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

FEATURED

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.

  • The China in Africa Podcast: The End of the West and the Future of China

    Listen: https://ift.tt/2rw1NyJ U.S. President Donald Trump's decision this week to pause military funding for Ukraine and to align his government with Russia further widens the cleavage between the United States and Europe — effectively breaking what has long been known… more ›

  • AI Will Upend a Basic Assumption About How Companies Are Organized

    For most of history, hiring a dozen PhDs meant a massive budget and months of lead time. Today, a few keystrokes in a chatbot summon that brainpower in seconds. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/how-ai-reasoning-models-will-change-companies-and-the-economy more ›

  • The New Fascist International: Technocratic Oligarchy and the Threat to Democracy

    The emergence of a transnational alliance between tech billionaires, authoritarian politicians, and far-right movements represents both a continuation of historical patterns and something unprecedented in human history. https://harmoniousdiscourse.substack.com/p/the-new-fascist-international-technocratic more ›

  • Elon Musk’s Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple

    When President Donald Trump’s aides and advisers relay concerns about Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government, they’re often given what’s intended to be a reassuring answer: Don’t worry, Stephen and Katie Miller will take care of it. https://www.wired.com/story/katie-stephen-miller-elon-musk-takeover/ more ›

  • AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism

    Tommy Robinson tweets an image of soldiers walking into the ocean on D-Day. Britain First’s co-leader produces imagery of Muslim men laughing at sad white girls on public transport. https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/ more ›

  • GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: A Baltic warning: What Ukraine war means for Europe—and the Russian perspective

    Listen: https://ift.tt/uzV1aMI On the GZERO World Podcast, we're bringing you two starkly different views on Ukraine's future and European security. First, Ian Bremmer speaks with Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže about the growing security threats facing the Baltics—from cyberattacks and… more ›

  • How RZA Got Wu-Tang Clan Back Together for One Final Tour

    Few groups have had more impact on the shape and evolution of hip-hop than Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island supergroup that helped define the sound of 1990s New York rap and transform the industry. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/arts/music/rza-final-wu-tang-tour-interview.html more ›

  • Every Wu-Tang Clan Album, Ranked

    The legendary hip-hop crew are heading out on their final tour – here are the records you’ll be hearing. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/wu-tang-clan-albums-ranked more ›

  • Reuters Econ World: Coffee

    Listen: https://ift.tt/UDnaixk Consumers are in for a bitter wake-up call. The price of coffee beans on wholesale markets has been surging and industry watchers expect that to filter through to grocery stores and cafes. Host Carmel Crimmins is joined by… more ›

  • Luxury in Transition: Securing Future Growth

    The 23rd edition of the annual Luxury Study, released by Bain & Company and Fondazione Altagamma, the trade association of Italian luxury goods manufacturers, estimates that overall luxury spending totaled €1. https://www.bain.com/insights/luxury-in-transition-securing-future-growth/ more ›