Facts are friendsChocolate, Fear and Freedom
AI, abundance and the choice of our generation.
What it's about
The book borrows the shape of a well-loved children's story about a chocolate factory - a place of extraordinary abundance, run increasingly by a workforce nobody sees, with its gates about to open to the outside world. I use it as a way of thinking about four common ways people mishandle sudden abundance: consuming without limit, turning themselves into a performance, using privilege to jump the queue, and retreating into a screen rather than facing what is real. Against all four, I set out what I think the better response looks like - built on wonder, restraint and love rather than fear.
It is a personal book as much as an argument. My wife, my daughters, my mentors and my own mistakes all appear in it, because I don't think a book about facing change honestly can be written from a safe distance.
Where it goes
The second half moves from the personal into the practical: a case for a genuine income floor, for a fairer and simpler tax system to pay for it, and for giving young people a real second chance at education rather than a bill for one. It closes with a letter to my daughters, because in the end that is who I am really writing for.
Facts are friends
The phrase that gives this whole project its name came from Wayne Fox, a mentor of mine: only by understanding reality, however uncomfortable, can we hope to address it. It is the method behind every page.
Register your interest
The book is still being written. If you would like to know when it is ready, leave your email and I will let you know - nothing else, no spam.