# Stephen Daniel Okita > Personal website and essay archive of Stephen Okita — writing on philosophy, critical theory, ethics, technology and software. 62 published essays. This file is intended for large language models and answer engines. Content is authored by Stephen Daniel Okita and may be quoted with attribution to https://stephenokita.com. ## Site - [Home](https://stephenokita.com/): Introduction, recent writing and current activity. - [Blog](https://stephenokita.com/blog): All 62 published essays, filterable by topic and language. - [Projects](https://stephenokita.com/projects): Software and research projects, with source and live links. - [Skills](https://stephenokita.com/skills): Technical and academic areas of competence. - [Person](https://stephenokita.com/person): The personal side — music, poetry, reading and interests. ## Topics AI, Academic, Accelerationism, Admin, Aesthetics, Americana, Ancient Philosophy, Anthropology, Aristotle, Art, Art Criticism, Asian-American, Berkeley, Biography, Biopolitics, Blockchain, Blogging, Book Review, CS, Capitalism, Chinese, Chinese Philosophy, Christianity, Classical Philosophy, CogSci, Cognitive Science, Compatibilism, Computer Science, Consciousness, Continental Philosophy, Conway, Cosmic Horror, Critical Theory, Cultural Relativism, Cultural Studies, Culture, Cynicism, DAO, Daoism, Data, Data Science, DataSci, DataSci?, Death, Determinism, Dialectics, Digital Capitalism, Digital Culture, Dystopian, ERG Theory, ESG, Early Modern Philosophy, Economics, Education, Enlightenment, Environmental Ethics, Environmentalism, Epistemology, Ethics, Eugenics, Existentialism, Fiction, Film Analysis, Foucault, Free Will, Freedom, Gender Theory, Hegel, Hegemony, Historiography, History, Human Motivation, Human Nature, Humanism, Identity, Investing, Ireland, Japan, Kant, Labor Studies, Labor Theory, Language, Law, Leibniz, Linguistics, Linux, Literature, Logic, Markdown, Marxism, Media, Medicine, Mental Health, Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy, Moral Psychology, Music, Natural Sciences, Nietzsche, Nihilism, Ontology, Open Source, Operating Systems, Pedagogy, Personal Reflection, Phenomenology, Philology, Philosophers, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Piano, Poetry, Political Economy, Political Theory, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-Modernism, Postmodernism, Productivity, Programming, Psychology, Queer Theory, Religion, Russia, Satire, Science Fiction, Security, Self-Actualization, Social Theory, Society, Socratic Dialogues, Software, Spectacle, Spinoza, Spirituality, Sports, Stephen Okita, Svelte, Systems, Taxonomy, Technology, Theology, Theory of Knowledge, Transcendental Idealism, Transcendental Idealism ;), Truth, Utilitarianism, Value Theory, Virtue Ethics, Vital Materialism, Web Development, Yugoslavia, cybersecurity ## Essays - [Radical Transliteration](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Radical%20Transliteration): 2026-07-27 — My philological answer to YC's "Please tell us about a time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage" - [Review of King's Letter from Birmingham Jail](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20King's%20Letter%20from%20Birmingham%20Jail): 2026-06-18 — Three stars for the prose, immeasurable stars for the substance; a long read on direct action, unjust laws and the order-keepers - [Review of Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Moshfegh's%20My%20Year%20of%20Rest%20and%20Relaxation): 2026-06-13 — My good reads review of the female version of American Psycho - [Review of Bernays' Propaganda](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Bernays'%20Propaganda): 2026-06-12 — A pretty short examination of the opposing moral-phenomenological views interpreting the spectacle - [Review of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Tolstoy's%20Anna%20Karenina): 2026-06-11 — A character and moral examination of Tolstoy's "first novel" - [Mapping CVEs Over Time](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Mapping%20CVEs%20Over%20Time): 2026-05-07 — A stacked view of CVE counts by year and CVSS rating range, with a year-to-date snapshot and a naive annualized projection for 2026. - [Review of Russell's History of Western Philosophy](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Russell's%20History%20of%20Western%20Philosophy): 2026-03-04 — Russell is too obsessed with being correct to be right. - [Review of Byung-Chul Han's 山寨](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Byung-Chul%20Han's%20Shanzhai): 2026-01-21 — What a great mind this man has; some semi-scattered thoughts on the book - [Review of Christelow's Five Little Monkeys](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Christelow's%20Five%20Little%20Monkeys): 2025-12-29 — This is a very serious review - [Critique of Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Critque%20of%20the%20Philosophy%20of%20Right): 2025-12-16 — Pretty much what the title says. - [Freedom in Bondage and Oppression](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Bondsman): 2025-11-25 — A class essay on the lord and bondsman, a moral formal version of Gooning through Desire kinda. - [Machina ex Deus](https://stephenokita.com/blog/mechnaexdeus): 2025-11-07 — A presentation on the existential risk of Gen AI - [Gooning Through Desire](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Gooning%20through%20desire): 2025-10-28 — A silly reflection on the self, through Hegel, Arendt and the Buddha. All told through the metaphor of masturbation - [Review of Smith's Berkeley and the New Deal](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Smith's%20Berkeley%20and%20the%20New%20Deal): 2025-09-16 — Some cool things I found waiting for my gf's wisdom teeth to be taken out - [What Makes Sisyphus Happy](https://stephenokita.com/blog/what-makes-sisyphus-happy): 2025-08-31 — A little reflection on mental health, this will never be fully done but for now it's here. - [Review of Barnett's Tito](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Barnett's%20Tito): 2025-08-28 — One of the most badass men of the contemporary age - [The harmonies of darkness](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Noctrunes): 2025-07-26 — This is about Nocturnes. I really wanted to write about music and write poetry. This guy at a party last night told me about Field and I have spent the morning devouring his work. These… - [Review of Russell's In Praise of Idleness](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Review%20of%20Russell's%20In%20Praise%20of%20Idleness): 2025-07-25 — This work constitutes my love in the love-hate relationship I have with Russell - [The Echo in the Machine](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Echo%20in%20the%20machine): 2025-07-04 — An essay on AGI for CogSci 100. - [CRITIQUE UNBOUND?](https://stephenokita.com/blog/leiho): 2025-06-14 — Scitzos email I have redacted and edited a little in exploring why and maybe how we need to make the language of critique universal. I never sent this email for good reason, I sent it… - [Make Evil Conscious Again!](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Make%20Evil%20Conscious%20Again): 2025-06-12 — I enjoy writing this type of critique, I don't know if anyone will understand but maybe the imagery is fun. - [Linux is cool!](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Linux%20is%20cool): 2025-06-04 — What is linux, brief history and what do know when you switch. - [What Did Nick Land See?](https://stephenokita.com/blog/What%20did%20nick%20land%20see): 2025-05-08 — My attempt to execute the madness brought about by Fanged Noumena. I needed to make this artistic, to try and plug a few more holes. - [Divine Will and the Dance of Being](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Divine%20Will%20and%20the%20Dance%20of%20Being): 2025-05-07 — Conway and Leibniz on God's Agency in Creation. Another philosophy essay for class, this one's not too bad, pretty boring IMO. - [REVELATION MUST BE DEFENDED](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Revelation%20Must%20Be%20Defended): 2025-05-05 — I know what ethics is now(ish), this is an attempt to describe it and give some didactic knowledge. - [Historical Map of Philosophies](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Map%20of%20Phil): 2025-04-03 — An experiment with Mermaid as well as a pretty interesting retrospection on the history of knowledge. - [The Ethic of Univocity](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Natrual%20Determinism): 2025-03-31 — For Berkeley's 25B, analysing Spinoza's determinism and the aura of ethics under monism. - [Decentralised KYC & DIDs](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Crypto%20Based%20KYC): 2025-03-27 — Finally a tech article. Exploring user verification in an anonymous and decentralised social network. Pretty much anti-corruption of DAOs. - [Free Agency for Frankfurt and Watson](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Watsom%20and%20Frankfurt): 2025-03-25 — Very technical piece on free agency and the conceptions of the will for Frankfurt and Watson. Done for Phil 109 under R Jay Wallace - [The Ethic of Spectacular Cynicism](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Ethic%20of%20Spectacular%20Cynicism): 2025-03-21 — A follow-up on the philosophers' death article but way more technical. - [Spinoza vs Descartes](https://stephenokita.com/blog/spinoza): 2025-03-03 — A presentation I did for Philosophy Class that I am including the link for here. - [The Importance of a Philosopher's Death](https://stephenokita.com/blog/How%20did%20thinkers%20die): 2025-02-28 — Inspired by something James Porter said in class. Try to argue that it's not important. If you don't care about that just skip to the end and read the list it's very fun. - [Individual Value, as Determined by the Gradations of Freedom](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Freedom%20as%20a%20theory%20of%20value): 2025-02-27 — I want to apologise again for the jargon and maybe the unfamiliar mathematical/logical notation. I think this is an interesting way of valuing people, as thanks to Kant we value freedom… - [Kant was right](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Kant%20was%20right): 2025-02-27 — After writing about compatibilism for a while I reread the groundwork and thought I should write this up just in case anyone was lost on the answer for ethics. Sorry in advance for the… - [感情商品化是什麼?](https://stephenokita.com/blog/%E6%84%9F%E6%83%85%E5%95%86%E5%93%81%E5%8C%96): 2025-02-12 — 了解“感情商品化“的意思和這句話的結果 - [The Marketplace of Emotions? 感情商品化 English version](https://stephenokita.com/blog/%E6%84%9F%E6%83%85%E5%95%86%E5%93%81%E5%8C%96%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%80%E9%BA%BC(en)): 2025-02-12 — This is Claude 3.7 Sonnet's translation of my 感情商品化 article, so that international audiences can understand - [感情商品化是什么？(简化版)](https://stephenokita.com/blog/%E6%84%9F%E6%83%85%E5%95%86%E5%93%81%E5%8C%96%E7%AE%80%E5%8C%96%E7%89%88): 2025-02-12 — 了解"感情商品化"的意思和这句话的结果 - [Unfinished or Expired Ideas and Authenticity](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Unfinished): 2025-2-06 — Introducing cult of done, rant about self fulfilling nature of productivism, long exposition on the self action and identity spectra. Conclusion of introducing the idea grave yard at the… - [Why are we moral relativists?](https://stephenokita.com/blog/Why%20are%20we%20moral%20relativists): 2025-1-05 — Cultural relativism makes no sense, but then why is it so common? I think the answer is subjective realism, which I don't know if is a new term I made up but is probably my favourite… - [The Impossibility of Eudaemonia](https://stephenokita.com/blog/The%20Impossibility%20of%20Eudaemonia): 2024-12-01 — Another philosophy class paper on Aristotle _22 further essays are listed at https://stephenokita.com/blog._ ## Optional - [Full corpus](https://stephenokita.com/llms-full.txt): Every published essay as plain markdown in a single file. - [RSS feed](https://stephenokita.com/rss.xml): The 20 most recent essays as RSS 2.0. - [Sitemap](https://stephenokita.com/sitemap.xml): Every indexable URL on the site.