CULTURE
The pattern is becoming impossible to ignore. When governments face protests, their first instinct is to cut communication channels. Ban social media. Shut down the internet. Control the narrative by controlling the pipes. But protesters are adapting faster than authoritarian playbooks can keep up.
CULTURE
September 1-5, 2025 The open source AI ecosystem had a busy week. Chutes dropped their chat app in beta, Templar smashed distributed training records, Switzerland launched a national AI model, and Trump hosted Big Tech CEOs for dinner while Elon Musk was notably absent. Here's what you need to know.
BLOCKCHAIN
Technology should be judged by its capabilities and legitimate uses, not by its worst-case applications. We don't ban cars because bank robbers use getaway vehicles. We don't criminalize mathematics because cryptography can hide criminal communications.
OPEN-SOURCE
PewDiePie, the Swedish creator who built YouTube's biggest individual following by screaming at video games, just delivered one of the most impactful privacy tutorials of 2025. And he did it while wearing a tinfoil hat.
AI
An investigation into the Trump administration's partnership with Peter Thiel's Palantir to create unprecedented surveillance infrastructure and how decentralized AI could be our last defense against digital authoritarianism
CULTURE
Ross Ulbricht walked out of prison after 11 years with nothing but the clothes on his back. Within months, he'd become a Bitcoin millionaire again not from government compensation, but from the crypto community rallying around him like he was their prodigal son returning home.