Francis Tseng

Lead independent researcher at the Jain Family Institute.

Writing

Inside-Out
Phenomenal World
Renewable energy, the future of mining, and the re-localization of harm
Covid-19 made 'unthinkable' reforms a reality in the US – now make them stick
The Guardian
On Covid-19 emergency responses that point towards long-standing radical demands
The Art of the Meta-Scam
Rhizome
Can the momentum of institutional scams be used against them?
Decentralize What?
Phenomenal World
What do technologists mean by decentralization?
Who Owns the Stars: The Trouble with Urbit
Distributed Web of Care
A look at p2p, ownership, sovereignty, and a troubling political philosopher
The World Any Other Way: Simulation and the Expansion of Political Possibility
The V-A-C Foundation: Time, Forward!, 58th Venice Biennale
The counterfactual politics of simulation, inspired by radical cartography
Monkeywrenching the Machine
Logic
Sabotage in the age of machine learning
Particular Universals
The New Inquiry
An interview with Helen Hester on Xenofeminism

Recent Posts

20 Jan 2024_Fugue_ Devlog 26: More tool building and 3d nightmares.
02 Jun 2023_Fugue_ Devlog 25: More generic player handling, inventory UI, and more.
12 May 2023_Fugue_ Devlog 24: Puttering Along
14 Apr 2023_Fugue_ Devlog 23: Migrating to Unity & Clay
07 Apr 2023Setting up NVIM for Unity development
31 Mar 2023_Fugue_ Devlog 22: Migrating to Godot 4, Tooling Changes, and the Skill Check System
27 Jan 2023Log: 1/25/2023
16 Dec 2022_Fugue_ Devlog 21: More Character Generation Work
09 Dec 2022_Fugue_ Devlog 20: Merging Textures in Blender
02 Dec 2022_Fugue_ Devlog 19: Character Generation (Part 2)

Past Clients

Projects

Half-Earth SocialismA planning game accompanying the book, Half-Earth Socialism, by Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettesse. Play as a planetary planner and guide the world into ecological utopia...or nightmarish ruin. Includes a simple planetary economic model which calculates resource impacts and GHG emissions from production. View the trailer; See here for a full list of credits.game, simulation
Pinko MagazineThe magazine of gay communism. I help with their site and tech infrastructure.publishing
dustA terminal application for assisted chord progression composition. Helps with "blank canvas syndrome". Outputs MIDI so can be used to drive a DAW (tested with Live 11).music, composition, tool
Journalism Ecosystem ModelA model of journalism and social media, considering publisher motivations, attention, media literacy, and values. Developed as part of a project with The New School's Journalism+Design program.journalism, simulation
News Desert ModelA model of how "news deserts" can form, based on publisher motivations, wealth distribution, bankruptices, consolidation, and subsidies. Developed as part of a project with The New School's Journalism+Design program.journalism, simulation
"The Hate Store: Amazon’s Self-Publishing Arm Is a Haven for White Supremacists"Research and analysis for a piece for The Atlantic & ProPublica by Ava Kofman & Moira Weigel on Amazon's use as a publishing platform for white supremacists.research, data collection, data analysis
matter.farmAn automated system for the public discovery of new drugs, created with Sean Raspet. We built a computational drug discovery system that would continuously attempt to identify new molecules which potential therapeutic application and then publish those results to a public website, which, in the case those molecules are indeed useful, would then serve as prior art to make patenting them difficult.pharmaceuticals, machine learning, patent law
doma.playA game and simulation of housing markets in fictional cities. The cities can be designed with an included web tool. This is a multiplayer experience to contrast how housing affordability evolves with the dominant landlord model vs a proposed co-ownership alternative. Made for DOMA.housing markets, game, simulation
hyperdocsA proof-of-concept for p2p collaborative text editing using the Dat protocol, so groups can work together without relying on Google. Currently only supports plain text editing; rich text support is experimental/unstable.tool, p2p
cell.farmA whitepaper describing a collective computing project for the atomic simulation of a single human cell and distributing subsequent medical research revenue, w/ Sean Raspet for Rhizome's Seven-on-Seven (2018, NYC).blockchain, simulation
Transit Demand SimulationA transit demand model for the Institute for Applied Economic Research, part of the PolicySpace model. Simulates public transit and private vehicle usage given a city's GTFS feed and available OpenStreetMap data.transit, simulation
PolicySpaceAn open agent-based model with three markets and a tax scheme that empirically simulates 46 Brazilian metropolitan regions, developed with Bernardo Furtado at the Institute for Applied Economic Research.economics, geospatial, simulation
Bail BlocA Monero miner for using excess computing power and crypto-speculation to collectively post bail for low-income people, developed with Grayson Earle, Maya Binyam, JB Rubinovitz, Sam Lavigne, Rachel Rosenfelt, Madeleine Varner, Devin Kenny, and the rest of Dark Inquiry.crypto, blockchain
Cybernetics ConferenceA conference and library in NYC, 11/18/2017, on cybernetics, informatic systems, and social organization; organized with Sam Hart, Melanie Hoff, Sarah Hamerman, David Isaac Hecht, Dan Taeyoung, Charles Eppley, and Alexis Convento.conference
White Collar Crime Risk ZonesA "predictive policing app" for white collar crime. "Unlike typical predictive policing apps which criminalize poverty, White Collar Crime Risk Zones criminalizes wealth." Collab w/ Sam Lavigne & Brian Clifton for The New Inquiry.prediction, crime
Speculating FuturesA reading list around speculative fiction, technology, and politics.reading list
Humans of Simulated New YorkA participative agent-based economic simulation for speculating alternative economies, w/ Fei Liu.simulation
The FounderA dystopian business simulator - found a startup, pursue unbounded growth, and accidentally dystopia.video game
AI NotesA large set of notes introducing people with modest math backgrounds to artificial intelligence.notes
Designing Digital CommunitiesDigital community design notes for the Coral Project and taught as a New School Journalism+Design course.notes, teaching
News AutomataA New School Journalism+Design course on journalism, algorithms, and automation.teaching
Serve the PeopleThe video for Handsome Furs' "Serve the People", from their album Sound Kapital (Sub Pop).music video

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