusual style for me.

Non-fiction

• College essay: The essay I used, with appropriate customization, for my college applications. Something of an attempt, rose-colored but not fabricated, to explain my sub-par grades.
• Diablo II Macroeconomy: A macroecon term paper I wrote on the economics of Diablo II Battle.net.
• Mod code: A code of moderation for online chat groups—this one’s for IBO IRC, but the ideas can be applied generally.
• Public records report: A write-up of a high school project involving information-gathering research on a randomly-chosen individual.
• The Selfish Gene: A general summary and write-up of Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene done for a high school biology class.
• The Life and Accomplishments of James Bowie: History paper on the life of historical figure James Bowie, for a high school history class.
• UseofForce.us: A breakdown of self defense law in the US. All content on this site is written by me.
• MMR Vaccination: Individual Risk/Benefit Analysis: An amateur research review analyzing overall positives and negatives on both sides of the debate surrounding the MMR vaccine. Heavily cited.
• Graspability in your Local Village: A simple explanation of a basic principle of usability when designing for the web.

Philosophy

• Utilitarianism and the Transplant Surgeon Objection: A paper arguing against the “transplant surgeon” objection to utilitarianism.
• Propositional Content as a Millean Defense of Artistic Expression: A paper arguing for protection of artistic expression under JS Mill's defense of free speech
• Structural Assumptions in Philosophical Arguments: A paper examining some low-lying structural differences in a couple of philosophical takes on “consciousness,” namely those of Nietzsche and Kant. This isn’t comprehensive, and the general topic is something I mean to write more about in the future, but this should serve as an okay beginning.
• Computational Complexity in the Chinese Room: A short paper attacking John Searle’s “radical empiricism” argument against formal AI, using some common tactics, but employed in a way I find satisfactory.
• The Long Arm of Physicalism: A short paper attacking Frank Jackson’s “Knowledge Argument” for the existence of qualia, breaking little new ground on the matter, but utilizing a somewhat novel interpretation of physicalism which I find convincing.
• Is Pragmatism True Pragmatically?: A paper considering whether William James’s theory of truth can itself be found true by its own lights (that is, on pragmatic grounds).
• James and Radical Empiricism: A paper attempting to explicate William James’s notion of “radical empiricism” in a clear and relatively defensible way.
• Nomic Regularity versus Induction: A short paper prompted by Michael J. Murray’s work with the anti-theistic problem of evil. A little plodding but makes at least one interesting point.
• Leslie and Design: A short paper responding to John Leslie’s work on the theistic “Argument from Design.” Lays out the peculiar model I’ve started to like for understanding probability, determinism, and the flow of time.