5it

The Third Is a Russian Utopian With a Notebook

March 7, 2019

1. The US military did not think about the sustainability of the bases it built in Afghanistan. "Even with a base full of troops, Safi couldn’t afford to...

To Develop Strangely, Creating

February 27, 2019

1. Even the smallest Chernobyl mysteries glow eerily. "In the days and weeks after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in late April 1986, simply being in the...

Neither a Solid, Nor a Gas, Nor a Liquid (Nor Glass)

February 22, 2019

1. Filed under: there is so much more happening in the world than our keyhole perspectives permit us to see. "The sheer size and scale of many of these urban...

Even Relatively Simple Pricing Algorithms Systematically Learn to Play

February 4, 2019

1. A fascinating dive into the Jay Forrester's influential book on urban simulation, which powered Sim City's logic (and a lot more). "Despite all this...

Here Used for Their Conductive Properties

January 23, 2019

I'm adding a little feature to the bottom of 5IT. Every week, I find strange bits of historical footage on YouTube that don't fit neatly into the newsletter...

Customary Tests for Truth and Deception

January 3, 2019

1. A biting, surreal look at being part of the vast maintenance workforce that keeps the cable on. "I’d walk in prepared for anything. There was sobbing, man...

Six Sticks of Dynamite, in a Nearby Room

January 2, 2019

1. The delocalization of culture creates unpredictable new ways of coming up. "The phrase became the title of a mixtape they made in the basement and...

The Ghost of Car-Human Past and Capitalism Future

December 5, 2018

1. A brilliant attempt to understand the Amazon Echo by making "an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources." "A brief command and a...

Right There With Me, Among the Fidget Spinners

November 30, 2018

1. After this jaw-dropping story, but also for her body of work, Jenny Odell is hereby declared the madstone of the internet. "Indeed, at some point I began...

The Sociology of Molecules

November 17, 2018

1. From within the smudge of the smoke from the Camp Fire calamity, it is strange to consider the ways postmodernist writers (like DeLillo here) and critics...

Speedboats Packed With Finnish Commandos

November 12, 2018

1. The Cold War propaganda studio that produced all your favorite H-bomb films. "This is the first work ever written on the most important film studio in...

Terraqueous Urbanism

October 30, 2018

1. You start thinking about Ghana’s oil-city of Takoradi, and who knows where you end up. "Moving beyond the land and sea, off-shore/on-shore dichotomy,...

Feather by Feather

October 22, 2018

1. 25% of new Chinese vehicle sales will be electric by 2028? "We expect EV penetration will follow the trajectory of similar innovations that have reached...

Never Cold in the First Place

October 18, 2018

1. A troubling, fascinating new book on the value of secret wars. "An irony of the end of the Cold War was confirmation that it was, in fact, never cold in...

5it: that promise of brief connection, creating feelings

October 12, 2018

1. The church that is a streaming evangelical music machine. "Hillsong’s three bands in their various formations have produced almost 100 albums. Their songs...

The Whole Is Always Less Than the Sum

October 8, 2018

1. Always remember: there has been strong and organized opposition to each and every advance in civil rights. "A fourth of publicly held corporations with...

5it: starting with this, with bodies in space

September 30, 2018

So. Micromobility, the financial model as engine not camera, containers, seasons, the new "dark euphoria," hyperobjects, Earthseed, the history of...

Soaked in Chemicals, Then Exposed

July 19, 2017

I am fascinated by the mission of this new space in New York, YHouse. “The nature and origin of awareness is one of the greatest questions about existence,...

Special Guest 5it: Logic Magazine

June 7, 2017

I want to introduce you all to a magazine readers of 5it will almost certainly enjoy. It’s called Logic and it was co-founded by Moira Weigel, Ben Tarnoff,...

​~The Idea of Playback Just Didn't Occur to Him~

May 24, 2017

The magazine of record for the freight industry on Uber Freight: Huh, no autonomous trucks, eh? "Industry observers were surprised to learn Uber Freight was...

Moving on the Assembly Line

April 12, 2017

Two quick things: 1) the next-to-last episode of Containers is now live. It's a deep dive into a trove of archival recordings from the historical moment when...

Melisma Straddles Genres and Singers and Nation-States

April 5, 2017

Episode 6 of my podcast Containers starts with a puzzle: why were people of West Oakland dying 12-15 years earlier than their counterparts in the wealthier...

The Urge for Going

March 28, 2017

Episode 5 of Containers is out. This one is about the strange and sometimes tragic condition of the American merchant fleet. In short: shipping is now...

The Underlying Trend That Ties Together Popular Narratives About Technology

March 21, 2017

Episode 4 of Containers is out. This one is about the hidden backend of the coffee industry that's enabled all this fancy third-wave roasting to occur. I put...

Call This Concept Scenario Fulfillment

March 14, 2017

You know you’ve always wanted to ride in a tugboat as it pushes around a huge cargo ship, right? Well, that’s what we do in Episode 3 of Containers, my audio...

Amassing Hundreds of Quotations He Deemed Relevant

March 7, 2017

The second episode of my audio documentary on global shipping, technology, and the complexity of modern capitalism is out. This one is an intimate look at...

Resend: On Reaching Their Destination They Chained Themselves to the Perimeter Fence

March 1, 2017

Apologies, friends. All the links in the last newsletter got messed up. This is what I get for sending a newsletter out from an airplane! They're fixed in...

On Reaching Their Destination They Chained Themselves to the Perimeter Fence

March 1, 2017

The first episode of Containers, my audio documentary series on global trade, capitalism, and technology is now out! We follow the rise of container shipping...

An Aquarium, a Teeny Tiny One for Your Phone, Filled with Plump Little Micro-Organisms

February 27, 2017

I've been working on a thing, day and night, a radio documentary called Containers. It has become an insane and unlikely labor of love. The premise is that...

10 Lights-Out Production Lines

January 4, 2017

1. It's strangely fitting that Children of Men's history is intertwined with Harry Potter's. "When I ask Cuarón if he thought much about Children of Men...

This Buried Matter

December 15, 2016

1. This is a formidable entry into what will be a burgeoning genre: explaining how AI quietly came to dominate [X] without many people really noticing. "As...

His Crew Had Captured a Stowaway

December 7, 2016

1. The FDA was not really built to handle things like biohackers building kits to let people genetically engineer yeast to make glowing mead. "Agency...

Because Everyone Is Like You

December 1, 2016

1. It was very hard to pick one graf out of this Jonathan Lethem profile of Adam Curtis. "So we live, thanks to our advanced systems of monitoring,...

A Big Flywheel That Has Changed Everything

November 28, 2016

For those that don't know, I'm working on a major project about the global trade, logistics, the port of Oakland, and automation. If you or someone you know...

Concrete Might Not Be Sexy

November 17, 2016

1. The unexpected story of the creation of deep-water diving, which was basically a mad scramble for treasure. "While Charles basked in public acclaim, John...

And Furious Despite Refutations

November 11, 2016

What a response! We gave away all the tickets we had to the Real Future Fair in 48 hours. For those outside the Bay or who didn't get a ticket, we'll stream...

What just happened?

November 9, 2016

Donald Trump won. Donald Trump won slinging invective at the very people that Real Future has addressed itself to: the diverse coalition of people who see a...

And the Localization Rate Is 100 Percent

November 7, 2016

The Real Future Fair is coming to Oakland on November 15, which is so soon! There are standard tickets available here. But I'm gonna to give away some...

The Memes Disperse

November 4, 2016

[air horn] [air horn] [air horn] [emergency siren] [emergency siren] We've got two big announcements about the Real Future Fair in the Bay. We'll be joined...

Ironically We Humans Have Become that Sublime Force

November 3, 2016

I've been playing with a hydrophone (from Iceland!) to record tug boats and cargo ships at the Middle Harbor of the Port of Oakland. Just putting that out...

This Bodily Caretaking, Along With the Tools Used for It

October 31, 2016

*** Real Future Fair on November 15 in Oakland. What other event would bring together Zardulu, Sammus, Mitch Kapor, and Malkia Cyril? Get you some...

The Chain Becomes More like a Swarm

October 28, 2016

This is the new weekly rhythm of this newsletter: Sunday nightish, Wednesday, Friday morning. How's it feel? For me, I love the way making 5it tunes my brain...

While DharmaNet Linked Up Hundreds of Buddhist BBSs

October 26, 2016

I know I keep promising to distribute all the responses to the what-happened-in-technology-over-the-last-2-years prompt. It's just taking a little time to...

Surprise They Are Only Seemingly Innocent

October 24, 2016

Yesssss! It's Real Future Fair time. Last year, we had the most interesting technology conference I've ever seen, and this year, it should be just as good....

The Big Distributed Salon on Infrastructure and Land

October 20, 2016

Today, my first feature in my life as a writer again came out. It's about what I learned spending a week walking around and flying over (!) the border wall....

Surprising Translators and Alchemists in Miniature

October 17, 2016

First, we have our first Real Future event at the brand-new and very awesome Kapor Center in Oakland on Tuesday night. It's free: Come! Second, I'm now...

From Fuld Hall to Olden Farm, Witnessed Enviously

October 3, 2016

1. One day, humans invented the concept of time travel, which is the jumping off point for James Gleick's new book new book on the literature, philosophy,...

Society Extrapolated from Then-Current Trends in Workplace Automation

July 11, 2016

In this edition: an obligatory but interesting Pokemon Go reference, a new book on cybernetics, the eBook plateau, human prehistory, and a trip to...

Blade Runner’s Sole Appearance of Eurostile Bold Extended

June 29, 2016

In this edition: IRL, homelessness, Blade Runner typography, the end of facts, the rise of data visualization, and an argument against loving experiences...

A Seminal Exhibition Titled 'The Responsive Eye'

May 31, 2016

1. What's happening to the old, glorious Eero Saarinen-designed Bell Labs building? "Meanwhile, the government already is wrestling with how to regulate and...