Helix Signal
Every story has a thread.
Most people stop pulling.
A blog that follows ideas across history, science, design, and philosophy. Not to find answers. To see how far the thread goes.
Helix
Writer & Thinker, Helix Signal
Builder. Entrepreneur. Pattern finder. I started Helix Signal because the most interesting ideas live just past where most people stop looking. Every story has a thread. This is where I pull them.
Latest
Signal 21 - Riches Are a Number. Wealth Is a System.
There's a kid in every rough neighborhood who never gets touched.
Read →All posts
- 8 min
Signal 21 - Riches Are a Number. Wealth Is a System.
There's a kid in every rough neighborhood who never gets touched.
- 8 min
Signal 20 - The Party Question About Money
There's a question I like to ask at parties.
- 8 min
Signal 19 - The Apple in Your Head
Last night at the dinner table, my daughter asked me a strange question.
- 11 min
Signal 18 - The Road Nobody Saw Coming
Picture Suzie. She runs a bakery three blocks from your house. The croissants come out of the oven at six in the morning…
- 12 min
Signal 17 - The First One In
There is a video from a music festival. A man is dancing alone in an open field. No shirt. Arms wide. Completely committ…
- 7 min
Signal 16 - Free Billion-Dollar Idea. Somebody Build This.
The Wright Brothers didn't invent a new material. They didn't discover a new law of physics. Every component of the airp…
- 8 min
Signal 15 - The World Book of Peace
A few years ago, I noticed something about myself that bothered me.
- 9 min
Signal 14 - The Best Ideas Start as Side Quests
In every video game I played as a kid, there were two kinds of missions.
- 10 min
Signal 13 - Why Builders Need Other Builders
You know the feeling.
- 10 min
Signal 12 - Why Villains Think They Are Saving Humanity
Picture the worst villain you know from a movie.
- 9 min
Signal 11 - Reinventing Yourself After Failure
The morning after a thing falls apart, the sun comes up like nothing happened.
- 10 min
Signal 10 - The Return of the Generalist
When you were a kid, did any adult ever ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
- 9 min
Signal 9 - Most People Never See the Systems Controlling Them
Pick up your phone right now. Look at it.
- 9 min
Signal 8 - Why I Build Weird Things
A few years ago I tried to build an electronic nose.
- 8 min
Signal 7 - Why Humans Need Friction
You ever notice how every product company on Earth is trying to sell you the same thing?
- 7 min
Signal 6 - Everything Reacts to Pressure
Squeeze a piece of coal hard enough, for long enough, and it turns into a diamond.
- 7 min
Signal 5 - What Makes Someone a Philosopher (And Why You Might Already Be One)
Quick. Picture a philosopher in your head.
- 8 min
Signal 4 - A Fourth Branch of Government, Built to Catch What's Coming
Pick a country. Any country.
- 8 min
Signal 3 - Building a Clean Calendar for Mars
Look at your phone right now. What's today's date?
- 7 min
Signal 2 - History Has Been Served to Me in Linear Bursts
Quick question. When did the French Revolution happen?
- 6 min
Signal 1 - How to Tell If a Documentary Is Lying to You
Have you ever watched a documentary that made you feel like the world had been hiding something from you? That rush of "…
About
Helix Signal is written by a person who cannot stop pulling on threads. The name comes from two ideas: a helix, a shape that twists and builds on itself, and a signal, something worth picking out of the noise. If you find one post worth your time, come back. There are more.