The anonymous person behind “Applied Divinity Studies”: Peter Thiel and the Antichrist. A brief defense of Peter Thiel including zingers like “Since technology can progress, it may eventually become powerful enough to kill everyone. But a force capable of regulating this technology would be at least as powerful, and stagnation comes with its own dangers”. What dangers, the essay doesn’t say. I suspect the biggest one is to Mr. Thiel’s pocketbook.
Ernie Smith: The Sky Is Falling, The Web Is Dead. A deep dive into one analyst’s history of making false claims. Motivated reasoning is a powerful force, particularly when the motive is money.
Daniel Kolitz for Harper’s Magazine: The Goon Squad. A scary story about a particular corner of the Internet. Warning: there are some graphic depictions of despair that may be distressing for people who have children and now have to worry about protecting them from the bottomless pits of porn. Make no mistake that this, too, is fueled by greed.