The compounding criticality of cadence: the widening tech gap between the US, China, and Europe
681 SpaceX missions and $725B in AI capex show how cadence compounds, and why Europe's gap with the US and China may be widening past recovery.
Kevin Meyer
Reflections on leadership, lean, and life.
Latest posts
The AI watermark will flag the wrong writers
The EU’s AI watermark requirement is forgeable, bypassable, and weakest against the actors it should catch. Honest users carry the cost.
Rotating Emergency Inventory: What Japan's Vending Machines Actually Do in an Earthquake
apan's vending machines are emergency stockpiles that pay for themselves and never expire. FEMA threw out 279 truckloads of food. The difference is rotation.
The Struggle to Do Less, Better
Three years into retirement, I still feel stress arriving at the gym at 5:02 instead of 5:00. On Marcus Aurelius, tolerances, and habits that outlived their stakes.
Spiced Quinoa with Charred Poblano, Sweet Potato, Pomegranate & Walnut Cream
A vegetarian grain-bowl reconstruction of United Airlines' "Spiced Quinoa" — itself a deconstruction of the Mexican classic chiles en nogada Serves:  4 |  Total time:  ~50 minutes |  Difficulty:  Moderate |  Diet:  Vegetarian Origin Charred poblano, walnut cream sauce, and pomegranate seeds
That Unsettling Feeling When AI Works but We Don't Understand Why
AI now beats theorems and designs drugs we can't explain. What happens when the results keep coming and the explanations stop?
Are Boring Insurance Actuaries Actually the Most Important Drivers of Rapid Technological Change?
The real force behind rapid technology adoption is an actuary repricing risk, and the loss data on autonomous vehicles just crossed a threshold.
Clericó Fruit Salad — "La Final" (Spain vs. Argentina)
Clericó is Argentina and Uruguay's answer to sangria — and, fittingly for this final, a direct descendant of it.
What your brain is hiding from you
Your brain isn't showing you reality. It's a filter, not a camera, and new neuroscience is making it harder to ignore how much is on the cutting room floor.
First the revenge of the trades, now the humanities are laughing
AI labs are hiring philosophers at engineer salaries. An engineer by training on why the humanities were never the "useless" degrees, and what that means for the rest of us.
The Discomfort of Just Observing
The sky over Grand Central hung backwards for two weeks before anyone noticed. What 10 minutes of just observing reveals about attention.
The mirror we built
Blaise Agüera y Arcas argues intelligence is substrate-independent prediction. What does that mean for consciousness, selfhood, and human exceptionalism?
The Org Chart Lean Spent Decades Flattening, AI Just Skipped
Lean spent decades flattening hierarchy. New research shows AI-native startups are doing it differently, by building judgment into the product itself.
5 Days on Rhodes, Including a Great Laundry
Five nights in Rhodes: the Old Town, Lindos before the crowds, a surprise day trip to Symi, and the best €9.50 we spent all month.
Crete: Two Bases, One Civilization, and a Kid Problem
Crete: Five nights in Chania, five in Heraklion. Minoan palaces, Spinalonga’s leper colony, beaches, and a hotel mistake we won’t repeat.