In-group Cheems is the reflexive cynicism of advice-givers (whether that advice is solicited or otherwise) about someone’s dreams or ambitions.

The rapid collapse of the mighty and opulent Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth century stands as almost an enigma of history, but perhaps what was even more improbable was its complete replacement not by a rival state, but by a European trading company a century later. William Dalrymple charts the disintegration of India into a state of civil s... See more

In-group Cheems is particularly pernicious because of the strength of peer effects.  If you are surrounded by like-minded, ambitious, will-to-act-havers, you are unlikely to find yourself much affected by In-group Cheems.

If you think where our food comes from, particularly in colder climates, you’ll realise it’s grown someplace else. As our bananas, apples, lettuce, corn and rice grow, they extract nutrients from the land. That food is then trucked, shipped and flown to where we live – and where we eat it and excrete it. Yet, we don’t return that organic matter bac... See more

One of the reasons that Here Comes Everybody holds up comparatively well in 2022 against its contemporaries is Shirky’s willingness to recognize how broader social forces might thwart the “inevitable” effects of a technology on society.

Truth, the provider of meaning and orientation, is also a narrative. We are very well informed, yet somehow we cannot orient ourselves. The informatization of reality leads to its atomization — separated spheres of what is thought to be true.

We’re a philanthropic fund that makes grants and investments to improve humanity’s long-term prospects.

I want this to work, furthermore, whether those people are sharing a random thought every day, a blog post every week, or an art project every two years.And I want it to work, of course, across media, so I can follow writers, musicians, programmers, theorists, troublemakers …