Society

Over the last year or so I’ve seen a disturbing tendency in tech/startup/VC worlds to buy into the neoreactionary view that for startups to be successful they need to get on board the Trump t…

A Conversation with ChatGPT and Gemini About Job Losses from AI

The decision to shut down Stephen Colbert’s long-running late-night show suggests it might be time to work around the studios for our comedic commentary.

Elon Musk's Neuralink filed as 'disadvantaged business' before being valued at $9 billion: Elon Musk's health tech company Neuralink labeled itself a "small disadvantaged business" in a federal filing with the U.S. Small Business Administration, shortly before a financing round valued the company at $9 billion. [..] Neuralink's filing, dated April 24, would have reached the SBA at a time when

The Trump administration sees an AI-driven federal workforce as more efficient. Instead, with chatbots unable to carry out critical tasks, it would be a diabolical mess

Create network visualizations in the tradition of Mark Lombardi. A tool for exploring the covert relationships between individuals and corporations.

History seems to have settled Buckminster Fuller’s reputation as a man ahead of his time.

Valve have added a new rule to the Onboarding guide for game developers, noting that payment processors get a say in what stays on Steam.

First Google and Facebook, then the world. Under Trump 2.0, US statecraft is starting to mimic the worst tendencies of Big Tech.

Real reform in American politics won’t come from a new party — but from breaking investors' grip and rebuilding power from the ground up.

ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts.

The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.

Two patients. One incoherent medical system.

Why the Kleptocratic Nightmare Made Me Reconsider Elizabeth Warren

Silicon Valley’s final dream is a world without institutions. But what works for a startup doesn’t work for democracy

Explore the Black Panther Party’s original 1966 Ten‑Point Program by Huey P. Newton & Bobby Seale. Full text, historical context & key themes.

With apologies to Dorothy Thompson, whose 1941 essay in Harper’s, “Who Goes Nazi?” remains a worthwhile read on the cultural archetypes of who is drawn to fascism, and who would never go down such …

If your chief goal is to find a middle ground with the far right on social issues, you’ll end up condoning its values—just ask Keir Starmer.

And how everyone else can get rich too.

Hello premium customers! Feel free to get in touch at [email protected] if you're ever feeling chatty. And if you're not one yet, I'm sorry that I paywalled this, but it took me so much effort and drove me a little insane. Back in September 2024 I wrote about

Why the Most Important Political Philosophy of the Last 300 Years Is the One Nobody Understands

Our systems are collapsing, let's design what comes next. Join our salon of utopian thinkers to reinvent governance, reimagine capitalism, and architect a better future. Click to read The Elysian, by Elle Griffin, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Political parties have locked the public out of parliament. Citizens' assemblies are keys we need to unlock democracy.

Some fine and welcomed news from the Pacific Northwest

Freedom, liberty and independence are human rights. But they depend on responsibility. Responsibility to others, to our future, to the community. Responsibility for our actions and our choices. The…

The strongest defense can be summed up in just two words.