Let's Know Things

This week we talk about entanglements, monopolies, and illusory money.

We also discuss electrification, LLMs, and data centers.

Recommended Book: The Extinction of Experience by Christine Rosen

Transcript

One of the big claims about artificial intelligence technologies, including but not limited to LLM-based generative AI tech, like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, is that they will serve as universal amplifiers.

Electricity is another univ...

This week we talk about trade wars, TACO theory, and Chinese imports.

We also discuss negotiation, protectionism, and threat spirals.

Recommended Book: More Than Words by John Warner

Transcript

In January of 2018, then first-term US President Trump announced a slew of tariffs and trade barriers against several countries, including Canada, Mexico, and those in the European Union.

The most significant of these new barriers and tariffs wer...

This week we talk about Electronic Arts, 3DO, and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

We also discuss Jared Kushner, leveraged buyouts, and loot boxes.

Recommended Book: Bandwidth by Dan Caruso

Transcript

Electronic Arts, often shorthanded as EA, was founded in 1982 in California by a former Apple employee named Trip Hawkins, who also went on to found the ill-fated 3DO company, which made video game hardware, and the somewhat mor...

This week we talk about Article 4, big sticks, and spheres of influence.

We also discuss Moldova, super powers, and new fronts.

Recommended Book: More Everything Forever by Adam Becker

Transcript

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was originally formed in 1949 in the wake of World War 2 and at the beginning of the Cold War.

At that moment, the world was beginning to orient toward what we might think of as the modern global...

This week we talk about corruption, influencers, and pro-monarchy protests.

We also discuss Nepalese modern history, Gen Z, and kings.

Recommended Book: Superagency by Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato

Transcript

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, usually referred to as just Nepal, is a country located in the Himalayas that’s bordered to the northeast by China, and is otherwise surrounded by India, including in the east, where there’s...

This week we talk about stablecoins, crypto assets, and conflicts of interest.

We also discuss the crypto industry, political contributions, and regulatory guardrails.

Recommended Book: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Transcript

A cryptocoin is a unit of cryptocurrency. A cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that uses some kind of non-central means of managing its ledger—keeping track of who has how much of it, basically.

There...

This week we talk about cyberespionage, China, and asymmetrical leverage.

We also discuss political firings, hardware infiltration, and Five Eyes.

Recommended Book: The Fourth Turning Is Here by Neil Howe

Transcript

In the year 2000, then-General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin (jong ZEM-in), approved a plan to develop so-called “cyber coercive capabilities”—the infrastructure for offensive hacking—partly as a con...

This week we talk about the RSF, coups, and the liberal world order.

We also discuss humanitarian aid, foreign conflicts, and genocide.

Recommended Book: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer

Transcript

In 2019, a military government took over Sudan, following a successful coup d'état against then-President Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power for thirty years. al-Bashir’s latter years were plagued by popular demonstrations against ...

This week we talk about General Motors, the Great Recession, and semiconductors.

We also discuss Goldman Sachs, US Steel, and nationalization.

Recommended Book: Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

Transcript

Nationalization refers to the process through which a government takes control of a business or business asset.

Sometimes this is the result of a new administration or regime taking control of a government, which decides to c...

This week we talk about flesh-eating screwworms, weeds, and the US cattle industry.

We also discuss genetic modification, procreation, and tsetse flies.

Recommended Book: 1177 BC by Eric H Cline

Transcript

The term ‘autocidal control‘ refers to a collection of techniques that are meant to control populations of some type of living thing, animal or plant, by disrupting their procreationary capacity.

So rather than attempting to control p...

This week we talk about tech bubbles, building moats, and infrastructure investment.

We also discuss capital expenditure, data centers, and employee compensation.

Recommended Book: The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

Transcript

Many technology booms have early periods in which innovators have a first-mover advantage, and a lot of what happens in their industry is informed by the decisions those innovators make.

After that—depending on ...

This week we talk about surge pricing, Walmart, and the Robinson-Patman Act.

We also discuss personal data, AC settings, and Delta’s earnings call.

Recommended Book: How the World Became Rich by Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin

Transcript

The US Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 is also called the Anti-Price Discrimination Act, and it was passed to make it illegal for a product supplier to charge different prices to different customers.

So a compa...

This week we talk about lobbying, Steam, and adult-themed games.

We also discuss cultural influence, extreme ideologies, and itch.io.

Recommended Book: Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns

Transcript

In mid-July of 2025, Valve, the company behind the gaming platform Steam, announced that it was tightening its adult-only content guidelines, its not-safe-for-work content, basically, following pressure by the payment processing companies it wo...

This week we talk about the PKK, Turkey, and the DEM Party.

We also discuss terrorism, discrimination, and stateless nations.

Recommended Book: A Century of Tomorrows by Glenn Adamson

Transcript

Kurdistan is a cultural region, not a country, but part of multiple countries, in the Middle East, spanning roughly the southeastern portion of Turkey, northern Iraq, the northwestern portion of Iran, and northern Syrian. Some definitions also ...

This week we talk about AI therapy chatbots, delusions of grandeur, and sycophancy.

We also discuss tech-triggered psychosis, AI partners, and confident nonsense.

Recommended Book: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Transcript

In the context of artificial intelligence systems, a hallucination or delusion, sometimes more brusquely referred to as AI BS, is an output usually from an AI chatbot, but it can also be from another...

This week we talk about crawling, scraping, and DDoS attacks.

We also discuss Cloudflare, the AI gold rush, and automated robots.

Recommended Book: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Transcript

Alongside the many, and at times quite significant political happenings, the many, and at times quite significant military conflicts, and the many, at times quite significant technological breakthroughs—medical and otherwise—flooding the news these days,...

This week we talk about the NOAA, FEMA, and the SSMIS.

We also discuss Arctic ice, satellite resolution, and automated weather observation stations.

Recommended Book: Superbloom by Nicholas Carr

Transcript

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is a US scientific and regulatory agency that tackles an array of environmental, climatic, and weather-related issues, alongside its responsibilities managing oceanic ecos...

This week we talk about OPEC, the Seven Sisters, and the price of oil.

We also discuss fracking, Israel and Iran’s ongoing conflict, and energy exports.

Recommended Book: Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf

Transcript

The global oil market changed substantially in the early 2000s as a pair of innovations—horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing—helped the plateauing US oil and gas market boom, unlocking a bunch of sh...

This week we talk about tit-for-tat warfare, conflict off-ramps, and Israel’s renewed attacks on Iran’s nuclear program.

We also discuss the Iron Dome, the Iran-Iraq War, and regime change.

Recommended Book: How Much is Enough? by Robert and Edward Skidelsky

Transcript

In late-October of 2024, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against targets in Iran and Syria. These strikes were code-named Operation Days of Repentance, and it marke...