https://florianlohse.com/essays/ Long-form essays by Florian Lohse. https://florianlohse.com/essays/wrestling-with-eels/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/wrestling-with-eels/ Can You Observe Yourself When the Ground Is Moving? Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/shitty-castles/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/shitty-castles/ On The Art of Digging Fake Moats Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/dancing-with-the-shoggoth/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/dancing-with-the-shoggoth/ On designing friction into AI writing workflows. Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds/ On Gambas, Gardening and Panglossian Optimism Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/start-with-a-hunch/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/start-with-a-hunch/ The art of asking better questions begins with finding words for what bothers you Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/what-i-learned-from-the-silicone/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/what-i-learned-from-the-silicone/ Principles of craftsmanship for post corporate careers Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/i-tried-to-be-a-data-center-but-ended/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/i-tried-to-be-a-data-center-but-ended/ What do we loose if we think of ourselves as scalable machines? Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/drive-vs-agency/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/drive-vs-agency/ Feeling agentic and having impact is not the same thing. Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/history-machines-in-the-margins/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/history-machines-in-the-margins/ What I learned from three hours at Singapore airport and a book about 12th century Java. Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/stoic-unsettling/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/stoic-unsettling/ How to deal with a crumbling industry? Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/large-language-agency-traps/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/large-language-agency-traps/ Using LLMs for life coaching feels great, but how much do we ACTUALLY benefit from it? Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/i-respawn-in-the-same-place-every/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/i-respawn-in-the-same-place-every/ Every day starts in the rubble of broken routines. Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/my-globish-identity-is-bold-and-shallow/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/my-globish-identity-is-bold-and-shallow/ The global dialect comes at a price. Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/ai-is-a-charming-consultant/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/ai-is-a-charming-consultant/ What could we learn from the long history of consultant theatre for the current age of AI enchantment? Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/personal-experience-is-the-new-rare-earth-metals/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/personal-experience-is-the-new-rare-earth-metals/ The abundance of generic data will make personal individual perspective as valuable as rare earth metals Sat, 24 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/futurist-ruins-are-radiating-contingency/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/futurist-ruins-are-radiating-contingency/ NEOM seems destined to become Future Detritus Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/systems-build-in-calm-are-tested/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/systems-build-in-calm-are-tested/ Returning from a long journey through the land of wombats and wallabies. Thu, 06 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/franchise-storytelling-has-become-cultural-fracking/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/franchise-storytelling-has-become-cultural-fracking/ Those sequels, prequels and origin stories keep coming and coming. What's next? Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/streaming-is-the-new-cable-more-elegantly-commoditized/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/streaming-is-the-new-cable-more-elegantly-commoditized/ What might make this new iteration of Grandmas television different to the old one? Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/technology-expands-access-to-culture-but-diminishes-its-value/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/technology-expands-access-to-culture-but-diminishes-its-value/ Today's obsolete crafts will be rediscovered in a yet-to-be-born movement rejecting a future status quo Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/hollywood-is-dead-but-it-may-yet-be-reborn/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/hollywood-is-dead-but-it-may-yet-be-reborn/ Make ourselves at home in the ruins of the old industry to build something new. Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/expected-agency-shapes-future-thinking/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/expected-agency-shapes-future-thinking/ The less somebody considers the future to be changeable, the less likely they are to take action in changing it. Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/the-elephant-in-the-sky/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/the-elephant-in-the-sky/ What happens when a tornado movie dodges the biggest storm of our time? Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/smartphones-dream-of-stochastic-moons/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/smartphones-dream-of-stochastic-moons/ A close-up of the moon reveals the evolution of photography at a crossroads Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/everything-is-forever-until-it-is-no-more/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/everything-is-forever-until-it-is-no-more/ Gradually, then suddenly. Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/superheroes-are-reactionary-poster-childs/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/superheroes-are-reactionary-poster-childs/ Superheroes fight for everything to stay the same, it is their villains that try to change the world. Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/cinema-is-a-medium-of-the-collective/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/cinema-is-a-medium-of-the-collective/ Classic cinema has a special power that remains relevant: it unites everybody in front of a shared big screen. Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/energy-blindness-is-a-bliss/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/energy-blindness-is-a-bliss/ I visited the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger and learned something about Energy Blindness. Wed, 09 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/stop-living--thinking-in-boxes/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/stop-living--thinking-in-boxes/ On working / thinking / being outdoors Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/hot-takes-are-tempting-but-lead-into-rabbit-holes/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/hot-takes-are-tempting-but-lead-into-rabbit-holes/ Publishing online regularly to think "with the garage door open" is a concept I like a lot, but there are pitfalls. Sun, 26 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/a-comet-impact-is-a-bad-metaphor-for-climate-change/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/a-comet-impact-is-a-bad-metaphor-for-climate-change/ A comet apocalypse is a cozy exit strategy. Sun, 30 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://florianlohse.com/essays/futurism-is-a-nostalgic-style-not-a-progressive-movement/ https://florianlohse.com/essays/futurism-is-a-nostalgic-style-not-a-progressive-movement/ Futurism is not a movement anymore, it’s a nostalgic aesthetic Sun, 27 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT