Marx remarked that all modes of production exist in a kind of larval form within the ones that preceded them, waiting to burst out. He forgot to mention that when this happens, the new mode always takes the form of a crime . Pre-agricultural societies often have a particular horror of slavery, which cuts away all of a human being’s human ties and... See more

The technical term for this is insider trading , and it’s already rampant. Just before the US raid in Venezuela, someone bought tens of thousands of contracts on Polymarket, priced around seven cents, that paid out a dollar if Maduro was removed from power before the end of January. After he was kidnapped, they made nearly half a million dollars.... See more

At the start of 2024, around $100 million was traded on prediction markets every month; now it’s $13 billion.

Once it became clear just how dead the millennial socialist project really was, he gradually faded into the damp Rebecca Solnitty vocabulary of a defeated left, Believing in Hope and Hoping for Belief. (There but for the grace of God.) But back in 2010, writing stupid tweets about killing all white people was part of that package. This is not ideal... See more