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September 2026
This month's short articles on the late modern moment: Time, Perception, Technology, Doomerism, Optimism, Moods, Complexity
Sep 306 min read


Review: The Asset Class by Hettie O'Brien
An engaging, startling look into private equity.
Sep 233 min read


On Gaza
Cognitive Dissonance, the Charge of Genocide, and What it Means to be an American Now
Sep 2015 min read


August 2026
This month's short articles on the late modern moment: money, AI, nuclear war
Aug 299 min read


A Rolling Boil in 2026
A thought experiment to feel the water boiling as midterm elections approach.
Aug 73 min read


July 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: Language, Class, True Crime, the Social Contract
Jul 317 min read


Review: Confronting Capitalism by Vivek Chibber (2022)
July's text is a succinct dissection of capitalism: what it is, why it's so durable, and how to meaningfully challenge it.
Jul 252 min read


Review: The Socialist Manifesto by Bhaskar Sunkara (2018)
June's book is Sunkara's "The Socialist Manifesto," a history of socialist movements and an outline for how it can succeed today.
Jun 286 min read


June 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: silence, photos, attention, AI, alienation, art.
Jun 278 min read


Book-a-Month Challenge
A monthly series dedicated to reading (and finishing) books, as hard as that is in this (late) modern world.
Jun 272 min read


Part Two: The Nature of the Game
This section takes a deeper look into the nature of the money game—compulsory, arbitrary, inescapable—and asks: what is permitted and required to win?
Jun 2248 min read


May 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: smartphones, addiction, Trump, distraction
May 249 min read


April 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: authoritarianism, technology, inequality, homelessness
Apr 3013 min read


March 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: Selfhood, Information, Consent
Mar 3110 min read


February 2026
This month's article on the (late) modern moment: Smartphones, Advertising, Language, Individuality
Feb 286 min read


January 2026
This month's short articles on life in the (late) modern moment. Topics: Evolution, Time, Stress, Memory, Value
Jan 176 min read


These Are Not Normal Lies: Trump's Response to Renne Good's Murder
There are three uses of obvious lies by the state, and they're all on display here.
Jan 115 min read


DEEPS: A Socratic Solution to Divided Times
Affective polarization feeds on misunderstanding, damaging relationships and eroding democracy. The DEEPS hack can help. A Pew study from September 2023 asked Americans to describe the tone of political discourse. The word “divided” and its synonyms were chosen most, with “bad,” “messy,” and “chaotic,” also popular. Most Americans (61%) find talking to those they disagree with about politics “stressful and frustrating,” a worsening from two years prior, and such stress and fr
Dec 24, 20256 min read


Part One: The Game We're Born Into
This article argues that society, in the broadest terms, is literally a game — vast and complex — and asks us to consider our predicament as players born into it.
Dec 23, 202521 min read


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