July 11, 2025

Jay Sophalkalyan

Jay Sophalkalyan is a cultural critic and political analyst whose work explores the fraught intersections of politics, technology, and identity in the modern world. Formerly the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of JPI online magazine, he now writes regularly for Nikkei Asia, The Dispatch, Quillette, and other outlets, with a focus on digital censorship, post-colonial realism, and the creeping authoritarianism of both East and West. Born in Cambodia and raised across continents, Jay brings a transnational lens to his writing—rooted in classical liberal values and honed by a principled skepticism of ideological excess. He earned his master’s degree in Experimental Humanities from NYU in 2024, specializing in journalism and political theory. His Substack, Thought Criminal, is a defiant and measured response to the soft totalitarianism of our age.