Editorial Team

Which Would You Choose, Peasantry or Serfdom? There’s a curious trend sweeping the globe: young people appear to begiving up on democracy. Troubling, no? Now, there are many factors that could be playing a role, and probably are. Technology. Apps. Demographic divides. And so on. But I think there’s a subtler explanation.

Or, Why Media Flaming Out Isn’t Tech’s Fault — It’s Advertising’s Fault Media’s in cataclysmic shape these days — publishers closing big and small, newspapers going out of business, consolidation and layoffs everywhere — and it’s easy to blame technology.

Or, How Tech Created its Own Backlash From furious editorials by Facebook investors, to calls for tech giants to be broken up, from alarmed discussions about tech as something like smoking, to Zuck calling for people to spend less time on Facebook — you’ve probably seen by now a mounting backlash against tech, stronger by … Read more

Or, Why Eliminating Poverty Might Just Be the Key to Escaping Decline Here’s a tiny question — which might strike you as a little strange, controversial, or foolish:why should rich countries have poor people in them, anyways?

The Strange New Pathologies of the World’s First Rich Failed State Jan 25, 2018 Member-only Save You might say, having read some of my recent essays, “Umair! Don’t worry! Everything will be fine! It’s not that bad!” I would look at you politely, and then say gently, “To tell you the truth, I don’t think … Read more

The Strange New Pathologies of the World’s First Rich Failed State You might say, having read some of my recent essays, “Umair! Don’t worry! Everything will be fine! It’s not that bad!” I would look at you politely, and then say gently, “To tell you the truth, I don’t think we’re taking collapse nearly seriously enough.” … Read more

Why AI Won’t Fix the World (Or Ruin it) I read a lot of hype about AI these days. A metric ton per day. I’m drowning in it, and I bet you are too.“AI will liberate humanity’s huddled masses!”says one side, fervent with hope.“No! AI will create the Skynet Bladerunner Matrix!”says the other, glum with … Read more

Or, Why Extreme Inequality Might Just Break the World Probably one of the most important, relevant, and interesting annual pieces of economic research in the world came out recently: Oxfam’s inequality report, which concludes that82 percent of global wealth createdlast year went to the top one percent.

Or, What Happens When Social Comparison Becomes a Drug? In Part I of this essay, I discussed how redeeming Facebook is going to be harder than Zuck thinks. Having had kids, realizing that it isn’t exactly making the world a better place, corroding democracy, making people lonelier, meaner, and dumber, he wants to find a … Read more

Why Racism Dooms Societies (Like America) to Decline and Fall I read a tweet this morning, in response to the President’s notorious “shithole” comments, from a die-hard, longtime Republican luminary: “This overt racism degrades our discourse!! It’s a disgrace!!” I laughed, rolled my eyes, and thought, “No, friend. It is covert racism, systematized, structural…