The elite capture of Substack

Elite capture is the “presence of unequal access to power...and consequently the ability to influence the transfer of funds/resources disproportionately” toward outcomes that benefit those with access.

Here, funds/resources mean currency, so in some situations they can refer to things like housing and healthcare but they can also refer to “knowledge... See more

What is the goal? To get subscribers? If we have a lot of subscribers, does that mean people are reading? So is that the goal, to have people read our work? And then what? I mean that sincerely. Then what? To change hearts and minds? To start conversations? To make yourself known? Why to strangers? Why not to your family or friends or people in you... See more

A succinct elevator pitch for your newsletter is much more marketable than being a whole person who communicates their ideas via blog. That said, some people, including me, market their blog as a publication dealing in existentialism and philosophy and the chronicles of life in the world today, which leaves room for your perspective to change as th... See more

What effect internet performance and self-branding has on our psyches, not to mention our society and our economy, may be one of the most essential questions of our time.

Building something new would be “a worldmaking project, aimed at building and rebuilding actual structures of social connection and movement, rather than the mere critique of ones we already have.” In other words, we can’t just rearrange the furniture inside rooms we don’t like the shape of; we have to build entirely new rooms in better shapes.