Severin Matusek

We're witnessing what I call the "labor rebound effect"—productivity doesn't eliminate work; it transforms it, multiplies it, elevates its complexity. The time saved becomes time reinvested, often with compound interest.

A radical reimagining of presently available technology grafts itself into reality piece by piece; as it describes a future, it actively brings that future into being.

“It seems like Gen Z is getting really tired of presentation culture, as you might call it,” Zeke, a 21-year-old biologist and frequent Discord chatter, told me. “The idea that everything you do has to be a representation of your personal identity.”

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.

Moving “the future” away from ideologies of dominance and control has become imperative. One promising model can be found in the collective known as the Tropical Futures Institute, founded by designer and gallerist Chris Fussner. Based on the party island of Cebu, Philippines, the “institute” is in fact a decentralized, roaming think tank that... See more

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