Severin Matusek

There’s a missed opportunity to create culturally relevant moments and platforms to help young people struggling with loneliness. In the 21st century, brands and agencies have the chance to uplift communities and equip individuals with the tools to live a flourishing life. Examples include Dove’s self-esteem project, Hershey’s helping teens build... See more

In 2026, we’ve become accustomed to the idea that we’re living through a time of radical change, and basically powerless to do anything about it.

For one thing, the internet has taken the reward circuitry meant for social conditioning and has begun to replace it with parasocial conditioning; our reward feedback loops increasingly run through interactions with people we don’t know and may never meet, who have very little information about us or investment in our lives and wellbeing.... See more

It is easy to look back and argue that we were naïve, but I don’t think that is fair. It was not inevitable that social media platforms would become the dumpster fire that they did become.

AI boosters argue that, while, generative technologies are new and shiny, they’re at root no different from the digital technologies an artist like Fincher uses, or the practical ones an artist like Carpenter used. They argue that AI is just another tool.

But I can’t get past the fact that, for something to count as a tool, it has to help you do... See more

There’s a sense of omnipotence: where Talos was powered by “divine ichor”, the blood of the immortal gods”, AI is powered by vast amounts of data collected from billions of (non-consenting) internet users which is then processed and stored in vast facilities such as OpenAI’s Stargate I in Abilene, Texas.

There are four trends accelerating the demand for curation.

Whenever I asked Yarvin about resonances between his writing and real-world events, his response was nonchalant. He seemed to see himself as a conduit for pure reason—the only mystery, to him, was why it had taken others so long to catch up. “You can invent a lie, but you can only discover the truth,” he told me.

Many anonymous online spaces dedicated to “youthful” activities (gaming, degenerate trading, fandoms etc.) are in fact filled with 40 year olds. Not because they’re groomers, but because they never felt like they aged out of them. 40 year old boomers are colonizing traditionally young cultural spaces with their own youth culture vintage. There’s no... See more