Derekthompson

Photo by Markus Spiske on UnsplashLet me make an odd confession to begin a detailed article about cybersecurity: On any given day, I would rather think about pretty much anything other than cybersecurity.It belongs to that realm of issues that I understan

Photo by Kyle Richards on UnsplashThis week, the businessman Mark Walter agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Walter had agreed to buy a majority stake in the Lakers just last summer, in

Photo by NASA on UnsplashVery often, the most important thing you can do as a writer trying to see the world clearly is to "stack facts." That is, don't worry too much about conjuring grand theories or lurid forecasts. Just write down the things that you

Photo by Toru Wa on Unsplash1. What's behind the socialist groundswell in the Democratic Party?Well, for starters: dissatisfaction with establishment Democrats' inability to keep Trump from power, cost-of-living struggles, economic disappointment, and ant

Horse names, from left to right: Death (of hyperscaler free cash flow), Conquest (of recursive self-improvement), War (between open-weight and closed frontier models), and Famine (with anti-AI populism or regulation starving America's AI firms of data cen

Working in global health & development at Coefficient Giving (FKA Open Philanthropy)

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashIn 1991, Pfizer tested a new compound called sildenafil as a treatment for heart disease. The drug failed. But the men in the trial reported a weird side effect: erections. Pfizer got the message. Years later, sildena

The Odyssey is everywhere right now. Christopher Nolan's film is conquering the box office, spawning online memes, and dominating online discourse. If you rip your eyes away from your feeds, and turn your attention to another book or film, you might find

Photo by Mike Hindle on UnsplashHere are some questions that I consider self-evidently compelling about the modern world:Why is the news media so interested in telling you how much the world sucks all the time? Why are so many of us obsessed with distract

Photo by Adam Wilson on UnsplashI. Closing TimeIs this the end of booze?The share of people who drink hit an all-time low last year, according to Gallup, whose data goes back to 1939. Total beer consumption recently hit a 21st-century low, and wine vineya