Saved by Spencer Yen and
The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
When systems that were designed for resilience are optimized instead for efficiency, they break.
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
on the influence of tech frictionlessness in physical infrastructure systems, like airplanes — terrifying stuff
It’s the same logic that powers Erewhon, or Soho House, or influencer-run startups. You’re not paying for the thing. You’re paying for the removal of difficulty . The filtered lighting. The social cachet. The sense that this world still makes sense!
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
“The American,” he writes, “was an individual first, nothing second.”
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
- The digital world has almost no friction.
- The physical world is full of it.
- And in certain curated space s - like the West Village, or your AI companion -friction has been turned into something you can pay to remove.
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
When Mark Zuckerberg's Meta builds frictionless social interfaces, that cognitive smoothness is subsidized by somewhere, somehow, right?
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
subsidized by the earth, by the climate, by the communities poisoned by data centers
This is what a frictionless world looks like. Everything accelerates, until you forget what it means to try.
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
The West Village Girl is probably the best example of this sort of zombie formalism, deeply self-obsessed moment. West Village is an NYC neighborhood that serves as a production set for an optimized lifestyle. You can live your entire life within a five-block radius: Pilates, three-drinker dinners, charm bars, espresso martinis, run clubs, spritzes... See more
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
The average American has fewer than three friends, fewer than three people they would consider friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it's something like 15 friends or something.
The implication is that Meta will close that friendship gap with AI companions. Zuckerberg clarified they won't replace relationships bu... See more
Kyla Scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
It’s not just that he wants us to have more friends, he wants our new friends to be his AI creations. Gross.