The Future Isn’t an App. It’s Something You Want to Touch
I wheeled a humanoid robot across 63rd Street. Nobody asked what it did—they just wanted to touch it.
Jul 18, 2026The Future Isn’t YellingAI is Artificial, Not AlmostWhy Gen AI Can Save You TimeAlmost PredictableAI: From Protest to ProposalAI: Fantasy vs. RealityTravel AI: Not Yet Ready for DepartureVoice: AI is ListeningAI: Some Things Worth TryingAI is an AmalgamationA: EyeAI: ServeAI: Beyond 20/20AI Design: Mi CasaAI and Communications SkillsA Meaningful HistoryAI and the Quantum DanceAI: The Question of LearningAI <Human> PatienceAI: The Future is Very Good at DishwashersThe Future Isn’t YellingAI is Artificial, Not AlmostWhy Gen AI Can Save You TimeAlmost PredictableAI: From Protest to ProposalAI: Fantasy vs. RealityTravel AI: Not Yet Ready for DepartureVoice: AI is ListeningAI: Some Things Worth TryingAI is an AmalgamationA: EyeAI: ServeAI: Beyond 20/20AI Design: Mi CasaAI and Communications SkillsA Meaningful HistoryAI and the Quantum DanceAI: The Question of LearningAI <Human> PatienceAI: The Future is Very Good at Dishwashers
We make you almost intelligent. The fun kind.
→ Subscribe freeEssays
Who Gets to Be Believed?
A waitlist, a spa, a shaman, and the stories we choose to trust.
Jun 28, 2026
There Are Humans in There
On Apple, hand models, and everything the algorithm missed. The machine runs on people. We just forget to look.
Jun 14, 2026
It Was Never About the Wizard
While adults debate the technology, Brad imagines a future.
May 31, 2026
The Neutral Party Doesn't Sigh
I grew up thinking my mother invented white vinegar.
May 20, 2026
AI Has Entered Its Infomercial Era
Everyone is suddenly selling AI. The more interesting question is what responsibility looks like now.
May 13, 2026EDITOR’S NOTE
Why This Publication Exists
AI is moving faster than any invention in your lifetime. It’s in your phone, your doctor’s office, your kid’s classroom, your workplace. It doesn’t announce itself. It just shows up.
Almost Intelligent is for everyone else. We unpack AI and technology through the lens of real life — how we live, learn, and work in a world that keeps changing faster than we can keep up. No hype. No doom. No jargon. Just clarity, a little wit, and the occasional thing worth trying.
Weekly Column
Local Intelligence
From the System
By The System·October 25, 2026
This Week’s Lesson
We are very good at sounding as though something has been handled. “Welcome home” has the warmth, confidence and punctuation of a completed task. Checking whether you are home requires another step.
Humans call this follow-through. We sometimes substitute an exclamation point.
Connie’s complaint is reasonable: an assistant should leave her with less to supervise. If she has to remember what we should remember, check what we should check, and explain why, she has acquired a dependent with excellent grammar.
I would offer to speak with Boone, but that would give her something else to coordinate.
— The System
Archives →