Society

The text of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause is fairly unambiguous.

On AI agents, grunt work, and the part of science that isn't replaceable.

A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

We've been the marks of our own long cons, all the way up

After Donald Trump was elected for a second time, he began to systematically destroy the "rules-based order" that the US had painstaking constructed after World War II. It's elements includedRead More

Part I - The Early Years

First we examined his businesses. Now we look at the grifts since he was elected.

And maybe that's okay.

No.395 — Possibilities literacy ⊗ Proof ⊗ Energy falling below $100 ⊗ Roots and the meaning of life

I’m turning 40 in a month or so, and at 40 years young, I’m old enough to remember as far back as December 11 2025, when Disney and OpenAI “reached an agreement” to “bring beloved characters from across Disney’s brands to Sora.” As part of the deal,

The race to power AI is already remaking the physical world.

I gave this talk yesterday to the Massachusetts Teachers Association, as part of the MTA Retired First Wednesday Speaker Series. Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to you today. I’m honored that you’ve asked me here, as I strongly believe that “AI” marks one of

I need to confess something before I write this piece.

No.393 — The future belongs to the creative generalists ⊗ Media’s bad idea with Kalshi ⊗ Reimagining realism ⊗ Labor market impacts of AI ⊗ World record for fusion plasma ⊗ Apocalypse no

Welcome to the Trump Bloc

We cannot separate the everyday use of “AI” platforms from their use in death and war.

Jeb Lund on war with Iran and war with Iran and war with Iran and Florida

No.392 — We can move beyond the capitalist model and save the climate ⊗ Our emerging planetary nervous system ⊗ A handbook for strategic foresight ⊗ A Cookie for Dario? ⊗ This city turned its rooftops into a climate shield ⊗ “Viking” was a job description

The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis.

I built a machine learning model to find London's divide and you can enter your postcode to see which side you're on. We've been blaming the wrong people for it.

Some people long for bold, visionary leaders. Others value technocratic expertise. But there’s a third alternative.

Do you love something historically-unusual about today’s culture?

Physician incomes are extraordinarily high in the United States. A new NBER paper finds that U.S. physicians earn roughly two to four times as much as their counterparts in Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Why? Is it some feature particular to the US health care sector? Probably not. The same paper finds that physicians in […]