Who We Are

Crushing Wheels is a space for people who sense something is off in modern life—but don’t want shallow answers. We explore how invisible systems form, how they persist, and why they feel so hard to step outside of. Our lens is simple: fear and desire are not just private emotions. Over time, they become architecture—rituals, incentives, habits, status games, institutions, and algorithms that quietly guide how we live, work, spend, and relate to one another.

Noah Atighechi is an energy-systems strategist and people leader with a PhD, working at the intersection of complex infrastructure and human decision-making. Having built a life across Iran, Canada, and the United States, he became interested in a different question than success: how societies can become technologically advanced yet emotionally exhausted. His professional work—rooted in high-stakes systems that must remain reliable under pressure—shaped his perspective on how humans behave inside large structures, especially when uncertainty, ambition, and identity are on the line.

Crushing Wheels brings that systems mindset into everyday life. It draws from philosophy, behavioral psychology, and real-world institutional dynamics to map the patterns behind modern exhaustion: the pressure to perform, the quiet pull of consumption, the competition for status, the fear of falling behind, and the need to belong. The goal isn’t to “escape society” or to preach. It’s to see the machinery clearly—so you can make better choices, build stronger inner foundations, and design a life that isn’t run by borrowed scripts.

We write for builders, thinkers, and ordinary people who want more than motivation. If you’ve ever felt trapped in routines you didn’t choose, chasing goals that don’t deliver peace, or living inside systems that feel impersonal and unstoppable—this is for you. Crushing Wheels is an invitation to step back, name the wheels, and recover something modern life often steals: agency, clarity, and a calmer kind of freedom.