Magpie 63/ Commentary without consequences
Welcome to the age of commentary without consequences. Here, the Broletariat reigns supreme. They’ve mastered the art of speaking with the conviction of a televangelist but with the ethical consideration of a stray cat. You’ve got Dr. Huberman, who’s somehow transformed into Joe Rogan PhD. Then there’s the All In podcast, where the only thing deeper than the opinions are the pockets of the hosts. This whole charade is hard to separate from the “elite over-production” concept I mentioned in the last newsletter time. Balaji Srinivasan didn’t just think it—he wrote the damn manifesto: "We, the new elites, are here to dethrone the old elites." The power struggle isn’t new, but the soundtrack sure is.
To put the broletariat in context, consider this essay: Why we share - part of an ambitious project from the Indiana jones of ethnography, Jan Chipchase.
Ethics, Profits, Cashews and NORMCORE
Forget the byline; this is the tale of how a company can have its ethical cake and eat it too. (this is paywalled, here’s an open link.) Costco—yes, that giant warehouse with lighting so harsh it feels like a police interrogation—sells half the world’s cashews. Half. And they do it while holding onto a set of human-centric ethics that should be at odds with their profit margins but aren’t. If you want a masterclass in turning principles into profit, look no further. Napkin Math’s deepdive into Kirkland, Costco’s house brand & Trung’s deepdive on Kirkland Drip are both worth your time. It’s capitalism with a conscience, or at least as close as we’re going to get.
AI Isn’t Going to Make Art (According to Ted Chiang)
I was fully prepared to ignore yet another take on AI and art—until I saw Ted Chiang’s name attached to it. This isn’t some random blog post; this is Ted Chiang, the guy who writes science fiction that makes you question your existence. If he says AI isn’t going to make art, I’m inclined to believe him. Maybe AI won’t be the next Picasso, but it sure as hell is going to make us reconsider what art even is.
Other fun stuff:
“alone together” but in 1928 (a full half-talking movie)
More Complexity science and Cybernetics: “The tragedy of Stafford Beer”. I’m trapped in a feedback loop of complexity science, and Beer is the ghost in the machine.