Society

He lived over 1,000 years ago, but King Canute’s life still has some important lessons for our own time. After conquering England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, he forged a vast North Sea empire

Why is so much AI slop about Jesus and the Bible, and why do Christians appear to love it?

How Musk turned chaos, cults, and contradiction into the most Byzantine machine in capitalism

Nadya Tolokonnikova tells the Guardian she felt she had ‘entered a wormhole’ when her police state exhibition was shut down – by the police state

How Nihilists Turned Expertise into the Enemy

Could ranked-choice voting help Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo?

Why Pretending Not to See Authoritarianism Is the Most Dangerous Choice of All

Hello Where’s Your Ed At Subscribers! I’ve started a premium version of this newsletter with a weekly Friday column where I go over the most meaningful news and give my views, which I guess is what you’d expect. Anyway, it’s $7 a month or $70 a

Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t

Asia In Brief: PLUS: APNIC completes re-org; India cuts costs for chipmakers; Infosys tax probe ends; and more

Father's Day is a manufactured moment. So is Christmas morning, wedding rings, and saying "bless you" when someone sneezes. We just pretend some are

In a testament to how quickly time moves, 20 years ago Steve Jobs gave his famous Stanford commencement speech. If you haven’t heard it before, set aside the time to listen, it’s about …

The rift isn’t just about politics. It’s about pace, and place, and respect.

This is a sad day for America. But we all knew something like this coming.

Yesterday, I ended up posting the same meme as a few months ago and wondered why I posted it the first time:  And then I realized: Trump hit...

Trump has caused a crisis in civil-military relations — one that could eventually threaten democracy’s foundations.

Grok, Gemini, Meta, Claude, and ChatGPT all had something to say about ICE. And some of it sounded like it came straight out of a protest rally.

Grok cheered. Claude refused. The results say something about who controls the AI, and what it’s allowed to say.

An attempt to paint Bluesky as one type of thing has taken hold in the press. A bad narrative is hard to shake, even if it’s unfair.

Loop’s reusable package program launched with a splash, then fizzled. The founder reflects on what went wrong—and why it works in France.

Certain apps may help you avoid the U.S. government using your past posts against you.

We used to be able to spread out. Now we're locked in with each other.

States are supposed to lose representatives in the House if they infringe on voting rights. So far the Court has ignored that part of the 14th Amendment.

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

The politics of left versus right no longer make sense when the future of all earthly life is at stake.

Why everyone saw what they wanted to see—and how we all participated in our own destruction

You finish dinner. The card reader flashes “Payment Complete” and offers two options: text receipt or email receipt. No print option. If you want a record, you have to hand over your phone number or email. A reasonable person might believe the information they provide will be used just to deliver their receipt. But behind the sleek interface is an ecosystem optimized for businesses, not individuals. When you enter your contact information, it doesn’t just vanish after the receipt is sent. Rather, according to this payment platform’s unseen privacy policy, your data may be stored, linked to prior purchases, and used to “personalize your experience,” or “send you marketing communications.” It may be shared with service providers or partners. It may be retained even if you didn’t sign up for anything. None of this is visible in the moment, and that’s by design. The privacy policy isn’t on the screen. There isnt a simple explanation of what happens to your data or even a clear link to a privacy policy. And there’s no real choice. You either hand over your personal information or walk away with nothing. This is the new default: consumer tools designed for the seller’s benefit, not yours. We are witnessing the calculated erosion of our privacy rights through deliberate design. We need federal #privacy legislation in the United States. We shouldn’t have to trade the use of our personal information for a receipt. And we shouldn’t continue perpetuating the fiction that consumers have a real choice in the matter. | 682 comments on LinkedIn

Governance systems can be distinguished by the goals they pursue, and by their competence at achieving those goals.