Society

In my post, Blockchains and the Opportunity of the Commons, I explored the potential of blockchains to create new commons: Blockchains and tokenization are a way to incentivize the creation of a commons. A commons is an unowned place, platform, or protocol that helps people to meet, communicate and transact. Commons underlying modern life include […]

Tyler asks which goods and services are most likely to be bought and sold on a blockchain that is paid for with token issuance and appreciation? The services with high mark-ups? Low mark-ups? Big consumer bases? Well informed and well coordinated consumer bases? “Influencer” consumer bases, in the Gladwellian sense? “Trivial” consumer bases, that you […]

All of these smart Republicans who frankly did not understand how thoroughly corrupted their party had become, or the fact that if you cave in over and over again, you develop a muscle memory of su…

Life as a Signal Corps weatherman was dangerous, and not only because inclement weather could, and did, inflict occasional casualties. For observer-sergeants, “other duties as assigned” could include dealing with labor riots, conflicts with Native Americans, outbreaks of yellow fever, fires, or other, stranger, tasks.

Internet speeds have come a long way since the days of the dial-up modem, but sometimes you can’t beat the millennia-old method of carrier pigeon.

In a lot of ways, Lincoln Heights, Ohio, sounds just like any other suburb. If you walk around town, you’ll hear kids playing outside the local elementary school. You’ll hear the highway that takes commuters down to Cincinnati. At the woods on the edge of town, the birdsong is delightful. The town feels calm and

The multibillion-dollar Effective Altruism movement makes rich people feel good about being rich — to hell with the bad publicity.

The death of liberal-conservatism, and the rising potential for revolution. Greta Thunberg’s path toward radicalization and her potential as a revolutionary leader.

Many people have a to-do list so long that it’s not clear that there’s an end to it, and when important tasks linger unfinished, it’s easy to start feeling guilty or ashamed about what you have not yet completed. But are those useful emotions? The answer is: it depends. Shame is almost never a useful emotion. In fact, it likely hurts your productivity. Guilt, on the other hand, can motivate you to get something done, but only if you’re in a position to take action. You’re probably better off avoiding these emotions altogether, especially when you’re away from the office. How? Exercise self-compassion. Focus on what you have been able to achieve. And practice acceptance. Failing to get some work completed does not make you a bad person. It just makes you a person.

The pharmaceutical market is in turmoil. On the one hand we have what looks like a golden age of medicine with millions of lives saved by COVID vaccines, a leap in mRNA technology, excellent new obesity and blood sugar drugs, breakthroughs in cancer treatments and more. On the other hand, the Inflation Reduction Act includes […]

Japan wants to learn how to code. Over the past 15 years software development in Japan has changed from low-level clerical work to a mission-critical skill, and the Japanese government and industry as scrambling to find programmers and develop new talent. Yan Fan came to Japan on a mission to teach everyone how to code.

Time Warner confirms sale of its Warner Music division for about $2.6 billion to investor group led by Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman Jr and investment firm Thomas H Lee; sale is pivotal point in Time Warner's recovery from disappointing aftermath of its merger with American Online in 2001; with proceeds from sale, which is expected to close in two months, company will have whittled its nearly $30 billion in debt down by about $10 billion; sale fulfills pledge by Time Warner chairman and chief executive Richard D Parsons that he will to trim company's debt by $8 billion by end of 2004; EMI has been trying for years to merge with or acquire major record company; analysts question whether EMI is big enough to compete on its own; photos (L)

AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner marked the end of a once sprawling media empire. Here are the deals that built AOL Time Warner and the asset sales that unwound it.

European digital identity (eID): Council and Parliament reach a provisional agreement for an EU digital wallet.

I learned a lot from this episode of Throughline about an invasion that happened when I was just 9 years old. It provides a ton of context and backstory of what was happening on the island in the d…

At Future of Freedom Foundation, Jacob Hornberger writes: “America’s welfare state way of life is based on the notion that the federal government is needed to force people to be good and caring to others.”  Um, no. America’s welfare state way of life is based on the notion that, since the capitalist state redistributes massive...

I built a trading bot that buys stocks that are being bought by politicians. It is up 20% since it launched in May 2022. The market has been flat during the same time period. Here are some of the strategy’s most successful moves:

Banking, trading, and capitalism found their roots in medieval Europe. As a new exhibition shows, people were just as divided over them as we are now.

Information control has replaced infection control, and that does not bode well for the near- and medium-term future of the human species on planet Earth.

Did you ever wonder why the 21st century feels like we're living in a bad cyberpunk novel from the 1980s? It's because these guys read those cyberpunk novels and mistook …