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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...
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