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I, Nazgûl

By Rusty Guinn | 10 Comments

Being clear-eyed and full-hearted doesn’t mean being passive, weak, or silent.

It means resisting every effort to supplant our autonomy of mind with symbols of identity, no matter the source.

Apocalypse Always

By Rusty Guinn | 10 Comments

Extreme language during election season isn’t anything new.

But this time it really is different. Our response must be different, too.

Donald Trump and the Common Knowledge Game

By Ben Hunt | 34 Comments

The question is not whether Trump will accept the election result if he loses. He won’t.

The question is whether a Missionary with actual power will join him.

Virtue Signaling, or … Why Clinton is in Trouble

By Ben Hunt | 19 Comments

Don’t get me wrong. I’m thoroughly despondent about the calcification, mendacity, and venal corruption that I think four years of Clinton™ will impose. Trump, on the other hand … I think he breaks us. Maybe he already has. He breaks us because he transforms every game we play as a country — from our domestic social games to our international security games — from a Coordination Game to a Competition Game.

Men of God in the City of Man is a nine part series about a narrative virus that infected the charismatic and Pentecostal churches in the United States. It isn't a story about Christian Nationalism. It isn't a story about January 6th. It isn't a story about why people voted for Trump. It is a story about a story. It is a story about the language that created a self-sustaining movement defined by its unwavering belief in a fundamentally corrupt electoral system.

Recent Notes

Optical Illusion / Optical Truth

By Ben Hunt

Portion of original dot map by Dr. John Snow, the founding father of epidemiology, showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of…

The Placebo Effect

By Ben Hunt

BOTOX® is the only FDA-approved, preventive treatment that is injected by a doctor every 12 weeks for adults with Chronic Migraine (15 or more headache…

My Passion is Puppetry

By Ben Hunt

Campaign Company Launch Date “Flo” Progressive Insurance 2008 “Rhetorical Question” “Happier Than A … ” “Did You Know?” “It’s What You Do” GEICO 2009 2012…

There for the Right Reasons

By Ben Hunt

A quick follow-up to “Hobson’s Choice”, the most widely-read note in the Epsilon Theory canon to date (thank you!). First, I’ll be hosting a one…

Hobson’s Choice

By Ben Hunt

I’d like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce, and a cup of coffee. Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules.

The Narrative Fix Is In

By Ben Hunt

A quick email to Epsilon Theory readers on what’s happening in Europe, because we’ve seen this movie before. On August 2, 2012 Mario Draghi gave…

Welcome to the Jungle

By Ben Hunt

Zero-sum, Elliot. You’re playing a game you already lost. You know I’m right. – “Mr. Robot” (2015) You can have anything you want  But you…

The Silver Age of the Central Banker

By Ben Hunt

We all sing along But the notes are wrong – Matt & Kim, “Get It” (2015) The strong do what they will, and the weak…

Snikt

By Ben Hunt

As longtime Epsilon Theory readers know, I’m a big comic book fan. One of the joys of a comic done well is the effective representation…

Rewardless Risk

By Ben Hunt

Faramir: Then farewell! But if I should return, think better of me. Denethor: That depends on the manner of your return. – J.R.R. Tolkien “The…

You Can Either Surf, or You Can Fight

By Ben Hunt

Kilgore: Smell that? You smell that? Lance: What? Kilgore: Napalm, son.  Nothing else in the world smells like that. – Apocalypse Now (1979) Hello, hello, hello,…

The China Narrative That Really Matters

By Ben Hunt

I’m a China bull, let’s get that out of the way first. But like anything connected with the global industrial and commodity complex today, from…

Epsilon Theory State of the Union

By Ben Hunt

For the last six months I’ve been trying to figure out how to incorporate reader correspondence into Epsilon Theory. We’ve reached a point of both…

Storm Warning

By Ben Hunt

Unfortunately for mariners, the total amount of wave energy in a storm does not rise linearly with wind speed, but to its fourth power. The…

I Know It Was You, Fredo

By Ben Hunt

Sen. Geary: Hey, Freddie, where did you find this place? Fredo Corleone: Johnny Ola told me about this place. He brought me here. I didn’t…

Two Discoveries

By Ben Hunt

The world made two discoveries last week. Everyone is aware of the first discovery – that ISIS is not “a junior varsity team” but an…

The Andromeda Strain

By Ben Hunt

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case,…

Funny How?

By Ben Hunt

Henry Hill: You’re a pistol, you’re really funny. You’re really funny. Tommy DeVito: What do you mean I’m funny? Henry Hill: It’s funny, you know.…

Rounders

By Ben Hunt

Mike McDermott: In “Confessions of a Winning Poker Player,” Jack King said, “Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but…

One MILLION Dollars

By Ben Hunt

Dr. Evil: Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that a breakaway Russian Republic called Kreplachistan will be transferring a nuclear warhead to the United…