Every empire starts with marble and ends with gold leaf.
The Ballroom and the Bureaucracy
The Gold-Plated Decay of American Institutions
www.theindex.media
October 22, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Every empire starts with marble and ends with gold leaf.
Our public life has become unserious with rot.
We’re ruled by grifters who don’t care if their half-baked ideas work.
They only care if the pitch lands.
www.theindex.media/p/we-are-rul...
We’re ruled by grifters who don’t care if their half-baked ideas work.
They only care if the pitch lands.
www.theindex.media/p/we-are-rul...
We Are Ruled by Used Car Salesmen and Grifters
Our Public Life Has Become Unserious With Rot.
www.theindex.media
October 2, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Our public life has become unserious with rot.
We’re ruled by grifters who don’t care if their half-baked ideas work.
They only care if the pitch lands.
www.theindex.media/p/we-are-rul...
We’re ruled by grifters who don’t care if their half-baked ideas work.
They only care if the pitch lands.
www.theindex.media/p/we-are-rul...
Our public life has become unserious with rot.
We Are Ruled by Used Car Salesmen and Grifters
Our Public Life Has Become Unserious With Rot.
www.theindex.media
October 2, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Our public life has become unserious with rot.
Don’t rationalize it. Don’t negotiate with it.
Just say no.
And if your child screams at you, fine. Better they scream at you now than spend their adulthood unable to sit in silence, unable to read a book, unable to hold a single thought of their own.
Just say no.
And if your child screams at you, fine. Better they scream at you now than spend their adulthood unable to sit in silence, unable to read a book, unable to hold a single thought of their own.
If You Let Your Kid Use Sora, You’re A Bad Parent
AI Slop Will Raise Your Kids If You Don’t
www.theindex.media
October 1, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Don’t rationalize it. Don’t negotiate with it.
Just say no.
And if your child screams at you, fine. Better they scream at you now than spend their adulthood unable to sit in silence, unable to read a book, unable to hold a single thought of their own.
Just say no.
And if your child screams at you, fine. Better they scream at you now than spend their adulthood unable to sit in silence, unable to read a book, unable to hold a single thought of their own.
A failed demo means the tech is real enough to break.
A perfect video means nothing.
A perfect video means nothing.
Meta Bombed. Apple Chickened Out.
Meta’s Chaos Tells the Truth. Apple’s Cinema Tells Us Nothing.
www.theindex.media
September 24, 2025 at 7:15 AM
A failed demo means the tech is real enough to break.
A perfect video means nothing.
A perfect video means nothing.
Colin Powell warned Bush: “You break it, you bought it.”
That’s the real rule of AI.
Deploy it in your workflows, and you inherit every hallucination, bias, and failure.
The vendors can walk away. You can’t.
That’s the real rule of AI.
Deploy it in your workflows, and you inherit every hallucination, bias, and failure.
The vendors can walk away. You can’t.
The Pottery Barn Rule of AI
You Break It, You Bought It
www.theindex.media
September 23, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Colin Powell warned Bush: “You break it, you bought it.”
That’s the real rule of AI.
Deploy it in your workflows, and you inherit every hallucination, bias, and failure.
The vendors can walk away. You can’t.
That’s the real rule of AI.
Deploy it in your workflows, and you inherit every hallucination, bias, and failure.
The vendors can walk away. You can’t.
Kennedy wasn’t cut down by the Soviets or the mob.
He was cut down by a drifter with a rifle.
That fragility is unbearable - so we invent cabals to feel safe.
www.theindex.media/p/the-random...
He was cut down by a drifter with a rifle.
That fragility is unbearable - so we invent cabals to feel safe.
www.theindex.media/p/the-random...
The Random Nut Theory of History
Conspiracy is Comfort. Randomness is Terror.
www.theindex.media
September 15, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Kennedy wasn’t cut down by the Soviets or the mob.
He was cut down by a drifter with a rifle.
That fragility is unbearable - so we invent cabals to feel safe.
www.theindex.media/p/the-random...
He was cut down by a drifter with a rifle.
That fragility is unbearable - so we invent cabals to feel safe.
www.theindex.media/p/the-random...
Apple survived Steve Jobs.
Microsoft thrived after Gates.
If Tesla can’t survive Musk, maybe it deserves its decline.
www.theindex.media/p/a-trillion...
Microsoft thrived after Gates.
If Tesla can’t survive Musk, maybe it deserves its decline.
www.theindex.media/p/a-trillion...
A Trillion-Dollar Joke
The Fragility of Fealty
www.theindex.media
September 13, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Apple survived Steve Jobs.
Microsoft thrived after Gates.
If Tesla can’t survive Musk, maybe it deserves its decline.
www.theindex.media/p/a-trillion...
Microsoft thrived after Gates.
If Tesla can’t survive Musk, maybe it deserves its decline.
www.theindex.media/p/a-trillion...
Freemium is broken.
Obsidian shows a better way: give the burger away, sell the fries.
The base app is complete. The business is optional services.
Trust compounds. Adoption explodes. Everyone wins.
www.theindex.media/p/the-fries-...
Obsidian shows a better way: give the burger away, sell the fries.
The base app is complete. The business is optional services.
Trust compounds. Adoption explodes. Everyone wins.
www.theindex.media/p/the-fries-...
The Fries-With-That Software Model
Give Away the Burger. Charge for the Fries.
www.theindex.media
September 13, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Freemium is broken.
Obsidian shows a better way: give the burger away, sell the fries.
The base app is complete. The business is optional services.
Trust compounds. Adoption explodes. Everyone wins.
www.theindex.media/p/the-fries-...
Obsidian shows a better way: give the burger away, sell the fries.
The base app is complete. The business is optional services.
Trust compounds. Adoption explodes. Everyone wins.
www.theindex.media/p/the-fries-...
AI browsers are like indie bands.
Loved by enthusiasts.
Ignored by the masses.
And they don’t move the charts.
www.theindex.media/p/the-ai-bro...
Loved by enthusiasts.
Ignored by the masses.
And they don’t move the charts.
www.theindex.media/p/the-ai-bro...
The AI Browser Wars Don't Matter
Why No One Will Switch to an AI Browser
www.theindex.media
September 9, 2025 at 2:48 AM
AI browsers are like indie bands.
Loved by enthusiasts.
Ignored by the masses.
And they don’t move the charts.
www.theindex.media/p/the-ai-bro...
Loved by enthusiasts.
Ignored by the masses.
And they don’t move the charts.
www.theindex.media/p/the-ai-bro...
Around 2010, culture stopped being made for people.
It started being made for algorithms.
A short history of how the feed rewired art 🧵
www.theindex.media/p/why-pop-cu...
It started being made for algorithms.
A short history of how the feed rewired art 🧵
www.theindex.media/p/why-pop-cu...
Why Pop Culture is Created for the Machine
The Index Plus
www.theindex.media
September 4, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Around 2010, culture stopped being made for people.
It started being made for algorithms.
A short history of how the feed rewired art 🧵
www.theindex.media/p/why-pop-cu...
It started being made for algorithms.
A short history of how the feed rewired art 🧵
www.theindex.media/p/why-pop-cu...
Every aggregator promised neutrality.
Google: relevance.
Amazon: convenience.
Apple: curation.
Facebook: reach.
Once scale is won, neutrality collapses into extraction.
That collapse = the end of the aggregator illusion.
www.theindex.media/p/aggregatio...
Google: relevance.
Amazon: convenience.
Apple: curation.
Facebook: reach.
Once scale is won, neutrality collapses into extraction.
That collapse = the end of the aggregator illusion.
www.theindex.media/p/aggregatio...
Aggregation Theory After Aggregation
What Breaks When Everything Is an Aggregator?
www.theindex.media
September 2, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Every aggregator promised neutrality.
Google: relevance.
Amazon: convenience.
Apple: curation.
Facebook: reach.
Once scale is won, neutrality collapses into extraction.
That collapse = the end of the aggregator illusion.
www.theindex.media/p/aggregatio...
Google: relevance.
Amazon: convenience.
Apple: curation.
Facebook: reach.
Once scale is won, neutrality collapses into extraction.
That collapse = the end of the aggregator illusion.
www.theindex.media/p/aggregatio...
Swift has cultural gravity.
Kelce has America’s biggest sport.
Instagram has global distribution.
Put them together → orders of scale the rest of us can’t imagine.
www.theindex.media/p/notes-on-s...
Kelce has America’s biggest sport.
Instagram has global distribution.
Put them together → orders of scale the rest of us can’t imagine.
www.theindex.media/p/notes-on-s...
Notes on Swift, Kelce, and Scale
The Index Plus
www.theindex.media
August 28, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Swift has cultural gravity.
Kelce has America’s biggest sport.
Instagram has global distribution.
Put them together → orders of scale the rest of us can’t imagine.
www.theindex.media/p/notes-on-s...
Kelce has America’s biggest sport.
Instagram has global distribution.
Put them together → orders of scale the rest of us can’t imagine.
www.theindex.media/p/notes-on-s...
Critics hope a bubble burst means the end of AI.
History says otherwise.
Bubbles kill firms, not technologies.
www.theindex.media/p/why-ai-wil...
History says otherwise.
Bubbles kill firms, not technologies.
www.theindex.media/p/why-ai-wil...
Why AI Will Outlast the Bubble
Members Only
www.theindex.media
August 21, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Critics hope a bubble burst means the end of AI.
History says otherwise.
Bubbles kill firms, not technologies.
www.theindex.media/p/why-ai-wil...
History says otherwise.
Bubbles kill firms, not technologies.
www.theindex.media/p/why-ai-wil...
The gravitational pull of network effects has intensified at the top. The comfortable middle, the natural landing place for products with a loyal but non-universal audience, is being squeezed out of existence.
www.theindex.media/p/the-collap...
www.theindex.media/p/the-collap...
The Collapse of the Middle
The Dispatch
www.theindex.media
August 14, 2025 at 1:15 AM
The gravitational pull of network effects has intensified at the top. The comfortable middle, the natural landing place for products with a loyal but non-universal audience, is being squeezed out of existence.
www.theindex.media/p/the-collap...
www.theindex.media/p/the-collap...
Perplexity offering $34.5 billion for Chrome is like showing up at to an auction for the Biltmore Estate with Chuck E. Cheese tokens and an IOU.
www.theindex.media/p/perplexity...
www.theindex.media/p/perplexity...
Perplexity's Chrome Bid is a $34.5 Billion Publicity Stunt
The Economics of Attention
www.theindex.media
August 13, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Perplexity offering $34.5 billion for Chrome is like showing up at to an auction for the Biltmore Estate with Chuck E. Cheese tokens and an IOU.
www.theindex.media/p/perplexity...
www.theindex.media/p/perplexity...
Copilot is the crown jewel.
GitHub is the distribution channel.
Developers are the training data.
www.theindex.media/p/github-s-n...
GitHub is the distribution channel.
Developers are the training data.
www.theindex.media/p/github-s-n...
GitHub’s Neutrality Is Over
CoreAI’s Takeover Means Every Commit Is Now Part of Microsoft’s AI War Chest
www.theindex.media
August 12, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Copilot is the crown jewel.
GitHub is the distribution channel.
Developers are the training data.
www.theindex.media/p/github-s-n...
GitHub is the distribution channel.
Developers are the training data.
www.theindex.media/p/github-s-n...
You can argue with data.
You can question methods.
But when the government starts firing people for publishing inconvenient truths, it’s no longer about statistics.
It’s about power.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
You can question methods.
But when the government starts firing people for publishing inconvenient truths, it’s no longer about statistics.
It’s about power.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
The Future Is Certain. It’s the Past That Keeps Changing.
Trump Didn’t Like the Numbers. So He Fired the Referee.
www.theindex.media
August 5, 2025 at 8:47 PM
You can argue with data.
You can question methods.
But when the government starts firing people for publishing inconvenient truths, it’s no longer about statistics.
It’s about power.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
You can question methods.
But when the government starts firing people for publishing inconvenient truths, it’s no longer about statistics.
It’s about power.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
We tend to think of bureaucrats as bit players. But a nation with no credible statistics cannot know itself. It drifts. It improvises. It guesses. Over time, it forgets how to tell the difference between measurement and mood.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
The Future Is Certain. It’s the Past That Keeps Changing.
Trump Didn’t Like the Numbers. So He Fired the Referee.
www.theindex.media
August 4, 2025 at 11:55 PM
We tend to think of bureaucrats as bit players. But a nation with no credible statistics cannot know itself. It drifts. It improvises. It guesses. Over time, it forgets how to tell the difference between measurement and mood.
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
www.theindex.media/p/the-future...
Winston Churchill, after being outmaneuvered at Yalta, warned that feeding the crocodile does not guarantee it will eat you last. In the current case, the EU has fed the crocodile and called it diplomacy.
www.theindex.media/p/the-crocod...
www.theindex.media/p/the-crocod...
July 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Winston Churchill, after being outmaneuvered at Yalta, warned that feeding the crocodile does not guarantee it will eat you last. In the current case, the EU has fed the crocodile and called it diplomacy.
www.theindex.media/p/the-crocod...
www.theindex.media/p/the-crocod...
This is Trump's conundrum:
Once people become convinced that something is being hidden, evidence to the contrary simply confirms the concealment.
The logic becomes circular: any lack of evidence is the evidence.
www.theindex.media/p/jeffrey-ep...
Once people become convinced that something is being hidden, evidence to the contrary simply confirms the concealment.
The logic becomes circular: any lack of evidence is the evidence.
www.theindex.media/p/jeffrey-ep...
July 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
This is Trump's conundrum:
Once people become convinced that something is being hidden, evidence to the contrary simply confirms the concealment.
The logic becomes circular: any lack of evidence is the evidence.
www.theindex.media/p/jeffrey-ep...
Once people become convinced that something is being hidden, evidence to the contrary simply confirms the concealment.
The logic becomes circular: any lack of evidence is the evidence.
www.theindex.media/p/jeffrey-ep...
The problem isn’t just that Jubilee fails to change minds. It’s that it convinces people they are learning, when what they are actually doing is binge-watching ideologies collide.
www.theindex.media/p/jubilee-is...
www.theindex.media/p/jubilee-is...
July 22, 2025 at 4:19 AM
The problem isn’t just that Jubilee fails to change minds. It’s that it convinces people they are learning, when what they are actually doing is binge-watching ideologies collide.
www.theindex.media/p/jubilee-is...
www.theindex.media/p/jubilee-is...
The Jacobins began by purging monarchists. Then they purged Girondins. Then they purged their own. Robespierre, the architect of the Terror, died by the same guillotine he praised. Because once you've built a political project on the righteousness of purity, you're next.
Purity Tests Scale Badly
On the Fragility of Ideological Coalitions
www.theindex.media
July 17, 2025 at 3:19 AM
The Jacobins began by purging monarchists. Then they purged Girondins. Then they purged their own. Robespierre, the architect of the Terror, died by the same guillotine he praised. Because once you've built a political project on the righteousness of purity, you're next.
There is a reason liberty requires courage. Because it forces you to inhabit a world in which you are not always in control. Where your deepest convictions can be mocked, your values criticized, your institutions doubted.
Some interpret this as a bug.
Some, as a feature.
The feature.
Some interpret this as a bug.
Some, as a feature.
The feature.
Liberty Is the Right to Be Wrong
The Index: Members Only
www.theindex.media
July 16, 2025 at 10:35 AM
There is a reason liberty requires courage. Because it forces you to inhabit a world in which you are not always in control. Where your deepest convictions can be mocked, your values criticized, your institutions doubted.
Some interpret this as a bug.
Some, as a feature.
The feature.
Some interpret this as a bug.
Some, as a feature.
The feature.
The loudest critics of liberal democracy are often the safest inside it: they have strong passports, secure accounts, and protected dissent.
That’s how we get TikToks praising Stalin, monarchy-core YouTubers, and fascist subreddits thirsting for uniforms and vibes.
That’s how we get TikToks praising Stalin, monarchy-core YouTubers, and fascist subreddits thirsting for uniforms and vibes.
Nobody Has More Contempt for Liberal Democracy Than People Who've Never Lived Without It
The Luxury of Disdain
www.theindex.media
July 16, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The loudest critics of liberal democracy are often the safest inside it: they have strong passports, secure accounts, and protected dissent.
That’s how we get TikToks praising Stalin, monarchy-core YouTubers, and fascist subreddits thirsting for uniforms and vibes.
That’s how we get TikToks praising Stalin, monarchy-core YouTubers, and fascist subreddits thirsting for uniforms and vibes.