The Second Star to the Right
On Ireland's homing condition, and the children who will not forgive us
But This Time It's Different
But This Time It’s Different is a publication on markets, technology, geopolitics, and institutions, with a focus on how complex systems are structured and where standard explanations break down.
Subscribe:.rss.atom.json.md.m3u.pls
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest episodes
Scribblings
Light touched my hands in a dream of golden skans
Am I A Spy? And Other Conspiracies
Why we look for conspiracies that aren't there, while we miss the ones that are.
Eight Ways a Railway Dies
How Ireland's railway upgrade will likely die a long, slow death.
Ireland's Delivery Inability
Why Ireland fails to deliver its reforms, and pretty much everything else.
On Irish Sovereignty
A discussion of the Irish Triple Lock, power, and the freedom to choose
Neutrality, and the Things We Tell Ourselves
On Ireland's definition of defense neutrality, and what that means about the story we tell about ourselves
Kaleidoscopes
How the Irish state defends itself against being fixed.
Why SpaceX Didn't Create a Space Economy
Even if it is a seriously amazing technology company
I is for Immigration
How Ireland's lack of immigration strategy has produced cruelty in every direction
Ireland's Failure Premium
How public money becomes private wealth when the state builds nothing
Culture is Infrastructure
Why the Intelligence Age Has No Institutional Answer to Creative Economies
Mind the Gap
Ireland is the second richest country in Europe, and this week a single protest shut it down. Here's why.
Further from Earth
On Artemis II and the meaninglessness of the space industry
Elon Musk: First Principles, Last Resort
Why the "first-principles" management style rarely works outside of building rockets
Trickle-Down Gastronomy: Japan
How Japan solved the problem that Western dining is only now discovering
Foundations
A short introduction to the research that informs my writing here
You Didn't Vote For This
How Irish households subsidize German households during inflationary times
Spending More Is Making Europe Less Safe
How NATO's rearmament surge is funding the wrong industrial base
Ireland's Defense Problem Isn't Neutrality
Ireland has the money but not the architecture to defend itself