Nicholas Thompson
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nxthompson.bsky.social
Nicholas Thompson
@nxthompson.bsky.social
CEO of The Atlantic. Author of the national best-seller “The Running Ground: A Father, A Son, and the Simplest of Sports.”
A.I. companies shouldn't just share revenue with publishers because it would be the right thing to do.

They should do it because it would be good business.

Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.
November 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
“Hegseth’s tenure so far has featured a series of appalling security lapses and janky public performances that call into question not only his character but his emotional stability” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
x.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:10 AM
What Trump is doing with the DOJ is horrifying. But his recent failures to prosecute his enemies have uncovered something encouraging: the judicial system is working. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 25, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
“There are a lot of reasons I run,” @nxthompson.bsky.social writes. “I like to remember that I’m still alive, and that I survived my cancer. But really I run because of my father.” Running “reminds me of my father, and gives me a way to avoid becoming my father.”
Why I Run
I took up the sport to be like my father. I kept going because he stopped.
bit.ly
November 22, 2025 at 6:15 AM
"In the decade since he became the singular influence on American politics, he has completely and thoroughly dispensed with concepts of shame, of decency, of equality.”
The brilliant Sophie Gilbert on how Trump has normalized open contempt for women: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
November 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Is A.I. making the world less equal? Navrina Singh says the gap between A.I. haves and have-nots is widening, which could lead to devastating outcomes if we don't act soon.

Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.
November 24, 2025 at 12:03 AM
"My son knows that I am a writer and that I write about our planet. Since I’ve been sick, I remind him a lot, so that he will know that I was not just a sick person."

Tatiana Schlossberg's heartbreaking essay about a terminal diagnosis at 34. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:54 PM
This is deeply concerning: After decades of steady progress, math scores are back to where they were in the 1970s. How did this happen?

One theory: Smart phones have shredded students’ attention spans and AI has made them complacent. Why learn math when they can just use AI instead? buff.ly/dGpxhjK
November 21, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
This is a really cool first: My book SEARCHES on Kirkus's list of the best nonfiction books of 2025, along with a book by one of my Book Project mentees: John J. Lennon's THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME! ✨ (& my old boss @nxthompson.bsky.social's THE RUNNING GROUND!) www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2025...
Best of 2025 | Kirkus Reviews
www.kirkusreviews.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Disorder in the White House. Epstein. The election losses. A slap back on tariffs. A slap back on the weird Comey prosecution. A setback on gerrymandering. Terrible polls. Infighting.

Trump ran a steamroller for the first eight months. But now it's broken. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
The Trump Steamroller Is Broken
Infighting. Bad polls. Party divisions. Midterm fears. It’s all back.
www.theatlantic.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
There are 300,000,000,000 pennies in circulation. They cost about three cents each to make. They're not used anymore. And the US government has no plan --- seriously --- on what to do with them all. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Pennies Are Trash Now
The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies.
www.theatlantic.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
BRENNAN: Do you regret your confirmation vote for Secretary Kennedy?

CASSIDY: You live life forward. Again, you just do. Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for the day.

BRENNAN: That sounds like yes
November 16, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
“There are a lot of reasons I run,” @nxthompson.bsky.social writes. “I like to remember that I’m still alive, and that I survived my cancer. But really I run because of my father.” Running “reminds me of my father, and gives me a way to avoid becoming my father.”
Why I Run
I took up the sport to be like my father. I kept going because he stopped.
bit.ly
November 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
"Are the Epstein files suddenly real? All we know is that Trump wants us to stop talking about the subject. That’s usually what you want when the subject includes evidence that you have behaved in a manner beyond reproach." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Wait, Are the Epstein Files Real Now?
The White House’s responses get curiouser and curiouser.
www.theatlantic.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Ignoring a man who fainted. Falling asleep at his desk. Having his party pummeled in an election. Approval numbers dropping. Epstein. Having the Senate Rs blow him off on the filibuster. Trump is now a lamer duck than ever. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Donald Trump Is a Lamer Duck Than Ever
Even though he doesn’t want you to think so
www.theatlantic.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
“The Running Ground” by @nxthompson.bsky.social is a remarkable achievement: a literary work about life, and death, through the lens of running. This is part review, part interview, part essay about my Dad, grief, and what we choose to live for runtangents.substack.com/p/the-runnin...
Running to live, with Nicholas Thompson
Thoughts on grief, determination, and "The Running Ground"
runtangents.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:05 AM
"Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think what it might be"

My favorite quote from Joyce Carol Oates.
November 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM
"America’s life-or-death challenge as a nation, whether it be in 1776 or 2026, is this: When there are so many forces dedicated to dividing us, how can we best hang together?" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Ideal That Underlies the Declaration of Independence
Restoring stability to American politics will require reviving an age-old concept: common ground.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:54 AM
"The affordability issue, which seemed to be a rocket exploding upwards 12 months ago, now looks more like a bomb to which the Republican Party finds itself tightly strapped” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Affordability Curse
Politics isn’t just about the words you put on your bumper stickers. It’s about what you do if the bumper stickers work.
www.theatlantic.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
Abby Spanberger will now be governor of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill governor of NJ. I wrote about both of them, and their friend group, last year
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Democrats’ Patriotic Vanguard
A small group of lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds prefigured Harris’s overtly patriotic campaign.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 AM
“When people say the A.I. reasons, they misunderstand. The A.I. does not reason. They reason.”

I had a fascinating chat with @leecronin.bsky.social about autonomous A.I. Listen: buff.ly/36MBR5O

Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.
November 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
"One thing that last night’s results seem to convey clearly is that many voters are unhappy with President Donald Trump." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
The Anti-MAGA Majority Reemerges
Democrats won up and down the ballot yesterday, riding a backlash to Donald Trump’s second term.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Thompson
I thought the name was familiar. Seems like he's exactly the same guys as he was in ninth grade.

"What began as a ninth-grade prank...has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus."

web.archive.org/web/20080107...
November 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
"'The robots are people too,'" he told me. 🧐🧐

Common Crawl, a nonprofit---funded in part by AI companies--- that runs a giant database, has been sending paywalled articles to AI companies. And they've been lying to publishers about it. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
The Nonprofit Doing the AI Industry’s Dirty Work
The web archive Common Crawl has been quietly funneling paywalled articles to AI companies—and lying to publishers about it.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:18 PM