Severin Matusek

My secret, cynical theory is that we are so completely numbed and overwhelmed by information these days that we simply don’t think in these more abstract terms anymore (and I think it’s that numbness that I want to capture in this piece somehow). Or maybe we still do, but it all gets lost in idle musings on Twitter or in group chats or messages to

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Once, we made sense of the world with sweeping narratives that provided a comforting sense of mastery. Now, with those narratives shattered beyond repair by a reality too complex for us to fathom, a new kind of coping mechanism is emerging—one where we make peace with the limits of our agency rather than pretending to overcome them. The task is no... See more

I believe artists have more helpful things to say than the money guys about how to use and creatively misuse technology.

If Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 era was defined by founders playing God on their computers by creating social networks and other services, the new era is about founders angling to create ‘superintelligent’ computers that may one day surpass humans and become a kind of ‘God’ in the machine.

Zines are best when they are about the artistic process, when you can see the marks of another human being making stuff in our human beingy ways.

Among other things, this meant leaning into a career and leaning into a career meant less time for the group chat.

A lot of people say kids don’t have subcultures anymore. I don’t think that’s true. You just don’t have to commit to it like you used to. You don’t have to put on clown paint to find an identity anymore. Identity is being served around you, shaped whether you like it or not. Also, we didn’t have a number over our head every day showing our value,... See more