Yesterday the UK Government published its National AI Strategy, and it’s quite interesting. Certainly, I consider it a very positive move that the UK has some strategy in this regard, and it is quite clear that some promising thinkers are contributing to the intellectual debate happening within national government. …

How capitalism is selling us a future we can’t have, and denying us the possibility of others — The Problem You can now buy a Tesla using Bitcoin. What’s more, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently stated that the company would not be converting the Bitcoin back into fiat money — e.g. dollars, euros — which will leave cryptocurrency enthusiasts quite pleased. …

What I read this year — My thoughts on what I have read this year are two-fold. Firstly, I think I have read more work by female authors, which in my opinion is a good thing. Equally, I have not done the statistics to determine whether this is true or not, and I have only read…

An alternative perspective on surveillance capitalism — In Capital, Marx makes a rather quick but firm observation regarding the role of the capitalist as a potential labourer: Of course, he [the capitalist] can, like his labourer, take to work himself… but he is then only hybrid between capitalist and labourer, a ‘small master’. A certain stage of…

The subject of paternalism in nudge theory remains a debated one, for the most part because paternalism remains an objectionable position in some circles. I do not offer a comprehensive dissection of what paternalism is. This article is far less ambitious: I merely wish to discuss the role of paternalism…

Without a theory of change, the green transition will come too late. — “Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change.” This is perhaps Milton Friedman’s foremost insight, and one which has shaped the world over the past five decades. Friedman — the Nobel Prize winning economist whose free market ideology shaped the Reagan and Thatcher administrations as well as…

Amazon’s use of behavioural nudges has changed in recent weeks — and Coronavirus explains why. — In a time of global pandemic, when many of us are stuck at home, Amazon is likely feeling a bit of a strain. …

(…and Chapo Trap House) — Some people don’t get Chapo Trap House. Some people don’t quite understand how people can, ‘meet on Twitter’ as the presenters of the podcast did, or how a left-wing show could spend more time mocking the Democratic party than crusading against the far-right. Most of all, some people don’t understand…

From Capitalist Realism to Acid Communism, we shouldn’t overlook Fisher’s impact on political economy — I believe, in time, the vastness and significance of Mark Fisher’s contribution will permeate throughout the social sciences — and economics in particular — with the ferocity of a meteor impacting the Earth. …