Influences
OverDevelopment did not begin with a complete theory. It began with things I could see around me: land being cleared, traffic getting worse, communities becoming less connected, and decisions being presented as inevitable when they were actually choices.
Some of the language I use to understand those things comes from people whose work has taught me to question what modern society treats as natural.
These people are influences, not authorities. I may agree with one part of someone’s work and disagree with another. Their appearance here should not be read as their endorsement of this project—or as my acceptance of everything they believe.
David Graeber helped me think differently about authority, bureaucracy, work, and our ability to organize society in ways that do not yet exist.
I regret that I never reached out to thank him while he was alive. Part of creating this record is recognizing the people whose work has affected me while there is still an opportunity to tell them.
Daniel Everett’s work helped me better appreciate how deeply culture and lived experience shape language, thought, and what people understand to be possible.
His work crosses into one of the central concerns of this inquiry: how many of the things we consider natural or inevitable are actually products of a particular way of living.
This record will remain unfinished. I will add influences only as I genuinely engage with their work, explain what I took from them, and revise my interpretations when necessary.