August 4, 2026

As of mid-2026, there are roughly 70,000 AI companies. About half of all global venture capital funding is pouring into pure-play AI startups. The indications are good. Remember that phrase. It does not mean what you think it means. We’ll come back to that. Right now I want to tell you a Mark Twain story. That…

July 21, 2026

You’ve boarded a plane. The airline CEO walks down the aisle with a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve done extensive testing on this aircraft. We believe there’s a very good chance you’ll arrive safely. There are some risks because we don’t fully understand aerospace science and there’s a chance that any plane in flight, or…

July 14, 2026

AI is the new supervillain. Villagers are reaching for their pitchforks. People really don’t like AI. They don’t trust it and they don’t think it will be good for themselves or the world. The Economist predicts that “the AI backlash is only getting started.” The polls and the pushback, maybe your own feelings, are about the big picture, not about…

June 30, 2026

The Olympia Press was a notorious Parisian publishing house that used a legal loophole to mass-produce cheap, pseudonymous English erotica for tourists in the 1950s. Olympia Press was owned by Maurice Girodias, a chaotic businessman who had an eye for avant-garde masterpieces like Lolita but all too often took advantage of his authors. I’ll give you some background…