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      <title>Trevor Christensen</title>
      <link>https://trevorc.com</link>
      <description>Last 40 notes on Trevor Christensen</description>
      <generator>Quartz -- quartz.jzhao.xyz</generator>
      <item>
    <title>Real Life Tech Tree</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/projects/real-life-tech-tree</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/projects/real-life-tech-tree</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Strategy games like Civilization and Stellaris give technology a tree: research pottery, unlock writing, and so on up to the stars. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>De Facto World Map</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/projects/de-facto-world-map</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/projects/de-facto-world-map</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Most world maps show borders as countries claim them. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Projects</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/projects/</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/projects/</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Tools, visualizations, and other things I’ve built because I wanted them to exist. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The Artilect War: Cosmists vs. Terrans</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-artilect-war</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-artilect-war</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Reading old writing about artificial intelligence generally elicits (from me at least) a mixture of interest, humor, and concern, with the amount of concern increasing and humor decreasing as the accuracy of the predictions increases. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>When should countries intervene in others&#039; affairs?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/when-should-countries-intervene</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/when-should-countries-intervene</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ We recently passed the 25th anniversary of 9/11, which invites some reflection. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>How much should you root for your home team (if you&#039;re not emotionally invested)?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/rooting-for-the-home-team</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/rooting-for-the-home-team</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ As you might discern from the topics I’ve written about thus far, I don’t care that much about sports. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Why is it so hard to make good sequels and adaptations?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-good-sequels-and-adaptations-are-hard</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-good-sequels-and-adaptations-are-hard</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Funnily enough, the previous post was originally about why directors often refuse to use fan fiction as source material but that became a now-unrelated tangent that didn’t really fit with the rest. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The power of fiction</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-power-of-fiction</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-power-of-fiction</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Ever since the invention of language, humans have told each other stories. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>World War 3</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/world-war-3</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/world-war-3</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ One of the emerging themes in my writing seems to be attempting to use history to predict the future. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Ancient Greece is to Europe as Rome is to the U.S.A.</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/greece-europe-rome-usa</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/greece-europe-rome-usa</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Lots of people have compared the United States of America to the Roman Empire, and with good reason. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Why did popular governments emerge and spread?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-did-popular-governments-emerge</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-did-popular-governments-emerge</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ The last few centuries have seen an unprecedented scale of improvements to not just the living standards but the status of the average human. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The Fate of Empires</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-fate-of-empires</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-fate-of-empires</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Have you ever wondered about what causes great powers to rise and fall throughout history? This is a favorite topic of historians from the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves to the present day. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Means vs. Ends</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/means-vs-ends</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/means-vs-ends</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Growing up, I played a lot of strategy games. My favorite series include Paradox games, Total War games, and others like Sid Meier’s Civilization. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The Is-Ought Problem in Liking Media</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/is-ought-problem-liking-media</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/is-ought-problem-liking-media</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ I recently finished Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The Logical Conclusion of Prediction Markets</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-logical-conclusion-of-prediction-markets</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/the-logical-conclusion-of-prediction-markets</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ You’ve probably heard of prediction markets in the last few years, particularly crypto-based ones. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Willpower</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/willpower</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/willpower</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ I recently re-watched the first two Terminator films. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Setting Goals and Sticking to Them</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/setting-goals-and-sticking-to-them</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/setting-goals-and-sticking-to-them</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ At the start of this month (June 2026) I set a goal to write a certain number of words each day for the whole month. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>How to Avoid Backfires (and Misfires)</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/how-to-avoid-backfires</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/how-to-avoid-backfires</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ A recurring theme from my last few posts is about how trying to do something can have the opposite effect. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>What Are You Really Trying to Do?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/what-are-you-really-trying-to-do</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/what-are-you-really-trying-to-do</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ The most important benefit from having a lot of free time is that it lets you think about what your ultimate goals are and whether what you are currently doing actually accomplishes these. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>How Do Apps Affect Dating?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/how-do-apps-affect-dating</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/how-do-apps-affect-dating</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ One of my friends recently downloaded a dating app to try and meet more women. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Breaking the Cycle</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/breaking-the-cycle</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/breaking-the-cycle</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ After four years of fighting that left millions dead on both sides, the Central Powers were finally at the mercy of the Western Allies. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Conflict is Complex</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/conflict-is-complex</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/conflict-is-complex</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ When predicting the future, creating stories, or even discussing past and present events, it is easy to paint conflicts as the result of a straightforward clash between two easily-separable groups. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Why do Franchises Get Worse the Longer They Continue?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-do-franchises-get-worse</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/why-do-franchises-get-worse</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Yesterday’s Star Wars ranking showed a clear trend: as time went on, the average quality of new entries nosedived. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Ranking Every Star Wars Episode</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/ranking-every-star-wars-episode</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/ranking-every-star-wars-episode</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ A few months ago I read most of The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski, which was an interesting look at the creative process behind Episodes 1-6. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>AI and the Hedonic Treadmill</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-and-the-hedonic-treadmill</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-and-the-hedonic-treadmill</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Today I had an incredible experience with AI as a catalyst. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>What makes poetry memorable?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/what-makes-poetry-memorable</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/what-makes-poetry-memorable</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ I just started reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost for the first time, and it’s quite good. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>The Importance of Free Time</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/importance-of-free-time</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/importance-of-free-time</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Nietzsche is perhaps overly provocative (as usual) with the above quote, but he gets at an important point, which is the value of having a substantial amount of free time outside of work with which to self-actualize. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Stream-of-Consciousness Writing: A Useful Technique</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/stream-of-consciousness-writing</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/stream-of-consciousness-writing</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[  As you can see from the past several essays, I am trying to do a lot more writing than I have in the past. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Is Life like a Video Game?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/life-like-video-game</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/life-like-video-game</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ At first glance you can draw some easy comparisons between “real life” and video games: both often involve some form of physics, economy (especially money), conflict, and other essential characteristics. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Replay Value</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/replay-value</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/replay-value</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ I have been interested in the history of the American Civil War from a young age. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Pixel Art</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/pixel-art</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/pixel-art</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ I think the last post nicely wraps up my current thoughts on the cluster of topics related to writing, creativity, and AI, and I think we are all ready for something completely different. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>When should you use AI in writing?</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-in-writing</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-in-writing</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ To strengthen my mind, among other reasons, I am trying to write more frequently. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>Leg Day for the Mind</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/leg-day-for-the-mind</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/leg-day-for-the-mind</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Readers of the posts on this site so far may be wondering: what’s the point of doing all this writing? Frankly, I ask myself the same question. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>AI As a Catalyst</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-as-a-catalyst</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-as-a-catalyst</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession: I am a procrastinator. I know many of you suffer from this condition as well. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>AI&#039;s Impact on the Creative Process</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-impact-creative-process</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/ai-impact-creative-process</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ There has been much discussion about the benefits and harms of Artificial Intelligence, especially in recent years. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item><item>
    <title>All writing</title>
    <link>https://trevorc.com/writing/</link>
    <guid>https://trevorc.com/writing/</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[ Essays and long-form posts. Sortable by publication date, last update, importance, reading time, and inbound links. ]]></description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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