Every so often, things fall apart.
In the words of those who lived it, here are the vibes and the semantic signatures of the twentieth century’s most devastating social collapses.
From the meaning in their words, wisdom for our future emerges.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
Recent major media stories that feel to us like they’re part of a larger narrative campaign.
This is an exclusive subscriber-only preview of the first six chapters of Rusty Guinn’s upcoming book Outsourcing Consciousness: How Social Networks are Making Us Lose Our Minds. The book explores how evolution, polarization, and technology are slowly transforming humanity into a hive mind - and what we can and can't do about it.
The Long Now is everything we pull into the present from our future selves and our children. We are told that the economic stimulus and the political fear of the Long Now are costless, when in fact they cost us … everything.
Tick-tock.
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.
Men of God in the City of Man
Amid the Widening Gyre of politics and the black hole of financial markets, the only anchor is us, together, walking with Clear Eyes and Full Hearts. Experience Ben's original 4-part series.
Outsourcing Consciousness
The Long Now
Men of God in a City of Man
Things Fall Apart
Recent Notes
Fear and Loathing on the Marketing Trail, 2014
I shared a dark suspicion that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actors, kidding ourselves along on a…
Watching the Narratives
You think you’re alone until you realize you’re in it. Now fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit. – Elvis Costello,…
Stalking Horse
[Jeremiah and Bear Claw hunt elk] Jeremiah: Wind’s right, but he’ll just run soon as we step out of these trees. Bear Claw: Trick to…
The Red King
“He’s dreaming now,” said Tweedledee, “and what do you think he’s dreaming about?” Alice said, “Nobody can guess that.” “Why, about you!” Tweedledee exclaimed, clapping…
The Donkey of Guizhou
There were no donkeys in Guizhou until an eccentric took one there by boat; but finding no use for it he set it loose in…
The Dude Abides: China in the Golden Age of Central Bankers
Today, however, the Chinese State faces two existential threats, each stemming from or accelerated by the Great Recession and Western policy responses to that crisis of market confidence.
First, QE and other “emergency” Western monetary policies of the past five years threaten the grand political unification of Deng Xiaoping from without.
Second, massive wealth inequality and concentration driven largely by those same monetary policies threaten it from within.
Long Term Parking
And I don’t want to hear about the freaking economy, either! Sil, break it down for ’em. What two businesses have traditionally been recession-proof since time immemorial?
Certain aspects of show business … and our thing.
Risk Analysis in the Golden Age of Central Bankers
When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was an only child … eventually. – Steven…
The Minsky Moment Meme
That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works. – Esurance “Beatrice” commercial There’s a wonderful commercial in heavy rotation on American television,…
When Does the Story Break?
Margaret Bourke-White took this photo of the Garment District in 1930. Every single person on the street is wearing a hat. How did THAT behavior change over time? How did the Common Knowledge that All Men Wear Hats change?
Answer: the Common Knowledge Game.
Equity Volatility-of-Volatility Falls to All-Time Low
1M implied volatility on the VIX fell to an all-time low last week. Generally speaking, this means that options on short-term market volatility increasing have…
All that Glitters
I’ve received a lot of questions over the past few weeks about Russia and the Ukraine, and why I don’t include this flashpoint in my…
The Risk Trilogy
A trilogy is a pretty abstract notion. You can apply it to almost any three things. – Jonathan Demme Mozart: So then you like it?…
Core Curriculum
I distributed this Epsilon Theory reading list last summer, but it never made it to the website. Given the volume of requests I receive for…
The Business of Epsilon Theory
I started the Epsilon Theory project nine months ago with the publication of a “Manifesto” and an email to a few hundred friends and colleagues.…
The Adaptive Genius of Rigged Markets
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was – Talking Heads, “Once in…
Beta Earthquake
One of the things I like to keep my eye on when I’m puzzling out what’s going on in the market are the specific company…
The King is Dead. Long Live the King.
Le roi est mort, vive le roi! – French proclamation as coffin of old king is placed into burial vault of Saint Denis Basilica. The…
Hollow Men, Hollow Markets, Hollow World
Apocalypse Now (1979), based on “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command? Willard:…
Two Shifting Narratives
Two brief observations on incipient shifts in powerful Narratives … First, China. The pleasant charade that recent currency intervention was nothing more than an effort…