I’m JA Westenberg, the voice behind Westenberg. I’m a writer, journalist, and perpetual creator, always prying at the edges of systems to see what’s holding them together (or what’s about to break). I’ve spent my life working in and writing about tech, politics, and philosophy, trying to piece together the bigger picture of how we shape the world—and how it shapes us in return. I founded Signalvs, a media lab, startup, and agency, and The Index, an independent, reader-funded news site. You can read my webcomic, Pizza Party right here.

Westenberg is a blog for people who question the systems around us—whether they’re built from code, culture, or political ideology. It’s a space where technology, philosophy, politics, and productivity all come together, tangled and messy. Mostly because that’s how they are in real life.

The point of Westenberg is to look at the beliefs, biases, and protocols that shape how we think, work, govern, and create meaning. From the tech we depend on to the systems of power we tolerate to the productivity cults we fall for, I take an analytical look at what’s really driving our lives forward. And sometimes off the rails.

Think of it as a loose guide to the human operating system, that doesn’t shy away from bugs, glitches, and the politics embedded in our most “neutral” tools.

What Can You Expect?

The articles here range from deep dives into the politics of technology to critiques of productivity culture to explorations of what it means to live a life of purpose in a world full of distractions and dubious incentives.

Here are a few recurring themes:

1. Tech and Power: Who benefits from the systems we build, and who gets left behind?

2. The Philosophy of Productivity: Why “efficiency” often leads us further from meaning, not closer.

3. Digital Politics: How our tech tools shape political power and ideology, sometimes in ways we don’t even notice.

4. Life in the Attention Economy: Strategies for living well in a world that profits from our distractions.

5. The Human OS: What it means to be both user and product in the age of data.

Each piece is an invitation to look at the world a little more skeptically, to question the assumptions behind the “inevitable” march of progress, and to remember that nothing about our systems—whether technological, political, or cultural—is inevitable at all.