A newsletter about Pop Culture, Software Studies, Business Strategy, Media Platforms, Algorithmic Management, Game Design, and everything in between.

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Essays

Boomerang

Empires have a way of seeding their own destruction.

Essays

Retrograde

Like water, gold simply can’t tell you what it used to be.

  • “Bagüala de la siesta”, by Las Hermanas Caronni

    “Bagüala de la siesta”, by Las Hermanas Caronni — Listen: https://ift.tt/tfBjxOY more ›

  • https://ift.tt/u9BKDyb

    https://nyt.et.e.sparkpost.com/f/newsletter/B5fHePppnVGK78AzHlABUw~~/AAAAARA~/_RAZRRK3s1-CQXBlrvsRlzJHGv14OrumEOq2HD5OXfoY5kzdgaLpJdcXwW8iA2RxD1fnkbOEwwooo8T-8QtyWDdFtBecUwoV95xgzEkOc0enyYr9mQ5pzAursjg9LVhdb0q0s-_vU6E7NyegpxAOHlUlOdZng4vZhWngj1OR7hNiNmaEFs3PdhoHf-tqjOQFXTtQgflhmdsHEzBVTIh0i33ljuTKd_yGat0BxBALvYoXEdC6o_-wA01rZAb5WtqQjGYJHlIZcd_0DRhxqKcmy5TfPP5Hd9C4j8J0AAhdPP5v0NgpbTeZmWgQ2JXdhgP3_9L95P3X1i4VoNZlxVDEl9Mx62pSH68ysDu8I1_q016fbKLxbBrxBuDEosTQT6Dpplym6y9jK0_kzChJDNX-Ww~~ more ›

  • Could US criminals be sent to El Salvador’s mega-jail?

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could not have been more complimentary about the deal he struck with the president of El Salvador on Monday. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg4jx8xyjgo more ›

  • Fela Kuti & Africa 70 – Pansa Pansa – FULL HD (Berlin 1978)

    One of the few pro-shot concerts of legendary musician Fela Kuti with his band Africa 70, playing for the jazz festival in Berlin, 1978. Fela was a social activist and leader who fought for freedom and justice in Nigeria. He… more ›

  • TOBE NWIGWE | MOMINTS AT THE CRIB [FULL PERFORMANCE]

    TOBE NWIGWE | MOMINTS AT THE CRIB [FULL PERFORMANCE] [ AVAILABLE ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS ] — https://ift.tt/4sgka6f *** HOMECOMING HOUSTON SHOW DEC. 30TH AT 713 MUSIC HALL *** Art & Direction by: Tobe Nwigwe Choreography by: Baby Fat +… more ›

  • Peter Thiel is betting on the apocalypse

    American investor Peter Thiel is involved in several of the intellectual currents I cover – transhumanism and the new eugenics, psychedelics and the FDA, and the rise of the Tech Right. https://www.ecstaticintegration.org/p/peter-thiel-is-betting-on-the-apocalypse more ›

  • Preparing for the Intelligence Explosion

    Fin Moorhouse Will MacAskill We thank Max Dalton, Rose Hadshar, Lizka Vaintrob, Tom Davidson, Lukas Finnveden, Phil Trammell, Eric Drexler, and Dan Williams for their comments on earlier drafts. https://www.forethought.org/research/preparing-for-the-intelligence-explosion?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email more ›

  • France rolls out plan to prepare for 4C temperature rise by end of century

    Presented by Ecological Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the plan follows two years of preparatory work and a public consultation that gathered nearly 6,000 contributions. https://www.rfi.fr/en/environment/20250310-france-rolls-out-plan-to-prepare-for-4c-temperature-rise-by-end-of-century-climate-change more ›

  • “Conclave (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”, by Volker Bertelmann

    “Conclave (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”, by Volker Bertelmann — Listen: https://ift.tt/MAvidC6 more ›

  • AI’s seductive mirage.

    tl;dr: AI systems seem like things which appear seductively like autonomous meaning-making entities but are actually tools which can’t make meaning on their own (for now). Understanding this seductive mirage reveals an important but hard-to-see trap in thinking about AI… more ›