We recently returned from a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, where we spent several days after the event’s conclusion exploring this beautiful city and its environs. While there, walking Lisbon’s famed ‘seven hills,’ mostly surrounded by throngs of other visitors – …
A Western Diet, Hold the Worms
What would happen if a person consumed a spoiled egg-salad sandwich from an intergalactic gas station bathroom vending machine? In trying to answer this age-old question, “Parasite Lost,” a 2001 episode from the first run of the perennially resurrected Matt …
Standing…The Myth, The Legend, The Lie
There have been a myriad of articles in the past couple of days regarding the United States Supreme Court’s (“SCOTUS”) controversial decision in Murthy v. Missouri (formerly known as Missouri v. Biden) which the Court published on June 26. Because …
Censors Everywhere We Look
It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be.
O’Brien, Officer of the Inner Party1984, by George Orwell, Berkley/Penguin p. 225
We’re letting you know that …
Court Ruling on Murthy Misses Point Entirely
Thanks again to the California Globe for running this piece. You can visit the website at: https://californiaglobe.com/
The United States Supreme Court ruled today, in a 6 to 3 decision, that the plaintiffs in the most important free speech case in …
China is stealing Silicon Valley’s homework
Up until the 16th century, China was the most technologically advanced region in the world. While aristocrats ruled Europe, China’s meritocratic literati made exquisite scientific discoveries: gunpowder, the compass, papermaking and printing, among others. Now, China hopes to return to …
On the Edge of the Programmable Ledger: CBDCs
New Zealand’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), has opened a consultation on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This is the second of four stages. RBNZ considers that Stage Three will involve the development of prototypes and …
TikTok won’t win the election
Is this the online election? The AI election? The TikTok election? As somebody who’s been writing about data-driven political campaigning for about a decade, I’m going to stick my neck out and say “no”.
Let’s start with TikTok, which the …
TikTok won’t win the election
Is this the online election? The AI election? The TikTok election? As somebody who’s been writing about data-driven political campaigning for about a decade, I’m going to stick my neck out and say “no”.
Let’s start with TikTok, which the …
Why smartphones bamboozle politicians
The year is 2008. It’s break time, and my twin sister is a library monitor. A swell moves through the playground; packs of children are pulled like magnets to the big bay window of the library, where a note is …
The Closing of the Internet Mind
The definition of online freedom has been depressingly constricted over the last thirty years.
You have surely heard that your search results on Google (with 92 percent share of the search market) reflect not your curiosities and needs but someone or something …
I’m in love with my AI girlfriend
Grand announcements in the world of AI are not rare; in fact, they are almost as frequent as new Tory Prime Ministers. Nonetheless, last week’s launch of OpenAI’s latest glittering iteration of its GPT series, GPT4o — the “o” is …
Money’s Grim Future
Prepare for total control of your economic life. That is the message from Brownstone Fellow Aaron Day at his 4-hour workshop in San Jose, California last Saturday, May 11th.
Day has written the excellent book The Final Countdown, which carefully …
The Ruination of Plane Travel
The best time to write about how horrible plane travel has become is immediately following, or, in this case, during a scheduling and delay disaster that completely upends the routines of life.
When it doesn’t happen and your flight goes …
The Face Behind Australia’s Censorship Push
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has made international headlines over alleged censorship creep in an escalating standoff with social media platform X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
Inman Grant’s current crusade is not an isolated affair. She is a …