Newsletter
Enshittification isn’t caused by venture capital ⊗ Reimagining our built world ⊗ The death of scenius
No.342 — Hypernormalisation ⊗ Getting to know futures studies ⊗ DeepSeek reader ⊗ Chinese fusion power generation
Your Futures Thinking Observatory
A carefully curated weekly newsletter finding signals of change and imagining better futures in technology, society, and culture.
Article
DeepSeek Reader
DeepSeek is exploding onto the AI scene and already having a massive impact on AI labs, investors, business models, forecasts, and more. Here’s your overview and reading list.
Newsletter
The toolkit of utopian thinking ⊗ The free and infinite laboratory of the mind ⊗ The broligarchs have a dark vision
No.341 — A Newspaper from a (Near) Future ⊗ The global struggle over how to regulate AI ⊗ These homes withstood the LA fires
Newsletter
Now is the time of monsters ⊗ Trouble transitioning ⊗ Living alongside computer people
No.340 — Artists challenge us to imagine a more optimistic world ⊗ How AI uncovers new ways to tackle difficult diseases ⊗ Libraries positively impact community health and well-being
Newsletter
A (very) preliminary theory of futuring ⊗ The decade of discontent ⊗ Our relational futures with AI
No.339 — Did OpenAI just solve abstract reasoning? ⊗ Kind and wicked learning environments ⊗ Foresight Timeline ⊗ DeepSeek outpaces tech giants
Newsletter
Is AI progress slowing down? ⊗ Future orientation ⊗ The power of critical sensemaking
No.338 — Without you, Patchwork is nothing ⊗ The rise of frictionless conformity ⊗ Science journalism becomes plain old journalism ⊗ Deliberate oxymorons ⊗ Trespassing for the Common Good
Article
24 things I learned in 2024
Dispatch — From Anhedonia to the Whisky War, 24 things I learned this year. Shamelessly copying Tom Whitwell’s 52 things and falling short.
Newsletter
The AI we deserve ⊗ The “AI is fake and sucks” debate ⊗ What would a world with abundant energy look like?
No.337 — The alchemy that powers the modern world ⊗ Building A Circular Future ⊗ Open Source AI year in review 2024
Newsletter
The Gen AI bridge to the future ⊗ Genetic discrimination is coming ⊗ Many worlds, many selves
No.336 — Rhizomatic thinking to unlock new ideas ⊗ USV built an AI brain ⊗ Trippy worm ooze ⊗ A new golden age of discovery
Newsletter
Accidentally building a planetary brain ⊗ The death of critical thinking ⊗ On AI and its existential risks
No.335 — Intertextuality ⊗ Low-carbon tech needs much fewer materials ⊗ You exist in the long context ⊗ Plastic-eating insect discovered
Newsletter
AI is about power, not technology ⊗ AI’s hidden impact on human thought ⊗ Companies creating food out of thin air
No.334 — Amulets against the spirits of the age ⊗ On distortion ⊗ Build your own commissioner ⊗ Liquid AI
Newsletter
More-than-human aesthetics ⊗ Enchanted knowledge objects in LLM UI ⊗ Native Americans guarded against tyranny
No.333 — With AI, the future of Augmented Reality is in your ears ⊗ Why every company needs a futurist-in-residence ⊗ AI isn’t about unleashing our imaginations ⊗ Bringing life to L.A.’s infrastructure
Newsletter
Not my problem ⊗ The radical optimism of David Graeber ⊗ On transitioning to a regenerative mindset
No.332 — AI’s “human in the loop” isn’t ⊗ I’m running out of ways to explain how bad this is ⊗ Jules Verne’s technocratic worldmaking