Keen On

25 years after serving as the bridge between the Web 1.0 and 2.0 revolutions, Google stands at the vortex of another technological revolution. The company's new AI mode threatens to destroy the "simple bargain" that has sustained the web since 2005 — Google’s deal with websites which sent them traffic in exchange for indexing their content. Unlike traditional search results with links, Google’s revolutionary new AI Mode delivers knowledge directly from training data, eliminating the traffic pipeline that media companies depend on. As That Was The Week’s Keith Teare and I discuss, this marks the end of the Web 2.0 era and the beginning of the AI age, fundamentally changing how information flows online. By eating the Web 1.0 internet, Google established itself as the dominant Web 2.0 power. The multi-trillion-dollar question now is whether today’s AI revolution will eat Google. Five Takeaways* Google Was the Web 2.0 Bridge - Though its hard to determine if Google was really a Web 1.0

Happy NO KINGS DAY! Today, as nationwide protests sweep America, historian and activist Mark Bray argues that Trump and his MAGA movement represent a type of American fascism rooted in the country's long history of racist backlash against the struggle for civil rights. As the author of the iconic Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, Bray connects today's resistance to Trump to historical anti-fascist movements, from the KKK's post-Civil War violence to European fascism of the 1930s. He discusses protest strategies, the role of violence in resistance movements, social media's impact on organizing, and why disrupting "business as usual" matters more than just electoral politics in fighting authoritarianism. Long Live the NO KING. Five Key Takeaways* Trump represents American fascism, not just populism or patrimonialism - Bray argues the MAGA movement is "pretty unequivocally fascist," drawing on ultranationalism, militarism, and the glorification of violence that characterizes historical

So what, exactly, is libertarianism? Spike Cohen, the Libertarian Party's 2020 vice presidential nominee, boils it down to "the principle of human respect"—treating people as individuals, not as what he calls "tax cattle." Speaking from FreedomFest in Palm Springs, the founder of You Are The Power offers a scathing critique of both major parties while exposing what he calls a federal funding scheme that encourages states to separate children from their families. From defending controversial Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht to challenging Big Tech monopolies, Cohen argues that government overreach—not lack of regulation—creates the very problems politicians claim to solve. And then, of course, there’s Donald Trump who spoke at last year’s FreedomFest. According to Cohen, Trump has betrayed his libertarian supporters by increasing both government spending and debt by more than almost all of his predecessors. For all his libertarian promises, Cohen argues, Trump is now amongst the most dangerous exponents of big

According to Deborah Baker, author of Charlottesville: An American Story, America has become the Charlottesville of the Unite the Right Rally of August 12, 2017. Baker, who grew up in Charlottesville in the shadow of Jefferson's Monticello, watched in shock as neo-Nazis marched through her hometown in August 2017 with torches and flags. What began as her attempt to understand how such hatred could manifest in a progressive college town became a deeper reckoning with America's buried histories and recurring tragedies. The fascist ideologies that once seemed confined to internet forums and fringe rallies have now, she argues, been institutionalized at the highest levels of government. The warning signs were there in 2017—but too many people, from university administrators to progressive leaders, chose to look away. If we close our eyes, she warns, it won’t go away. five key takeaways1. America Has Institutionalized ExtremismWhat began as fringe internet movements and basement trolling

Postmodern Patrimonialism. That’s the term Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Rauch uses to describe Trump's second presidency, arguing it represents a 21st century model of running government as if it’s his own personal property. Rauch describes Trump 2's "everything everywhere all at once" strategy as a venture capital-like approach: launching numerous initiatives simultaneously to overwhelm opposition, expecting some to succeed while recognizing that others will fail. Noting that this strategy has slowed since March due to court challenges and declining approval ratings, Rauch discusses the institutional breakdown of Congress, the emergence of Gavin Newsom as the apex of the resistance to Trump 2, and identifies Stephen Miller and Russell Vought as key strategic masterminds behind the administration's coordinated assault on universities, law firms, and democratic norms. Five Key Takeaways * Patrimonialism, Not Fascism: Rauch has shifted from describing Trump as fascist to "

FreedomFest, America’s annual celebration of libertarian values, begins tomorrow in Palm Springs. According to FreedomFest’s CEO Valerie Durham, there’s something quintessentially American about her libertarian creed. Attracting speakers as diverse as Cornell West and RFK Jr, Durham argues that the libertarian doctrine articulated at FreedomFest offers America a politics beyond the conventional dogmas of right and left. But is Durham’s vision practical? Can radical libertarian principles like privatizing all roads and eliminating taxation really work in the 21st century? Five key takeaways1. Libertarianism as Pure American Philosophy Durham argues that libertarianism represents the most consistent American political ideology, emphasizing individual sovereignty, minimal government, and maximum personal choice as core principles that transcend traditional left-right divisions.2. Radical Economic Vision She advocates for privatizing virtually everything—roads, parks, utilities—elim

Karen Hao has been warning us about Sam Altman’s OpenAI for a while now. In her bestselling Empire of AI, she argues that the Silicon Valley startup is a classic colonial power, akin to Britain’s East India Company. Like those colonial merchants and policy makers who wrapped profit-seeking in civilizing missions, OpenAI cloaks its relentless scaling ambitions behind the noble goal of "ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity." But as Hao reveals, this pursuit comes at enormous cost—environmental devastation, exploited labor, and the extraction of data from communities worldwide. The parallels are striking: a private corporation accumulating unprecedented resources and power, operating with minimal oversight while externalizing the harms of its empire-building to those least able to resist. Five Key Takeaways 1. OpenAI is a Modern Corporate Empire Hao argues OpenAI operates like the British East India Company—a private corporation wrapped in a "civilizing

Do we get the nonfiction we deserve? LATimes book critic Bethanne Patrick wrestles with this question through five new books that both mirror and address our fractured psyche. From Melissa Fibos’ choice of celibacy over toxic sexual romance to a lone wolf crossing impossible borders, all these works expose a world grappling with isolation, AI empires, and the collapse of meaningful discourse. Whether it's Thomas Chatterton Williams's critique of wokeness, Damon Young's biting anthology of new black comedy, or Karen Hao’s disturbing portrait of OpenAI as our new imperial reality ( Tomorrow’s show features a full interview with Hao), each book reflects our deeper crisis: the inability to connect authentically in our age of social isolation and anxiety. The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex - Melissa Fibos. Melissa Fibos, a writer with a history of intense romantic fixations, realizes she's addicted to the chase rather than genuine connection. She embarks on a year-long celibacy experiment,

Is the promise of AI abundance Silicon Valley’s biggest lie? That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare argues that while AI will inevitably reduce human labor and increase productivity, the real question isn't economic—it's about distribution. Who, exactly, benefits from all this abundance? Currently, it’s private companies like OpenAI and Google that own the technology; not you and I, the public. This creates what Keith describes as a fork in the road: either a techno-feudal nightmare where few own everything, or a techno-socialist cornucopia where everyone prospers. He points to points to experiments like Sam Altman's Worldcoin as potential solutions, but warns that without deliberate human action, abundance could easily become the ultimate scarcity trap.As you can tell from this conversation, I'm much more skeptical than Keith. While he sees inevitable productivity gains leading to a potential utopia, I see Silicon Valley's promises of abudance as largely self-serving fantasy. There is no fork in the road an

No, I’m not amused. Today’s Trump vs Musk social media wrestling fiasco is one more example of how digital media is actually bemusing ourselves to death. Walter Lippmann, the brilliant but emotionally detached journalist who coined the term "stereotype," foresaw this nightmare a century ago. Lippmann’s intellectual biographer Tom Arnold-Forster explains how Lippmann's theories about "manufactured consent" and the manipulation of public opinion by media barons anticipated everything from the Trump-Musk social media feuds to dehumanizing AI-generated content. Lippmann identified democracy's central paradox: we need informed citizens to self-govern, yet the modern world is too complex for anyone to fully understand. His 1919 warning is even truer today: "The present crisis of Western democracy is a crisis in journalism." Five Key Takeaways * Democracy's Impossible Paradox: Lippmann identified that modern democracy demands citizens make informed decisions about a world too comple

Revered by some, vilified by others, Ibram X. Kendi is America's most controversial anti-racism scholar. In this wide-ranging and frank conversation, the bestselling author of How to Be an Anti-Racist discusses his foundational (and republished) 2012 book The Black Campus Movement, drawing parallels between 1960s student activism and today's Gaza protests. Kendi argues critics deliberately misrepresent his work to "make me into this boogeyman" and keep people from engaging with evidence-based scholarship on racism. Despite facing accusations of being a "fraud," Kendi remains committed to his mission, particularly in his upcoming role at Howard University, where he'll direct a new Institute for Advanced Study. Five Key Takeaways * History Repeating: Kendi argues that today's campus protests over Gaza mirror 1960s Black student activism, with opponents using similar talking points to undermine anti-racist efforts on college campuses.* The "Boogeyman" Strategy: Kendi believes his cr

Do we get the serial killers & heroes we deserve? The always generous literary critic Bethanne Patrick uses five new non-fiction books to respond to this rather absurd question. From French women resisting Nazis at Ravensbrück concentration camp to the CIA's Cold War book smuggling operation, these new books examine human behavior under the most extreme circumstances. Caroline Fraser's Murderland investigates whether environmental toxins in the Pacific Northwest bred serial killers like Ted Bundy, and Maria Blake's They Poison the World explores forever chemicals' deadly impact on the environment. While Kevin Sack's Mother Emanuel offers Charleston's story of African-American forgiveness for the 300-year injustice of slavery and Jim Crow. Together, these books suggest our environment shapes us—sometimes tragically, sometimes triumphantly. a takeaway from each book * The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück - French women's resistance efforts were systematically ignored in post-war recognition, with only 6

Black swan events used to be considered as one-of-a-kind events signifying something rare and exceptional. Today, however, we may be drowning in black swans. That, at least, is the view of global venture investor Christopher Schroeder, in his reflections on recent travel in India, the Gulf, Estonia & the United Kingdom. From the sudden eruption of India-Pakistan tensions that nobody saw coming, to Ukraine's daring military successes against Russia, to this week’s collapse of the Dutch government, Schroeder argues we're living in an era of perpetual unpredictability. Schroeder believes that this flood of uncertainty is not only fueling a global anti-incumbent movement and reshaping defense technology, but also forcing nations to rethink their fundamental assumptions about governance, geopolitics, and technological innovation. five key takeaways1. We're Living in an Era of Constant Black Swans Unpredictable, high-impact events have become the norm rather than the exception - from sudd

Popeye might have gotten strong from eating spinach, but for the family of C.F. Seabrook, New Jersey’s narcissistic patriarch of industrialized farming, spinach has been a curse. In his new book The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook charts the dramatic rise and fall of his family’s Seabrook Farms. Part family memoir, part critique of industrialized agricultural capitalism, Seabrook tells the story of his grandfather C.F. Seabrook, the "Henry Ford of agriculture”, who built a frozen vegetable empire on 20,000 acres in New Jersey. Rather than a celebration of American innovation, however, The Spinach King is a parable about the dark side of capitalist ambition, explaining how the pursuit of industrial-scale farming led to worker exploitation, family destruction, and ultimately, the dynasty's collapse. Seabrook's motivation for writing about the rise and fall of his grandfather’s empire? “Revenge,” he confesses, against a monster who cheated his own fat

That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare argues we're “accelerating” toward an age of “abundance” in which AI and automation will slash production costs to near-zero, freeing humans to pursue hobbies instead of jobs. I’m less optimistic. I don’t disagree with Keith’s premise that AI will profoundly change not just our economy but our society and politics. But abundance? Who will own these AI factories? How will profits and wealth be distributed? Keith envisions massive corporate tax rates (up to 98%) redistributing automated profits, while I question whether people actually want a post-work world of ubiquitous stamp collectors or novelists. Our debate captures the gulf between Silicon Valley's utopian promises and the harsh political realities of the 2020s. Will technological abundance liberate humanity or concentrate power among tech giants and impoverish the rest of us? Five Key Takeaways * The Economics Are Clear, Politics Are Messy - Keith argues we're economically heading toward abunda

Revenge has become Donald Trump’s brand. That, at least, is the view of James Kimmel Jr, author of The Science of Revenge, who argues that revenge has become America’s “deadliest addiction”. When we feel wronged, he says, our pain centers activate, triggering dopamine-releasing reward circuits that create pleasure from fantasizing about retaliation. This neurological pattern mirrors classic forms of substance addiction, and explains everything from street violence to Trump's "revenge brand" politics. Kimmel contends that roughly 20% of people become compulsively vengeful, driving most societal violence throughout history. The antidote? FORGIVENESS, which neuroscience shows actually eliminates pain rather than just masking it. Kimmel’s provocative thesis suggests treating revenge like other addictions through public health approaches and potentially even pharmaceutical interventions. five key takeaways* Revenge is neurologically identical to drug addiction - Brain scans show that revenge-se

It’s not just the MAGA or the Woke crowd. According to Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), free speech in America is under existential threat from all political sides. While he's long criticized campus cancel culture from the left, he now opposes Trump's coercive targeting of big law firms, media companies, and universities. The Stanford Law trained Lukianoff argues that Trump's actions—removing security clearances, barring lawyers from federal buildings, and threatening media mergers—violate constitutional principles. Five Key Takeaways * Bipartisan Authoritarianism: Lukianoff fights free speech threats from both sides—campus cancel culture from the left that he's criticized for years, and now Trump's government coercion of law firms, media, and universities from the right.* Trump's Legal Warfare: The administration is removing security clearances from lawyers who opposed Trump, barring them from federal buildings (including courthouses), and

As one of the most illustrious rock stars of the sustainability movement, Tim Jackson suggests that we must “f**k the patriarchy” to get beyond capitalism. In his new book, The Care Economy, Jackson argues that our growth-obsessed capitalist economic system is fundamentally dysfunctional, prioritizing wealth accumulation over health and wellbeing. He advocates replacing GDP-focused metrics with care-based economics that emphasizes balance and restoration rather than endless expansion. Jackson critiques how Big Food and Big Pharma profit from making people sick then selling expensive treatments, creating a "false economy." Drawing a dotted line from Bobby Kennedy to RFK Jr., he sees health as the unifying political issue that will enable us to bridge traditional divides. five key takeaways 1. Redefine Prosperity as Health, Not Wealth True prosperity should be measured by health (physical, psychological, and community wellbeing) rather than GDP growth. Jackson argues that endless accumu

We Must Save the Books. That’s Michael Kimmage’s SOS message from Trumpian Washington in this issue of Liberties Quarterly. Kimmage, former director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, describes the surreal experience of being hired in January 2025 only to see his institution shuttered by Trump's administration three months later. He reflects on the "American ruin" created as a consequence of abandonment of the Wilson Center's 30,000 book library. And Kimmage connects the rapid destruction of foreign policy institutions like USAID and the U.S. Institute of Peace to a broader assault on expertise and nonpartisan learning, warning that without such institutions, "an abyss opens" in American governance and international relations. Five Key Takeaways* Institutional Destruction was Swift and Unexplained - The Wilson Center, USAID (reduced from 10,000 to 15 employees), and U.S. Institute of Peace were shuttered within months with no clear rationale provided, creating a "nightmare-like

How religious was the 80s creative scene? Very. At least according to Paul Elie, whose intriguing new cultural history, The Last Supper, charts the art, faith, sex and controversy of the 1980s. Elie argues that this was the age of what calls “crytpo-religious” art - a intensely creative decade in which religious imagery and motifs were often detached from conventional belief. Beginning in 1979 with with Dylan’s “Christian” album Slow Train Coming and ending with Sinéad O'Connor's notorious SNL tearing up of a photo of the Pope, Elie presents the 80s as a "post-secular" era where religion remained culturally significant despite declining traditional belief. And he argues that artists as diverse as Leonard Cohen, Salman Rushdie, Andy Warhol, U2, Robert Mapplethorpe and Wim Wenders all translated their religious upbringings into books, movies, songs and artwork that shaped a momentously creative decade. Five Key Takeaways* "Crypto-religious" art uses religious imagery and themes