Keen On

Not everyone sees Trump or Musk as an existential threat to the American federal bureaucracy. In the March cover story of Harper’s, their Washington DC editor Andrew Cockburn argues that this latest war against the American state is “futile”. He expresses skepticism that DOGE’s efforts to dismantle the Federal will succeed, suggesting courts will likely block them as they did during Trump's first term. He predicts Musk's influence will diminish and that Trump will eventually sideline him. Cockburn also underlines the "contractor state" where much government work is already privatized, making structural change difficult. He criticizes Democrats for lacking energy and ideas, and suggests they need to disconnect from corporate interests and address issues like housing affordability and insurance costs to reconnect with voters.Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Andrew Cockburn:* Cockburn believes Trump's attempts to dismantle the federal bureaucracy will likely fail, as the courts and bur

Given the shameful American sacrifice of Ukraine, there will be few timelier movies than Anna Kryvenko’s upcoming “This House is Undamaged”,. It will be an Orwellian documentary examining the Russian destruction of Mariupol, the Ukrainian city devastated by Putin’s invasion in 2022. She explains how Russian authorities are rapidly rebuilding and selling properties there while erasing Ukrainian history and creating the big lie of Mariupol as a historically Russian city. Kryvenko, originally from Kyiv, also discusses the parallels between Putin's and Trump's lies about Ukraine, summarizing their fundamental misrepresentation of the truth as a "carnival of hypocrisy."Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Kryvenko:* The Russians are engaged in a systematic erasure of Mariupol's Ukrainian identity, not just through physical reconstruction but through an aggressive propaganda campaign that claims the city was "always Russian." This reconstruction effort began shortly after the city's destru

Lots of healthy disagreement in this week’s THAT WAS THE WEEK tech show with Keith Teare. We debate the impact of AI on coding jobs, with Keith suggesting that while traditional coding skills may become less important, system architecture and AI guidance skills will be crucial to maintaining the value of human labor. We also discuss the rise of early-stage unicorns, military-tech AI start-ups, and disagree strongly on the status of billionaires, with Keith arguing that it’s “not hard” to be a billionaire in Silicon Valley today. Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from today’s conversation:* Divergent Market and Valley Sentiment: While the stock market is having its worst performance since Trump's inauguration, Silicon Valley remains optimistic, particularly about AI. Keith argues there's no short-term correlation between Silicon Valley sentiment and market performance.* Evolution of Tech Skills: The rise of AI is changing the nature of technical skills needed in startups. Keith suggests that traditional codi

Why is reforming capitalism so essential? In the latest issue of Liberties Quarterly, Tim Wu argues that unregulated capitalism not only leads to economic monopolies, but also drives populist anger and authoritarian politics. In “The Real Road to Serfdom”, Wu advocates for "decentralized capitalism" with distributed economic power, citing examples from Scandinavia and East Asia. Drawing from his experience in the Biden administration's antitrust efforts, he emphasizes the importance of preventing industry concentration. Wu expresses concern about big tech's growing political influence and argues that challenging monopolies is critical for fostering innovation and maintaining economic progress in the United States.Here are the 5 KEEN ON AMERICA takeaways from our interview with Tim Wu:* Historical Parallels: Wu sees concerning parallels between our current era and the 1930s, characterized by concentrated economic power, fragile economic conditions, and the rise of populist leaders. He suggests we're in a perio

How historic are Trump 2.0’s first few weeks? For the veteran correspondent, Nick Bryant, the longtime BBC man in Washington DC, what the Trump regime has done in the first few weeks of his second administration is as historic as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It’s the end of the America we haver known for the last seventy years, he says. Bryant describes Trump's rapprochement with Russia as Neville Chamberlain style appeasement and notes the dramatic shifts in U.S. foreign policy, particularly regarding Ukraine and European allies. He sees Trump's actions as revealing rather than changing America's true nature. Bryant also discusses the failures of the Dems, the role of Elon Musk in the administration, and structural changes to federal institutions. Despite all the upheaval, Bryant suggests this isn't so much "goodbye to America" as a revelation of the cynically isolationist forces that were always present in American society.Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Nick Bryant:*

Few books are timelier than Ian Goldin’s new The Shortest History of Migration. Drawing from his personal history as a South African emigrant and his experience working with Nelson Mandela, the Oxford based Goldin explores the when, why and how humans move - from the prehistoric peopling of the planet to today and tomorrow’s migrants. He addresses current political tensions, including J.D. Vance's recent criticisms of European migration policies and Elon Musk's controversial stance on immigration. Goldin argues that migration has been fundamental to human progress and economic growth, while acknowledging that there are legitimate questions about unregulated immigration policy. Here are the five KEEN ON take-aways from our conversation with Goldin* Migration patterns have remained remarkably consistent (about 3% of global population) over the past century, though absolute numbers have increased with population growth. However, what has changed dramatically is the creation of formal borders, passport controls,

No, social media might no longer be the greatest danger to our children’s well-being. According to the writer and digital activist Gaia Bernstein, the most existential new new threat are AI companions. Bernstein, who is organizing a symposium today on AI companions as the “new frontier of kid’s screen addiction”, warns that this new technology, while marketed as solutions to loneliness, may actually worsen social isolation by providing artificially perfect relationships that make real-world interactions seem more difficult. Bernstein raises concerns about data collection, privacy, and the anthropomorphization of AI that makes children particularly vulnerable. She advocates for regulation, especially protecting children, and notes that while major tech companies like Google and Facebook are cautious about directly entering this space, smaller companies are aggressively developing AI companions designed to hook our kids. Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways in our conversation with Bernstein:* AI companions represe

Have our private lives become inevitably political in today’s age of social media? Ray Brescia certainly thinks so. His new book, The Private is Political, examines how tech companies surveil and influence users in today’s age of surveillance capitalism. Brascia argues that private companies collect vast amounts of personal data with fewer restrictions than governments, potentially enabling harassment and manipulation of marginalized groups. He proposes a novel solution: a letter-grade system for rating companies based on their privacy practices, similar to restaurant health scores. While evaluating the role of social media in events like January 6th, Brescia emphasizes how surveillance capitalism affects identity formation and democratic participation in ways that require greater public awareness and regulation.Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from the conversation with Ray Brescia:* Brescia argues that surveillance capitalism is now essentially unavoidable - even people who try to stay "off the grid" are li

The zealously anti-regulatory Trump is back and anti-corruption activist Frank Vogl is very worried. Vogl warns that MAGA’s increasingly deregulated America financial landscape could make the 2008 crash look like a minor bump in the economic road. With Trump putting the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on "pause" and DOGE kingpin Elon Musk openly dreaming of turning X into a bank, we're watching traditional financial regulation shrivel to the minimal levels of Calvin Coolidge’s 1920’s. Meanwhile, Melania is launching crypto tokens, Putin's kleptocracy has been legitimized by the Ukraine “peace” negotiations, and the increasingly unaccountable banks are begging to gamble with our money again. What could possibly go wrong? Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from this conversation with Frank Vogl:* Financial Deregulation Concerns - Frank Vogl warns that Trump's administration is actively dismantling financial regulations, including pausing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and weakening the Consumer Financial Prot

So what to J.D. Vance's highly controversial speech at the Paris AI Summit this week? According to That Was The Week’s Keith Teare, it was “a breath of fresh air”. Others will argue it was just more MAGA putridity designed to alienate our European friends. Some tech notables, like Union Square Ventures partner Albert Wenger, take both views simultaneously, acknowledging on the one hand that Vance was correct to push back against “regulatory capture”, but on the other that Vance was “mistaking jingoism and wishful thinking for true global leadership”. Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from this weekly tech round-up with Teare:* J.D. Vance's Paris AI Summit speech marked a potential turning point in US-Europe AI relations. His message prioritizing AI opportunity over safety prompted European regulators to pull back on some restrictions, with the EU dropping its AI liability directive and the UK rebranding its AI Safety Institute.* Anthropic's growth is accelerating, with projections of $34.5 billion in revenue

“Expect More Bulldozings”, the Princeton historian Matthew Karp predicts in this month’s Harpers magazine about MAGA America. In his analysis of the Democrats' loss to Trump, Karp argues that the supposedly progressive party has become disconnected from working-class voters partially because it represents what he calls "the nerve center of American capitalism." He suggests that for all Democrats’ strong cultural liberalism and institutional power, the party has failed to deliver meaningful economic reforms. The party's leadership, particularly Kamala Harris, he says, appeared out of touch with reality in the last election, celebrating the economic and poltical status quo in an America where the voters clearly wanted structural change. Karp advocates for a new left-wing populism that combines innovative economic programs with nationalism, similar to successful left-wing leaders like Obrador in Mexico and Lulu in Brazil and American indepedents like the Nebraskan Dan Osborne. Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways in

What can a mother say to the cold-blooded executioner of her son? In American Mother, the heartrending story of the murdered American journalist Jim Foley, the writer Colum McCann and Diane Foley, Foley’s mother and founder of the Foley Foundation, explore this terrible dilemma. This memorable conversation with Foley and McCann explores forgiveness, faith, and the moral complexities of justice. Most of all, though, it’s the conversation about a mother’s remarkable love for her dead son which she maintains and even redirects to his ISIS killer.Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with McCann and Foley:* The Power of Forgiveness: Diane Foley's ability to forgive Alexander Kotey, one of her son Jim's killers, demonstrates extraordinary grace. Her Christian faith played a crucial role in this process, though forgiveness wasn't easy or natural - it was a conscious choice that led to meaningful human connection even in the most difficult circumstances.* Policy Impact Through Tragedy: Jim Foley

If there’s anyone who knows the value of a pardon, it’s Jeffrey Toobin, the publicly shamed and now rehabilitated CNN legal analyst. In his latest book, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, Toobin examines the history and evolution of presidential pardons, focusing particularly on Gerald Ford's controversial pardon of Richard Nixon. Toobin argues that while historical opinion has shifted to favor Ford's decision, he believes the pardon was wrong as it prevented Nixon’s accountability for Watergate related crimes. He also criticizes recent pardon controversies, including Trump's pardons of January 6th rioters and Biden's pardon of his son Hunter. Toobin expresses concern that Trump's use of pardons reflects an authoritarian approach to power, favoring political allies over the rule of law.Here are the 5 KEEN ON Takeaways from this conversation with Jeffrey Toobin:* Presidential Pardon Power is Unique: Toobin emphasizes that the pardon power is anomalous in the American system because it has no check

The acclaimed American writer Walter Mosley has a new King Oliver book out: Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right, a novel that follows Oliver's search for both a missing woman and his estranged father who was released from prison nine years ago. But before getting to his latest mystery, I couldn’t resist asking Mosley to compare his most famous fictional character, Easy Rawlins, with King Oliver. Mosley explains how Oliver, a contemporary detective in New York, faces different, perhaps less racialized challenges than Rawlins did in 1940s Los Angeles. We then moved onto to Mosley’s observations about crime and punishment in white and black America as well as the importance of jazz music in his writing.Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from this conversation with Walter Mosley:* The difference between his two detective characters reflects changing times in America: Easy Rawlins operates in a strictly black-and-white 1940s Los Angeles where his race defines everything, while Joe King Oliver works in contempo

According to the Scottish economist Sir John Kay, author of The Corporation in the 21st Century, the Magnificent Seven tech companies that supposedly control the global economy aren’t quite as magnificent as we are led to believe. These corporations aren’t even really capitalist, he says, noting that companies like Amazon and Apple own surprisingly few physical assets and thus should be considered providers of “capital as a service”. Kay claims that today's big tech companies probably won’t maintain their dominance, citing historical examples like Cisco and U.S. Steel. He criticizes the contemporary corporate focus on individual leadership, deal-making and shareholder value, advocating instead for businesses built on trust and collective capabilities. And Kay expresses a deep skepticism about both Donald Trump's tariff policies and Elon Musk's recent involvement in government reform, suggesting that Musk’s success might have even undermined his sanity. Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from this conversation w

So what’s it like co-authoring a book with Reid Hoffman, the multi-billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn and amongst Silicon Valley’s most prominent Democrats? According to Greg Beato, who just co-wrote Superagency with Hoffman, it certainly beats co-authoring anything with an AI algorithm. Not that Beato has anything against artificial intelligence. The doomers and the gloomers have it all wrong, he reassures. There will be nothing Orwellian about today’s AI revolution, Beato says. Rather than 1984, he promises, our automatic future will be enriched by AI platforms like Pol.is and Remesh. I hope he’s right.Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Beato:* The concept of "super agency" differs from typical AI agents - Beato clarifies that rather than referring to autonomous AI agents, super agency describes what happens when millions of people gain access to new tools that enhance their human capabilities. The benefits compound as more people use these tools, similar to how the widespread adopt

It’s been quite a few days in Silicon Valley. "There are decades where nothing happens,” Lenin famously observed, “and there are weeks where decades happen”. As Andrew and Keith Teare reflect in their regular THAT WAS THE WEEK tech roundup, this was the week that Silicon Valley went from Woke to DOGE. It was the week that our Do No Evil friends @ Google slammed the door on diversity and embraced AI weapons technology. It was the week that Andreessen-Horowitz hired an ex-marine who choked to death a fellow passenger on the New York metro. And, of course, it was the week that Silicon Valley, in the form of DOGE, began the Palo-Altification of Washington DC. So, America, welcome to Silicon Valley. It’s going to be one hell of a disruption.Here are the 5 KEEN ON Takeaways from Andrew and Keith’s conversation:* They discussed Keith's metaphor of society as a layered cake, with economics as the foundation, politics in the middle, and society on top. While Keith argued that economics drives human experience, Andre

Wow. According to the journalist and historian Eoin Higgins, right wing tech billionaires like Marc Andreessen, David Sacks and Peter Thiel have “bought” prominent anti establishment journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi. That’s the highly provocative thesis at the heart of his new book Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. While I’m no great fan of the Greenwald/Taibbi school of paranoid anti-establishment journalism, I’m not totally convinced. After all, does working for an online publication partially funded by Thiel like Rumble really mean that you’ve been bought by him? But WTF do I know? Listen to Higgins for yourself. He certainly makes an interesting case for this highly controversial thesis.Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways for our conversation withHiggins:* Tech Billionaire Influence on Media: The conversation centers on how right-wing tech billionaires like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Marc Andreessen have invested in and influenced alternative me

Internet scholar and activist Ethan Zuckerman is horrified by the American ban on TikTok. As a self-described “progressive” with a long and distinguished career advocating for internet freedom, Zuckerman expresses alarm at how the U.S. has moved from defending unfettered access to information in the 1960s to now being willing to ban popular Chinese platforms like TikTok and perhaps even DeepSeek. He suggests the ban stems from the anti-China hysteria and exaggerated fears about social media's impact on young people fueled by paranoid critics like Jonathan Haidt. If this trend toward online censorship continues, Zuckerman warns, America will become indistinguishable from other authoritarian states in its disdain for digital freedom. Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from the interview with Zuckerman:* The TikTok ban represents a dramatic shift in American values - Zuckerman points out that the US has moved from defending unfettered access to information (even Communist propaganda) in 1965 to now being willing t

Trust a gay Jewish atheist to defend the value of American Christianity. In his new book Cross-Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy, the Brookings scholar and gay marriage activist Jonathan Rauch argues that Christianity plays a vital role in sustaining American democracy. He points to the Mormon Church (LDS) as a model for balancing religious beliefs with democratic pluralism, contrasting their approach with white evangelical churches that have become increasingly intolerant of democracy. Rauch suggests that Christianity's core teachings of fearlessness, egalitarianism, and forgiveness align more with James Madison's democratic vision than with MAGA politics, and argues that secular liberals should work to make civic spaces more welcoming to people of faith.Here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Rauch:* As a gay Jewish atheist, Rauch makes the counterintuitive argument that Christianity is essential for American democracy, suggesting that as religious participation decl