College Sports: How It Was Broken By a $60 Video Game

Part 1 of 3: The Problem — Ed O'Bannon's discovery triggered a legal revolution that shattered the facade that had masked college sports' central…

Dec 5 • 

Matt Haggman

6

2

November 2025

The Open Thread — AI Safety Just Crossed a Line

An AI threat no longer theoretical, your input at the three-month mark, and a preview of our next series: college sports going fully professional.

Nov 20 • 

Matt Haggman

6

1

Congress: Making Democracy Competitive Again

Part 3 of 3: How three structural reforms could break the duopoly, restore real competition, and make the People's House accountable again.

Nov 17 • 

Matt Haggman

4

1

Congress: How We Got Stuck

Part 2 of 3. How the vast majority of races for the U.S. House became uncompetitive through gerrymandering, a supine Supreme Court, geographic sorting…

Nov 7 • 

Matt Haggman

5

2

October 2025

Congress: The Vanishing Competition

Part 1 of 3. The U.S. House was designed as the 'People's House'—the most direct expression of democracy. Now fewer than 10% of its races are actually…

Oct 31 • 

Matt Haggman

6

2

The Open Thread: Rare Earths Partnership, AI Safety Discord, and Our Next Deep Dive

Updates on rare earths and AI safety, plus a look ahead at why most races for the U.S. House — the "People's House" — have stopped being competitive.

Oct 24 • 

Matt Haggman

5

1

1

AI: The New Nuclear Moment

Part III. Finding Solutions — Making restraint possible in the U.S. and China's breakneck AI race.

Oct 16 • 

Matt Haggman

5

1

AI: The Prisoner's Dilemma

Part II. The Forces at Play — An arms race between companies and nations is overwhelming questions of safety, consequence, and control.

Oct 10 • 

Matt Haggman

4

1

AI: The Race and the Reckoning

Part I: The Problem and Why It Matters — Billions are flooding into AI. Its creators warn we're "playing with fire"—and AI safety is being left behind.

Oct 2 • 

Matt Haggman

8

4

4

September 2025

The Open Thread: Launching Audio, Reflections and Our Next Deep Dive

Part IV: A new feature, wrapping up our rare earth series and turning to our next topic: AI Safety.

Sep 25 • 

Matt Haggman

6

13:50

Rare Earths: The Race to Reinvent

Part III: In search of solutions to China's rare earth dominance

Sep 18 • 

Matt Haggman

7

2

Rare Earths: The Middle Kingdom's Monopoly

Part II: How China won the race for one of the 21st century’s most strategic resources — but at great cost. And why the U.S. let it happen.

Sep 11 • 

Matt Haggman

8

1