Severin Matusek

A decade ago, lorecraft was largely limited to edgelords haunting online fora thinking up the next troll for lulz and electoral mayhem. Now lorecraft is being used to manage treasuries worth millions, launch complex commercial projects, and design automation deathstars for fun and profit.

The cutesy image of the Shiba Inu, the ambiguous volatility of Pepe the Frog, and the militant bravado of Trump meme coins do not contest economic logics so much as offer a cathartic participation within them. They perform precisely what Rieff recognizes as the function of “releasing symbols”—forms of engagement that facilitate emotional discharge,... See more

The new technologies that we’ve been seeing over the past 20 to 30 years in particular are dependent on a cycle of funding from multiple sources. Notably, sometimes really significant funding from venture capital sources. They almost by necessity have to sell themselves as more than what they feasibly are. They’re selling a fantasy, which in some... See more

According to Restless Egg co-founder Sam Lipnick, the cross-pollination between art and technology also goes some way to solving the dilemma posed earlier: how can art compete with the speed and scale of Big Tech as we move through the 2020s? “The best way to get an idea in front of as many eyes as possible 100 years ago was the written word, a few... See more

closed net cultures such as One Direction fandom do produce a lot of creative work, but it’s basically like the inside jokes you come up with at summer camp rather than innovations that will diffuse into the mainstream.

Right now, it’s really easy for us to just constantly say AI will make you better. AI will give you superpowers. AI will do the grunt work in your day-to-day job to free you up for higher-order thinking. We’ve become evangelical about it. In our rush to augment everybody, we’re pushing out Copilot licenses like they’re going out of fashion. We’re... See more