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Shanu Mathew · Sep 19, 2025

The Balance - September 18, 2025

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Shanu Mathew · Shanu Mathew

This is a publication that focuses on what Shanu finds interesting that span markets, finance, investing, sustainability, politics, and more. This includes monthly newsletters or published pieces on sustainable investing! To follow along my writing, subscribe below:

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Must-read Articles/Thoughts:

  • Dollars and Data: Optimizing Ourselves to Death: A critique of optimization culture (biohacking, time-valuation, endless tracking) arguing the pursuit of perfection breeds anxiety and misses the 80/20 - choose purpose and “good enough” over neurotic maximization.

  • Sahil Bloom: The Victim Mentality: A Silent Killer of Growth: “When we attribute our own misses, failures, and challenges to factors outside our control, we give up our power. Alternatively, when we embrace accountability—when we take ownership of our situation and the actions and beliefs that are within our control—we take back that power. Life definitely isn't fair. It's a troubling reality. But instead of wasting energy on every obstacle in your way, focus on what you can control and how you can break through. Stop looking out. Look in. Be accountable. Take back that power.”

  • The Age of Diagnosis: How the Over-Medicalization Of Everything Makes Us Sick, Anxious, and Lost: Derek Thompson unpacks Suzanne O’Sullivan’s The Age of Diagnosis, arguing that the explosion of ADHD, autism, and anxiety “epidemics” reflects shifting definitions and cultural labeling as much - if not more - as real disease. He contrasts the lifesaving potential of better detection with the risk of over-medicalization that can trap people in identities of illness rather than helping them get better.

Source. “Of all personality types, conscientious people tend to fare best on a number of key measures. They live the longest, have the most career success and are less likely to go through divorce. They even manage to hold down a job during recessions. Intuitively, this makes sense. Life isn’t just about knowing what you should do, or having the resources to do it, it’s about following through. Being motivated and persistent is a huge help…. All this makes it disconcerting that levels of conscientiousness in the population appear to be in decline. Extending a pioneering 2022 US study which identified early signs of a drop during the pandemic, I found a sustained erosion of conscientiousness, with the fall especially pronounced among young adults."

Source. “The top 20% of earners now make up over half of consumer spending, according to Moody's.”

Source. “Nearly 12% of Americans have used GLP-1 drugs—such as Ozempic—for weight loss. 14% say they're interested in them.”

Source. “Up to 10% of scientific articles could come from paper mills by 2030 if current trends continue.”

Source. “From 1997 to 2023, at least 60% of Americans reported drinking alcohol. The figure fell to 62% in 2023 and to 58% in 2024, before reaching 54% today. Prior to the most recent poll, the rate has been under 60% fewer than 10 times, including 58% in the initial 1939 poll and a one-time low of 55% recorded in 1958.”

Source. “… domestic migration rates are hovering near all-time recorded lows after just 7.9% of Americans switched towns or cities last year. That’s fewer than half of the 16.7% who were on the move in 1994, as the share of people relocating even within the same county has plummeted from 10.4% three decades ago to a little over 4% now.”

Source. “Regular physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of a range of diseases including some cancers and dementia. There is also evidence that it can help to prevent some and manage many common chronic conditions and diseases, many of which are on the rise and affecting people at an earlier age.”

Source. Wild map! Africa is huge.

Source. “Whereas traditional media catered to a range of views, with moderate positions well-represented, extreme views — of both left and right — are heavily over-represented on social media.”

Source. “Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.”

Source (for next two). "While users can seek information and advice from traditional web search engines as well as from ChatGPT, the ability to produce writing, software code, spreadsheets, and other digital products distinguishes generative AI from existing technologies. ChatGPT is also more flexible than web search even for traditional applications like Seeking Information and Practical Guidance, because users receive customized responses (e.g., tailored workout plans, new product ideas, ideas for fantasy football team names) that represent newly generated content or novel modification of user-provided content and follow-up requests."

Tech, AI & Regulation

  • Intel to give US government nearly 10% stake. Approximately $8.9B in federal grants awarded but not yet paid to Intel under the 2022 CHIPS Act and the Pentagons's Secure Enclave program will be converted to equity. Under the deal, the government will become Intel's largest shareholder but will not take a board seat or have decision-making rights (WSJ)

  • Anthropic to pay $1.5b to settle authors’ copyright claims. In the first major settlement by an AI company over training its model on copyrighted works, Anthropic has agreed to shell out $1.5 billion to resolve claims by authors that it downloaded pirated copies of their books for training (Morning Brew)

  • Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta's newest AI-powered smart glasses include a tiny display, and can be controlled by a neural wristband using barely perceptible movements. The glasses, Meta Ray-Ban Display, will be available Sept. 30 for $799. Meta also unveiled a new set of AI-powered glasses for athletes, called the Oakley Meta Vanguard, which Meta says is specifically for high-intensity sports and can be integrated with Garmin devices to give users feedback about their workouts, including heart rate and stats (Axios)

Consumer Media & Entertainment

  • Skydance acquired exclusive US rights to stream UFC fights on Paramount+ with a seven-year deal valued at $7.7 billion. Once the new partnership begins in 2026, fans of blood-soaked grappling will need only to pay $8–$13 per month for Paramount+, with zero additional costs, to see 13 marquee events and 30 “Fight Nights.” Some fights will be simulcast on linear CBS (Morning Brew)

  • KPop Demon Hunters is now the most-viewed movie on Netflix ever, having racked up 236 million views since its June release (Morning Brew)

  • HBO Max's "The Pitt" nabbed best drama and best actor in a drama (Noah Wyle)—two of the night's top awards. Apple TV+'s "The Studio" swept up a record-breaking 13 awards this year (including nine Creative Arts Emmys last week), the most wins by a comedy series in a single season. The show took home best comedy and best actor in a comedy (Seth Rogen), with Rogen also winning a directing award (1440)

  • NFL games represented 72 of the 100 most-watched broadcasts last year. 16 were political events (Axios)

Economy, Corporate & Inequality

  • Around 87% of US companies that have over $100 million in revenue were privately owned as of 2023 (Partners Group report)

  • Americans in the top 10% income bracket made up nearly half (49.2%) of total consumer spending during Q2, per an analysis of recent (Federal Reserve data by Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi)

  • -24%: The change in the amount of time the average American spends socializing on weekdays compared with a decade ago, according to recent data from a Labor Department survey (WSJ)

Health, Lifestyle & Social Trends

  • Only 54% of US adults say they drink alcohol, the lowest rate recorded since tracking began in 1939. The 2025 poll, released yesterday, also found a record high 53% of Americans view drinking as harmful to health (Gallup)

  • Reading for pleasure among Americans has declined by 40% over the past two decades, according to a new study by researchers from University College London and the University of Florida: In 2004, 28% of Americans said they read for fun. In 2023, only 16% said they read because they wanted to and not only because they were assigned Great Expectations for an English Lit project.

  • Half of all NFL players who played in the 1988 season report experiencing pain every day — roughly twice as much as other men their age (Axios)

Read the original on shanumathew.substack.com ↗

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