What’s puzzling, given how carefully people toe their respective party lines, is that there is no minister of propaganda nor a ministry of truth enforcing any explicit stances. We expect this degree of ideological conformity to be the product of a centralized power handing out punishments and rewards. But, as far as I know, there is no single autho... See more
In The Economics of Superstars, Sherwin Rosen calls these “joint consumption technologies” — tools that enable a single seller to reach an unlimited number of customers at a very low (marginal) cost. These technologies introduced new benefits for consumers and new economies of scale for performers. The price of entertainment dropped since it was no... See more
"I only suggest avoiding one form—“ I’d,” “he’d,” “we’d,” etc.— because “I’d” can mean both “I had” and “I would,” and readers can get well into a sentence before learning which meaning it is. Often it’s not the one they thought it was. Also, don’t invent contractions like “could’ve.” They cheapen your style. Stick with the ones you can find in the... See more
In particular, I find the diffuse capitalization, ownership, and control of these kinds of networks extremely appealing. It’s this — not stupid ape avatars or hype about Bitcoin as “digital gold” — that gets me charged up about crypto/blockchain stuff. It’s also why think we need to be careful about regulation that could strangle the baby in the cr... See more