All I feel is gratitude for this experience.

This piece is remarkable theparisreview.org/blog/2026…

chart of the day

It wasn’t just the price of food that changed in 2025—so, too, did Americans’ taste preferences, Grace Buono writes in The Wonder Reader. She explores stories about how to understand the food we ate this year: theatlantic.com/newsletters/…

Last week we published our “Top of the Charts”, a look back at our most popular charts, articles, data insights, and more in 2025. → ourworldindata.org/top-of-th… Each Friday, we’re sharing more from that list. Today we give you our top 5 most-read articles published in 2025. 🧵

Part of the reason the current moment--global conflict, rise of populism, resentment, etc--has been so surprising to most in the policy space is that they were trained in the standard economic thinking of the time, which emphasized material comfort above all else. The emphasis on material comfort gave rise to the worldview that if we were all just better connected, if prosperity could be shared through fair trade and economic relationships, then conflicts would melt away and we would approach "the end of history". Friedman's famous "McDonald's" theory is a good example of that--put a McDonald's in every country and we will have no wars and strife. But this ignores basic human psychology: moral values, need for status, mimetic desires to dominate, need for meaning through sacrifice/religion are all integral to human motivation. These motivations operate all the time, but become even more extreme when material comforts *are* met. This is when people start looking for status and meaning on dimensions that seem self-destructive, fighting "metaphorical wars". You can see this in the divergence of values over time: as economies have become increasingly globalized and overall prosperity has increased, human values have *diverged* (see paper in reply). These motivations are also why any "utopia" will always be doomed to fail. Unlike many on here who critique economics, things like status, identity, mimetic forces are not outside the standard economics toolkit. There have been plenty of important papers written on status-seeking, culture, norms, and mimetic forces. But most of this work is either relatively recent or was on the periphery of economic thinking that permeated policy circles.

Inside The New York Times' Plan to Double Down on Cooking Videos (Exclusive) hollywoodreporter.com/busine…

The New York Times is looking for a Jr. Video Production Coordinator, NYT Cooking: - New York, NY, USA - Full time opportunity - Junior Apply via the link or tag a friend who may be interested 👇🏼. musiccareers.co/job/jr-video…

I was very upset to learn of the death of Kanzi, the Bonobo ape last week. One of the most remarkable experiences of my life was making music with Kanzi and Panbanisha, two extraordinary Bonobo apes - pg petergabriel.com/news/kanzi/ Photo courtesy of Ape Initiative

We just launched Corca—a collaborative math editor. The main idea: there’s no 'text editor' for math. If you want to work on equations on a computer, there’s no app designed for that—so the only real option is paper. ↓

I've spent the last 8 months traveling to 20 states, talking to young people about how they see their economic futures. I wrote about my findings (link below). Gen Z faces a double disruption: (1) AI-driven technological change (2) institutional instability. When I talk to young people, they're not just worried about finding jobs, they're worried whether "careers" as we know them will exist in 5 years. We're seeing a version of the barbell strategy in how young people approach their futures. On one end, people are choosing trades over college debt. On the other, people are betting everything on creator economy/crypto/AI startups etc etc. The middle path exists, but it's increasingly blurry. This shapes identity. When a single viral TikTok can outperform a year's salary, and traditional credentials lose value faster than you can earn them, young people aren't just changing careers—they're developing fundamentally different relationships with economic reality. When I talk to people across the country, their concerns are greater than traditional political divisions. They're wrestling with questions of identity, meaning, and community in a world where traditional narratives about success and stability no longer hold. What looks like a conservative shift among young voters might actually be something more foundational: a generation's attempt to navigate a world where institutions promise stability they can't deliver, where algorithms offer opportunity without security, and where the very nature of work and worth is being redefined. It’s constantly evolving, and it’s not just politics - it’s the very nature of self being called into question. Link in next post.

Apparently if you want your kids to learn to ride a bike faster, you're supposed to take the pedals off first. My mind will never be the same.

I've never heard anyone more graciously and effectively turn an interview with @tylercowen into a conversation, deftly picking his brain even as she shared her perspective. @kylascan on conversationswithtyler.com/e…

When I discussed quitting Google to do a Phd, my manager, Steve Cheng, gave me the advice of "6 shots": Doing something meaningful usually takes about 5 years and we are productive for roughly 30 years. That gives you 6 attempts. So pick each one carefully and give it your best.

‘84 Los Angeles Olympics aesthetic >>

Some of the most defining contours of the human condition - qualities that structure and color what it’s like to be you and me - may boil down to an ancient battle with a common foe: SNAKES. Here’s the argument and evidence for why snakes drove the evolution of the primate brain and visual system. 🧵

"It is rare for people to come into themselves if no one is excited and curious about their core, their potential."

NYC libraries to get budget funding back — and reopen on Sundays buff.ly/3W0o20Y