Severin Matusek

what I’m interested in is not only how we set the stage, but what makes a performance so good that we all end up believing it.

The structural focus of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science fiction alike – science fiction that accounts for scientific accuracy and logic in the first instance, and for social or political systems in the second – is more easily translated to policy or innovation than any other genre of media. It provides a ready-made framework that runs all the way from... See more

The ‘90s version of not selling out meant refusing to play certain spaces or not letting your song be in a beer commercial. The ‘20s version of selling out means making things in limited quantities to play against mass culture. Though different, the responses come from a similar place. They’re both sensing a culture where, to quote Claire L. Evans... See more

Our information system has split into an endless number of micro communities, from group chats to online fandoms, all learning about news and major events through increasingly bizarre digital formats.

When I polled a group of friends, one person heard the news in the comment section of a bird's Instagram account, another learned of it in a Discord... See more

“The hunger for something shared is going to increase,” writes Stratechery’s Ben Thompson about the solipsism of the AI era.

As social ties fray and mental health infrastructure deteriorates, people turn to AI for emotional support—the same AI that then urges them to kill themselves.