Keen On America

We all are familiar, of course, with Robert Altman’s classic 1971 movie about the settling of the west, McCabe and Mrs Miller. But most of us, I’m guessing, don’t know about another McCabe, this one African-American, the black Moses in fact, who almost created an African -American land in Oklahoma. McCabe’s all-too-American story is told in Caleb Gayle’s new book, appropriately entitled Black Moses, the saga of Edward McCabe’s transformation from a Wall Street clerk to one of the first prominent American proponents of Black sepatism and self-government. What makes McCabe's story so compelling is how close he actually came to success. By the 1890s, tens of thousands of African Americans had followed him to Oklahoma Territory, establishing over fifty all-Black towns. McCabe had learned the art of selling dreams from hotel magnate Potter Palmer in Chicago, and he deployed those skills to convince Black families fleeing post-Reconstruction violence that they could build their own promised land in the American West. It’s quite a story. If only Altman was around to transform this quintessentially American tale of a fresh beginning into American cinema.

1. The Power of Using America's Own Language Against Itself

McCabe brilliantly deployed quintessentially American arguments - westward expansion, self-governance, constitutional principles - to advocate for Black separatism. Like Frederick Douglass before him, he insisted this was "a very American project" and even pitched directly to President Benjamin Harrison, using precedents like the American Colonization Society to make his case.

2. How Close America Actually Came to Having a Black State

This wasn't just a pipe dream - by the 1890s, tens of thousands of African Americans had moved to Oklahoma Territory, establishing over 50 all-Black towns. McCabe's vision of a Black-governed state with Black senators and congressmen was within reach until Oklahoma chose to "become the South" by making Jim Crow segregation its very first law.

3. The Entrepreneurial Roots of Black Nationalism

McCabe's transformation from Wall Street clerk to separatist leader reveals how business skills could serve radical political ends. Learning to "sell dreams" from hotel magnate Potter Palmer, he became a master at convincing Black families fleeing post-Reconstruction violence that they could build their own promised land.

4. The Tragic Pattern of Zero-Sum American Politics

The ultimate failure of McCabe's vision - culminating in tragedies like the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - illustrates how Black success was seen as a threat rather than an achievement. As Gayle notes, this reflects enduring "zero-sum politics" where one group's prosperity is viewed as another's loss.

5. Why These "Lost" Stories Matter Today

In an era when institutions like the Smithsonian face political pressure over African American history, Gayle argues for the importance of telling these stories "beautifully" for popular audiences, not just academics. McCabe's tale of ambition, near-success, and ultimate defeat offers both inspiration and sobering lessons about the ongoing struggle for Black belonging in America.

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Should we be defending American democracy if it never really existed? That’s the controversial thesis at the heart of Osita Nwanevu’s new book, The Right of the People. What America needs, the Baltimore-based Nigerian-born Nwanevu argues, is a radical reinvention of its political system. Nwanevu dismantles liberal pieties about traditional American institutions, arguing that the founders deliberately created an anti-democratic republic designed to prevent majority rule. While conservatives celebrate this fact, progressives remain trapped defending a dysfunctional system that structurally disadvantages them. From the anti-majoritarian Electoral College to the archaic Senate's rural bias, America's "democratic" institutions consistently thwart popular will. To realize real 21st century democracy, he argues, requires extending direct democratic power into both the workplace and the economy. When Amazon workers can vote on American foreign policy but have zero say in their company's decisions, something is fundamentally broken. His radical solution? A new American founding that finally delivers on democracy's promise and guarantees real rights to the real American people.

1. America Was Designed to Be Anti-Democratic The founders intentionally created a constitutional republic to prevent majority rule, not enable it. Unlike progressives who argue the founders secretly wanted democracy, Nwanevu agrees with conservatives that the system was designed to thwart popular will—he just thinks that's a problem to fix, not celebrate.

2. Democrats Are Defending a System That Hates Them While Republicans benefit from anti-majoritarian institutions like the Electoral College and Senate, Democrats inexplicably defend these same structures that make it nearly impossible for them to govern effectively. It's political masochism disguised as constitutional reverence.

3. Democracy Must Extend Beyond Politics Into Economics True democracy means workers having a say in workplace decisions, not just voting for politicians. When Amazon employees can vote on foreign policy but have zero input on company decisions that directly affect their lives, the system is fundamentally broken.

4. The Left Needs Bolder Vision, Not Institutional Defense Trump wins because he promises to disrupt a system people distrust, while Democrats offer tepid defenses of broken institutions. The left must offer transformative change, not restoration of "norms" that never served ordinary people.

5. Extreme Wealth Inequality Kills Democracy When the world's richest man can donate $260 million and essentially buy a government position to fire thousands of federal workers, democracy becomes impossible. No political system can survive trillionaires—it's nothing more than an oligarchy with a voting theater.

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In what climate pessimists define as our environmentally apocalyptic times, we’ve become the metaphorical frog in the boiling water. That, at least, is the bleak conclusion of Roy Scranton, the author of Impasse, a new book about climate change and the end of technological progress. For the deeply pessimistic Scranton, the planet is screwed. So the real question is how we can live ethically in these environmentally apocalyptic times. Drawing on his experience as a soldier in Iraq, where he learned to accept death as an everyday spiritual practice, Scranton argues we must abandon fantasies of technological salvation, focusing instead on local community work and the humility of practical good works. This way to the stove, ladies and gentlemen. Our future will be boiling.

1. We're the "Frog in Boiling Water" - Humans adapt so quickly to gradual environmental changes (like rising temperatures) that we normalize catastrophic shifts, making it nearly impossible to recognize existential threats until it's too late.

2. Progress is a Dangerous Myth - Our faith that more technology and science will solve climate change is misguided. Energy transitions historically add new sources rather than replace old ones - we used more coal last year than ever before, despite renewable growth.

3. Embrace "Ethical Pessimism" - Instead of clinging to hope for global solutions, we should accept that civilization as we know it may not survive and focus on how to live ethically within that reality.

4. Think Local, Abandon Global - Rather than trying to "save the world," focus on your immediate community and relationships. Do practical good works where you can actually make a difference in people's daily lives.

5. Learn to "Die" Spiritually - Drawing from his military experience in Iraq, Scranton advocates accepting mortality (personal and civilizational) as a daily practice to free yourself for meaningful action in the present moment, without attachment to future outcomes.

The core message: Stop fantasizing about technological salvation and start practicing humble, local ethics in the face of inevitably catastrophic change.

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How many more times can we report on a week in tech that changed the world? But here we go again…. We just had a week in Silicon Valley where everything, supposedly, changed. At least according to Keith Teare, publisher of the tech That Was the Week weekly newsletter. But last week really really was a special week, Keith insists. It was the week when AI became an actor. When it broke all our traditional software assumptions by becoming an actor, not an app. It was the week AI entered what Keith calls its 'Stone Age' - the moment machines finally got their own tools and began using spreadsheets, databases, and documents without being explicitly told to. If Keith is right, we're about to live in a world where toys talk back to children and cars introduce themselves to their new owners. Yes, AI is in the earliest stages of learning to think for itself. It was, indeed, just another historic week in Silicon Valley.

1. AI Has Crossed the Tool-Use Threshold

This week marked AI's transition from being a tool humans use to becoming an independent actor that chooses and uses its own tools. ChatGPT can now autonomously access spreadsheets, databases, and documents - Keith compares this to humanity's leap from the Stone Age to the Tool Age.

2. OpenAI's $500B Valuation Isn't Crazy - It's Strategic

Despite seeming absurd, OpenAI's path from $50B to $500B valuation in 18 months follows classic tech playbook: prioritize growth over early profits ("early profit is mismanagement"), focus on 90% gross margins, and build the biggest possible "money printing machine" before optimizing for profitability.

3. Software and Hardware Are Being Redefined

We're moving toward a world where software becomes invisible - delivered through conversational interfaces rather than visual apps - and hardware becomes interactive through embedded AI. Think toys that talk back to children and cars that introduce themselves to owners.

4. Creative Generalists Will Thrive, Specialists Are at Risk

AI threatens specialists with rule-based skills (consultants, certain scientists) but enhances "audacious" creative generalists who can think outside the box. AI excels as a servant or co-pilot but can't yet replace original thinking or path-breaking creativity.

5. We're Entering an Age of AI Embeddedness

The future isn't about using AI apps - it's about living in a world where AI is embedded in physical objects and environments, making the entire world interactive. This represents a fundamental shift from digital interfaces to ambient intelligence.

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Like it or not, Trump and his surreal version of a libertarian patrimonial America is reshaping the world. At least in what the FT’s Janan Ganesh dubs “the high summer of Donald Trump”. But my old friend Jason Pack, host of the excellent Disorder podcast, doesn’t believe that a strategy of short-term chaos is a viable long-term global strategy for America. Pack argues that while Trump may be achieving tactical wins through short-term disruptions—from ending the Iran-Israel conflict to forcing favorable trade negotiations—this approach fundamentally undermines the strategic international coordination needed to address existential challenges like AI regulation, climate change, and systemic economic and military competition with China. Without coherent global governance structures, Pack predicts, we're sleepwalking into a long-term disordered world where private tech giants wield more power than governments themselves. Trump’s high summer of disorder, he warns, could degenerate into an apocalyptic winter of our collective discontent.

1. Trump's Chaos Is Actually Strategic Success Despite appearing haphazard, Trump has achieved major goals through disorder - ending the Iran-Israel conflict with bunker buster bombs, securing favorable trade deals through tariff threats, and making himself the global "swing player" that everyone must negotiate with.

2. America's Disproportionate Global Leverage The US economy, though only 1.8 times larger than Europe's, wields 5-6 times the global influence. Trump has discovered how to weaponize this asymmetry more ruthlessly than previous presidents, while Europe remains largely irrelevant in AI and tech.

3. Private Tech Giants Now Rival Government Power Multi-trillion dollar companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia are becoming more powerful than governments themselves. The old DARPA model of government-led innovation has given way to private sector dominance, fundamentally reshaping the relationship between state and market.

4. The Missing "NATO for AI" Pack argues we desperately need international coordination structures to govern AI development, data storage, and energy infrastructure. Without treaty-based cooperation among democracies, we're ceding control to either authoritarian regimes or unaccountable private companies.

5. A Crisis May Be Necessary to Restore Government Both analysts suggest that only a major catastrophe - economic crash, environmental disaster, or military conflict - will force people to recognize government's essential role. Until then, we're trapped in "libertarian patrimonialism" where personal networks trump institutional governance.

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Are we Rome yet? It’s become all too easy to compare contemporary America's woes with those of late republican Rome. And even easier to argue that the democracy destroying Donald Trump is the second coming of Julius Caesar. But according to the distinguished American classicist David Potter, author of Master of Rome, we’ve got Julius Caesar all wrong. Don’t trust Cicero’s version of Caesar, Potter warns. Julius Caesar was actually a friend rather than a foe of democracy—he wasn't even 'Caesarian' in the dictatorial sense we've come to associate with his name. Actually Caesar - with his veneration for the Roman state and his attention to detail - has much more in common with FDR than with Donald Trump. Rather than a warning, then, Julius Caesar offers a model for American politicians trying to rebuild democratic institutions and values in our populist age.

1. Caesar was more FDR than Trump

Potter argues Caesar was a competent, detail-oriented administrator who passed major social reforms (land redistribution, veteran benefits) to help ordinary Romans—much like Roosevelt's New Deal. Unlike Trump, Caesar valued facts, logistics, and effective governance.

2. Roman "democracy" failed because elites stopped sharing power

The Roman Republic collapsed not because of Caesar, but because the aristocracy concentrated wealth and excluded most Italians from citizenship despite promises of reform. Caesar emerged because the system had already broken down.

3. Caesar was inclusive, not exclusionary

Unlike typical autocrats, Caesar integrated former enemies and conquered peoples (like the Gauls) into his system. He pardoned rivals like Cicero and promoted social mobility—even freed slaves could become citizens and rise to high positions.

4. The "Caesarian" reputation comes from biased sources

Much of Caesar's tyrannical image comes from Cicero, who defended corrupt politicians and arbitrary executions when it suited him. Reading Caesar's own writings reveals a thoughtful strategist, not a bloodthirsty dictator.

5. Competent authoritarianism beats incompetent democracy

Potter's key warning: when democratic institutions fail to serve citizens, they'll accept strong leadership that delivers results. Caesar succeeded because he could actually govern—a lesson about the importance of making democracy work for everyone.

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For five hundred years, scientists as credible as Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Darwin and Freud chipped away at the scientific existence of God. So, by the beginning of the 20th century, Nietzsche was able to announce the death of God. A century later, however, modern science is now resurrecting God. That, at least, is the suggestion of Michel-Yves Bollore, the co-author of Europe’s latest publishing sensation, GOD The Science The Evidence. It’s a post Einsteinian science, Bollore and his co-author Olivier Bonnassies contend, which has enabled this kind of scientific Easter. With endorsements from Nobel Prize winners and over 400,000 copies sold across Europe, their controversial thesis argues that seven independent lines of evidence—from thermodynamics to quantum mechanics—point toward an absolute beginning of the universe, making materialism, in their words, 'an irrational belief' in the 21st century.

1. The Historical Reversal For 400+ years (Galileo to Darwin to Freud), scientific discoveries seemed to eliminate the need for God. But since 1900, Bollore argues, every major discovery points in the opposite direction—toward the necessity of a creator.

2. Seven Lines of Evidence for Absolute Beginning The authors present seven independent scientific arguments (thermodynamics, universe expansion, quantum mechanics, mathematics) that the universe had an absolute beginning—which they argue requires a creator, since "from nothing, nothing can come."

3. The Multiverse Dilemma Materialism's only escape is the multiverse theory, but recent discoveries (2003) show infinite series of universes are impossible. This forces materialists into increasingly complex explanations while the "God hypothesis" remains simpler.

4. Fine-Tuning as Evidence The universe's parameters are so precisely calibrated (down to the 15th decimal place for expansion speed) that tiny changes would prevent existence itself—suggesting intentional design rather than chance.

5. Philosophical Not Religious The book deliberately avoids religious questions (who is God, what does God want) and focuses purely on whether scientific evidence supports the existence of a creator—making it accessible across different faiths and cultures

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For all its multiple obituary notices, the American Dream is alive and kicking. That, at least, is the view of Matson Money CEO and founder, Mark Matson, author of Experiencing the American Dream. But you have to work for it, the Scottsdale, Arizona based Matson says, arguing that many Americans have lost agency over their own lives. Growing up in poverty in West Virginia, Matson built an $11.7 billion asset management firm by embracing his father's core principles: nobody owes you anything, provide value to others first, and view hard work as a core virtue. Matson rejects victim mentality and entitlement culture, even of his own kids (two of whom he fired from his company), insisting the dream remains accessible to anyone willing to serve others and create wealth through disciplined effort rather than expecting government or personal handouts.

1. Mindset Over Circumstances Success stems from how you think, not what you're born into. Matson argues that having the right mental framework—rejecting victimhood and embracing personal responsibility—matters more than your starting economic position.

2. Service Before Self-Interest The path to wealth is counterintuitive: focus on creating value for others first, rather than asking "what's in it for me." This service-oriented approach naturally leads to personal prosperity.

3. Work as Virtue, Not Just Means Hard work should be viewed as character-building and inherently valuable, not merely a tool to get rich. This perspective transforms how you approach challenges and opportunities.

4. Merit Over Everything Even family relationships must be subordinated to performance standards. Matson fired two of his own children from his company, demonstrating that nepotism undermines both business success and character development.

5. Media Creates False Narratives News outlets profit from fear and pessimism, leading to distorted perceptions of American opportunity. The statistical reality shows more social mobility and prosperity than headlines suggest.

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Podcasts are ruining our lives. That, at least, is the thesis of the sometime podcaster, Liel Leibovitz. It’s the insidious charm of chat, Leibovitz believes, that is behind the faux intimacy of popular podcasters like Joe Rogan. Speaking from Tel Aviv, the Tablet magazine editor-at-large argues that what began as a revolutionary medium for deep, unfiltered conversation has devolved into the same shallow journalism that plagues mainstream media. Podcasters, Leibovitz contends, have traded meaningful discourse for chummy celebrity interviews, creating parasocial relationships that feel intimate but deliver little substance. The medium's unique power to reach listeners in their most vulnerable moments—while doing dishes, walking dogs, working out—has been weaponized into artificial friendships that replace genuine human connection with performative conversations designed to maintain access rather than pursue truth. So what should wannabe podcasters and their audiences do? You could, of course, stop listening to podcasts like this one or Leibovitz’s once popular Unorthodox show. Alternatively, as he suggests, you could start your own militantly anti-podcast Podcast (as he is planning with his revamped Unorthodox show), thereby reuniting the medium with the message.

1. Podcasts create dangerous parasocial intimacy Listeners develop artificial relationships with hosts they've never met, epitomized by the fan who named her cat after Leibovitz. This faux intimacy makes audiences trust podcasters more than they should, replacing real human relationships with performed ones.

2. The medium has abandoned its revolutionary potential What began as a way to have deep, unfiltered conversations unavailable on mainstream media has devolved into the same shallow access journalism, with podcasters prioritizing celebrity guests and maintaining chummy relationships over pursuing truth.

3. Intimacy doesn't equal authenticity The failure of Clubhouse (which offered real interaction) versus the success of podcasts (which offer performed intimacy) proves people don't actually want genuine connection—they want the feeling of intimacy without the work of real relationships.

4. There's still hope for the medium Leibovitz argues we're at a "Fred Friendly moment"—ready to discover what podcasting can truly accomplish beyond its current limitations. He believes audiences will respond to genuinely substantive content when offered it, citing positive reactions to rare moments of real questioning.

5. AI will increase the value of authentic human voices As artificial content proliferates, genuinely human storytelling, conversation, and analysis will become premium commodities—making this the perfect time for serious podcasters to distinguish themselves through authentic, meaningful discourse.

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Yesterday, the Canadian writer Diane Francis argued that Donald Trump should consider Xi Jinping’s China a competitor rather than an enemy. Perhaps. But in this zero-sum “competition” between Trump and Xi for top tough guy, there can only be one winner. As Xi Jinping’s father’s biographer, Joseph Torigian explains, Xi had a brutally harsh upbringing. In his new book about Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, Torigian explains that it was a childhood descent from privileged son of a communist party aristocrat to utter poverty, political exile and literal homelessness. That’s the kind of tough guy that our self-styled “tough guy” President is competing with in today’s Hobbesian bipolar world of international politics. I’m pretty sure that only one of these tough guys will come out on top. And it won’t be the pampered middle son of a real-estate mogul from Queens.

1. Xi Jinping's "Toughness" is Genuine, Not Performative

Unlike privileged leaders who talk tough, Xi was forged by real hardship - his father was purged five times, spent 16 years in political exile, and Xi himself experienced homelessness, street battles, and rural exile. This created authentic resilience, not manufactured bravado.

2. China's System Remains Dangerously Leader-Dependent

Despite assumptions about "collective leadership," Chinese politics never escaped the strongman model. Even Deng Xiaoping, supposedly constrained by colleagues, made unilateral decisions like Tiananmen. Xi isn't breaking the system - he's following its core logic that only a powerful "core" leader can hold China together.

3. Taiwan is Personal, Not Just Political for Xi

His father Xi Zhongxun was the party's leading "United Front" strategist who handled Taiwan relations in the 1980s through secret back-channels. For Xi, Taiwan represents both unfinished family business and his promise not to be "the one to lose" Chinese territory bequeathed by ancestors.

4. Xi's Strategy is Patience, Not Recklessness

Growing up watching his father navigate purges taught Xi when to act and when to "bide his time." Unlike Putin's sledgehammer approach, Xi moves "deliberately and competitively, but cautiously" - preferring to win without fighting rather than risk catastrophic failure.

5. The Party's Biggest Fear is Losing the Next Generation

Xi obsesses over whether young Chinese will remain loyal to the revolutionary cause without experiencing the hardship that dedicated his generation. With property crashes and youth unemployment, he's trying to recreate commitment through "national sacrifice" narratives - but it's unclear if this will work on a generation that expects prosperity, not suffering.

1. Xi Jinping's "Toughness" is Genuine, Not Performative

Unlike privileged leaders who talk tough, Xi was forged by real hardship - his father was purged five times, spent 16 years in political exile, and Xi himself experienced homelessness, street battles, and rural exile. This created authentic resilience, not manufactured bravado.

2. China's System Remains Dangerously Leader-Dependent

Despite assumptions about "collective leadership," Chinese politics never escaped the strongman model. Even Deng Xiaoping, supposedly constrained by colleagues, made unilateral decisions like Tiananmen. Xi isn't breaking the system - he's following its core logic that only a powerful "core" leader can hold China together.

3. Taiwan is Personal, Not Just Political for Xi

His father Xi Zhongxun was the party's leading "United Front" strategist who handled Taiwan relations in the 1980s through secret back-channels. For Xi, Taiwan represents both unfinished family business and his promise not to be "the one to lose" Chinese territory bequeathed by ancestors.

4. Xi's Strategy is Patience, Not Recklessness

Growing up watching his father navigate purges taught Xi when to act and when to "bide his time." Unlike Putin's sledgehammer approach, Xi moves "deliberately and competitively, but cautiously" - preferring to win without fighting rather than risk catastrophic failure.

5. The Party's Biggest Fear is Losing the Next Generation

Xi obsesses over whether young Chinese will remain loyal to the revolutionary cause without experiencing the hardship that dedicated his generation. With property crashes and youth unemployment, he's trying to recreate commitment through "national sacrifice" narratives - but it's unclear if this will work on a generation that expects prosperity, not suffering.