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Chapter 5: The Axe that Never Was

By Rusty Guinn | 17 Comments

Our brains evolved to tell stories before they evolved to speak.

This has fundamental implications for our susceptibility to communication in the networked age.

Why Am I Reading This Now? 12.23.24

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.



Why Am I Reading This Now? 12.16.24

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.



Why Am I Reading This Now? 12.09.24

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.



Why Am I Reading This Now? 12.02.24

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.



Why Am I Reading This Now? 11.25.24

Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrativ‌e campaign.



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

Sauron Remains Undefeated

By Ben Hunt | August 9, 2021

Here’s my take on this weekend’s Senate wrangling over the infrastructure bill, and the implications for crypto.

The US Treasury is the Eye of Sauron — a gigantic panopticon tower that sweeps the world with its unblinking gaze, seeking out the owners of power, i.e. money.

And Sauron remains undefeated.

Nudging State, Noble Lies

By Ben Hunt | August 4, 2021

In the world of Nudge, everyone is an ad man, and the government is just the biggest, baddest ad man of them all.

Enemies Real and Imagined

By Rusty Guinn | July 21, 2021

I think there’s a non-zero chance that the delta-variant becomes something that markets really are focused on. Maybe that happens months from now. Maybe days.

But until that happens, the delta-variant narrative explaining markets is a wall of worry, an artificially easy hurdle to climb for a market that only really cares about a dovish Fed sticking to its transitory inflation story.

Welcome to Metaworld

By Rusty Guinn | July 16, 2021

The language of practically every topic of any social importance is now defined by people discussing how other people are discussing it. It’s true for the environment, race, politics and now – violent crime.

Welcome to Metaworld.

I’m So Tired of the Transitory Inflation “Debate”

By Ben Hunt | July 1, 2021

When a famous person shakes his or her finger at you, they’re not telling you a fact.

They’re telling you how to think about a fact.

Proof of Plant: A New Vision for Crypto, Pt 1

By Ben Hunt | June 23, 2021

I want to change the language of crypto from mining to growing. I do not mean this in a metaphorical sense. I mean a proof-of-plant method for literally growing cryptocurrency tokens as a representation of the value stored in the human cultivation of plants.

A Working Narrative

By Rusty Guinn | June 7, 2021

The future of remote work after the pandemic ends has been a part of the zeitgeist for more than a year.

Now it IS the zeitgeist. It is also a narrative battlefield being actively conflated with a half dozen other major social and policy topics.

ET Zeitgeist: Deadly Theatre

By Ben Hunt | June 4, 2021

What is Deadly Theatre?

It’s corporate logos for Pride Month. It’s speaking gigs for Deborah Birx. It’s the cover up for Leon Black.

#BITFD

ET Zeitgeist: Raccoons Never Sleep

By Ben Hunt | May 28, 2021

Lemonade (LMND) isn’t just an insurance company. No, no … they’re an AI Company! ™.

Plus Chamath is up to his old tricks.

I hate raccoons.

ET Zeitgeist: With Enemies Like This

By Ben Hunt | May 21, 2021

This has been a bad week for Bitcoin and Bitcoin! TM alike. There’s no getting around that.

But whenever Paul Krugman and the Wall Street Journal agree on something … I want to be on the other side of that trade!

ET Zeitgeist: Ransom Paid

By Ben Hunt | May 14, 2021

The Colonial Pipeline embarrassment will accelerate the US gov’t’s efforts to control and co-opt crypto.

Binance, Kraken, BitMEX … they’re all squarely in the wrathful gaze of the Eye of Sauron now.

Wage Inflation Isn’t Coming. It’s Already Here.

By Ben Hunt | May 12, 2021

Over the past four quarters, the United States has generated more wage inflation than at any point over the past 40 years.

This is not an anomaly. This is not a single quarter aberration. A wage-price inflation cycle is here.

I’m not predicting. I’m observing.

ET Zeitgeist: Now Hiring

By Ben Hunt | May 7, 2021

Our weekly digest on what we’re working on …

Including this article from the WSJ: Millions Are Unemployed. Why Can’t Companies Find Workers?

I dunno, if only there were some mechanism by which companies could entice people to work for them. Weird.

The Zeitgeist – April 30, 2021

By Ben Hunt | April 30, 2021

Here’s what we’re reading and working on this week at Epsilon Theory.

In Praise of Bitcoin

By Ben Hunt | April 28, 2021

What made Bitcoin special is nearly lost, and what remains is a false and constructed narrative that exists in service to Wall Street and Washington rather than in resistance.

The Bitcoin narrative must be renewed. And that will change everything.

Image of Wormwood, the father and slick car salesman from Matilda

Manheim Steamroller

By Rusty Guinn | April 26, 2021

When we talk about and plan for inflation in our businesses and portfolios, we are usually focused on direction and magnitude. We also usually abstract away from price volatility.

We shouldn’t.

The Zeitgeist – April 19, 2021

By Ben Hunt | April 19, 2021

Here’s what we’re reading and working on this week at Epsilon Theory.

Mailbag: ET Forum Edition

By Ben Hunt | April 16, 2021

We are now more than 900 Pack members strong on the ET Forum, with more than 1,000 posts contributed by smart, clear-eyed, full-hearted people from all over the world and all walks of life. Like you.

Here, I’ll show you. Here is some of the best and most thoughtful content on the internet today.

Here is the Mailbag that we need.

Here is the Mailbag that we deserve.

What Do We Need To Be True?

By Rusty Guinn | April 6, 2021

Modeling common knowledge by analyzing Missionary statements and their reverberations works. Except when it doesn’t.

A Tiger Can’t Change Its Stripes

By Ben Hunt | March 30, 2021

What do you get when you give a Raccoon billions of dollars AND invisibility from regulators? Collusion and insider trading.