The Ratchet Effect: Easy to Spend More, Spending Less Triggers Collapse
I’ve been referencing The Ratchet Effect since 2010 as it explains why shrinking bloat is so much harder than expanding bloat. A common example…
What AI Can’t Do Faster, Better, or Cheaper Than Humans
Since generative AI is adept at manipulating digital text, voice and images, many assume this automatically infers it will be adept at the entirety…
AI: Savior, Satan or Both?
Generative AI is a wonderful font of drama, for it offers up equally compelling visions of Utopia or a descent into Satan’s lair. Savior…
My Job Is to Say No–with One Exception
There seems to be a large number of people with this job description: my job is to say no, with one exception. And what…
The “AI Revolution” May Take an Unexpected Turn into the “AI Coup”
Here’s the approved script for the “AI Revolution”: AI gets increasingly intelligent, replaces more and more human labor, and makes trillions of dollars for…
Now Comes the Hard Part
This week I addressed the impossibility of continuing on the current path of funding the status quo with debt as the costs of servicing…
Ours Is a System of Fraud, Swindles and Corruption
Every society / economy is a distribution mechanism that distributes: 1. Gains 2. Losses 3. Risk 4. The costs of securing the sources of…
Boomers, Let’s Face It: The Math Doesn’t Work
There are many consequential things we can’t discuss factually because the topic upsets everyone. And since getting upset shuts down any direct discussion of…