Balázs Búzás

Technological changes in both the second and third oikoi have led to massive social change. People are more lonely and more isolated. They have fewer close friends, spend less time socializing, and are invested less in community organizations like churches, unions, and hobbyist groups. Work norms have shifted toward decentralized, always-on models.... See more

The nature of technology is that it is always shifting, but our last 20 years or so have been marked by a complete digital transformation of society.

The railroads turned spatial connections into temporal connections. I live in Los Angeles, and when I talk about going someplace, I don’t measure it in terms of distance [e.g., 10 miles away] I measure it in terms of time [e.g., 40 minutes away]. The railroads did that.

You begin to get a political structure of regulation, which will in fact not stop this great explosion of American ingenuity but harness it and begin to make it useful.

In 2025, AI is similarly eating the entire economy—from the stock market (AI-related stocks have accounted for 75% of S&P 500 returns since ChatGPT launched in November 2022) to the construction industry. According to JPMorgan , data centers “are eclipsing office construction spending” and pushing up electricity prices across the country.

railroads are incredibly corrupt. I mean, they don’t invent American corruption. It’s much older than that, but they bring it into its modern form. They’re the ones who create modern political lobbying. They’re the ones who buy Congress by and large. They’re the ones who throughout this period will always be giving favors to what they call their... See more

The railroads were supposed to introduce an age of competition, individual fulfillment, and small farming. But in fact what they did is they created large corporations—both incredibly competitive and monopolistic—that controlled the economy.

people have to make sense of you before they can care about you, and narrative structure gives them the context they need to figure you out.

Having a canonical prose narrative explaining what you do and why it matters is surprisingly high-leverage. You can send the link to prospective recruits, investors, partners, customers, friends, and press to help them understand you better, faster. You can fundraise with it. You can use it to inspire and align your team. You can spin an entire... See more