A blogger notices something strange about the markets. They write a post about it. No one cares. An economics professor at Princeton notices the blog. Writes a paper. Gets it published. The New York Times runs a story: “Princeton Study Reveals Market Inefficiency.” The Fed chairman cites it in a
A handful of years ago, I visited the Roman Forum in Mérida, Spain. And I found myself contemplating a peculiar fact: I was standing among ruins that had survived longer than most modern nations have existed. These towering columns had watched Spain become Spain, seen the Moors arrive and leave,
Here’s the brutal truth about mainstream success: You either need to be famous already, or you need to be willing to light yourself on fire for attention. That’s it. Those are your options. Yes, there are exceptions, but it largely comes down to those two. This isn’t
A few months ago, I found myself doomscrolling through X (first mistake) when I found a thread about how “everything is getting worse.” The author had assembled an impressive collection of graphs showing declining trust in institutions, rising polarization, increasing mental health issues among teens, and various other metrics of
Social media runs on conflict. This isn’t exactly breaking news — but what’s worth thinking about is how this has spawned an entire class of what we might call “professional conflict entrepreneurs” and their cousins, the “trauma grifters.” These are the folks who have figured out how to monetize
“Once the bear’s hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.” — Harold MacMillan A pattern, common to the internet in 2024. Someone has a conflict with a member of Group X. Let’s say they get called out, publicly shamed or — yes — cyberbullied, by right wing
There's been a lot of hand-wringing about social media moderation of late. "Platform X isn't doing enough to stop harmful content!" "Platform Y is censoring too much speech!" "Platform Z needs better content moderation!" But there's something deeply
In the 1990s, we were promised a digital utopia. The internet would be a uniting, democratizing force, they said, bringing diverse voices and perspectives from every corner of the world into dialogue. Local cultures would flourish as they found their global audiences. Niche interests would thrive in their newfound ability
Last week, I tried to find some photos from my college graduation. Despite being only fifteen years ago, they proved surprisingly elusive - trapped on a defunct Photobucket account, lost to a crashed hard drive, and scattered across social media platforms that no longer exist. This got me thinking about
The Matthew Effect was first coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman in 1968, who noticed that eminent scientists tended to get disproportionate credit for collaborative research compared to their less-well-known colleagues. The same paper would get more attention if a famous name was on it, even if
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, fracturing the unified Catholic hierarchy that had dominated European spiritual and social life for centuries. In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. These
The world isn’t falling apart—it’s being pried apart, one stolen moment at a time. Attention has become the most coveted commodity, and we’re little more than unwitting marks in a global grift. The apps, platforms, and systems sucking up our time aren’t tools anymore. They’