Unstacking the deck, by Nick Cassella

Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World

In a series of mock lesson plans and a "program of study" Galeano provides an eloquent, passionate, funny and shocking exposé of First World privileges and assumptions. From a master class in "The Impunity of Power" to a seminar on "The Sacred Car"—with tips along the way on "How to Resist Useless Vices" and a declaration of the "The Right to Rave"—he surveys a world unevenly divided between abundance and deprivation, carnival and torture, power and helplessness. We have accepted a "reality" we should reject, he writes, one where poverty kills, people are hungry, machines are more precious than humans, and children work from dark to dark. In the North, we are fed on a diet of artificial need and all made the same by things we own; the South is the galley slave enabling our greed.

Weirding Diary: 7

The lament that the United States is turning into a third-world country is at once too pessimistic and too optimistic. What is actually happening is that a…

Exocapitalism: economies with absolutely no limits

There is a touch of destiny with this one. We have real…

The Expert Trap and the Next War

what forecasting failure tells us about the future

Pluralistic: The far right grows through “disaster fantasies” (25 Nov 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

The core of the prepper fantasy: "What if the world ended in the precise way that made me the most important person?" The ultra-rich fantasize about emerging from luxury bunkers with an army of mercs and thumbdrives full of bitcoin to a world in ruins that they restructure using their "leadership skills."

Opinion | We’re Measuring the Economy All Wrong (Published 2018)

The official statistics say that the financial crisis is behind us. It's not.

Opinion | There Are Two Economies: A.I. and Everything Else

This is worse than putting all your eggs in one basket.

How ergodicity reimagines economics for the benefit of us all | Aeon Ideas

A radical concept called ergodicity at the heart of economics could change our approach to risk for the benefit of all

Enough Debate about the AI Jobpocalypse. We Need To Plan for the Messy Middle.

Caught between arguments of abundance and apocalypse, economist Molly Kinder explores what workers can expect in the near future — and what we can do about it.

There isn’t a simple story about looting

“The question you have to ask yourself is: Why are there so many people in our society who don’t have a lot to lose?” says sociologist Darnell Hunt.

1% for the People

Capitalism is the undisputed powerplant of global prosperity. Since Adam Smith first described the “invisible hand” that allows economies to be efficiently self-organizing and self-renewing, every attempt to supplant it with a competing system has failed spectacularly.

Museletter #353: Deadly Optimism, Useful Pessimism

What's really needed is a realistic sense of what's possible, and a dogged determination to heal division, protect nature and culture, and build sustainable alternatives.

Humanity’s Endgame

A new history of societal collapse by an expert in existential risk argues that our globalized society is edging toward the precipice.

Opinion | What the Rich Won’t Tell You (Published 2017)

“There’s nobody who knows how much we spend. You’re the only person I ever said those numbers to out loud.”

The Joy of Becoming Worthless…except to each other — Douglas Rushkoff

My last piece, The Intentional Collapse, seems to have agitated a few people. I know it came off a bit dark. I talked about how the Uber wealthy believe the world as we know it is ending and that there won’t be enough essential resources to go around, so they need to take control of as much money and stuff and land as possible in order to position themselves for the end of days.