First Fire

This page maps the First Fire project. You can read in chronological order directly on substack, or by topics from this page.

This page last updated 8/9/2025

Spark was the first post, and set the tone for the project. This is a good place for a new reader to start.

Introduction to the project

• Maybe Even Something True An overview of what I plan to cover, and why
• Stone Doesn't Bend Part introspection, part confession--a look at what happens when poorly-built beliefs meet rational analysis

Epistemology

• How to Decide Some good tools for making better decisions, and thoughts about truth
• Beyond the Sorting Machine On the limits of rational thought and hints of other ways of knowing
• How Words Trap Us What language can do to us and for us, and the search for meaning
• The Hard Work of Belief You don't believe it because it's true

Visions & Fragments

• Spark The first post, chronologically. A call to examine foundations
• A Story About a Tree Everything might not be as it seems

Mind & Beyond

• To Whom, the Illusion? First steps in understanding mind, experience, and consciousness