In early May 2026, one of the strangest and most revealing economic stories of the year erupted online. A viral campaign built around the website Lets Buy Spirit Air began spreading across TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and news outlets with a surprisingly simple pitch: What if ordinary people bought Spirit Airlines together? The campaign, associated with…
Some countries have aggressively expanded renewable energy and reduced their reliance on imported oil, coal, and gas. Others remain deeply tied to fossil fuels despite having abundant renewable resources. The reasons are not purely technological. Wealth matters. Political institutions matter. Infrastructure matters. Lobbying matters. Geography matters. And increasingly, geopolitical instability matters.
Here we examine a fundamental question with far-reaching implications: If societies shifted away from car dependency?
Critical thinking is not just a philosophical concern. It is measurable, visible in workforce trends, and increasingly tied to inequality, technology use, and cultural production.
Stress, burnout, and fatigue are rising to unprecedented levels in 2026, with search data showing record highs for terms like “feel overwhelmed,” “burnout at work,” and “cortisol.” This piece examines how economic pressure, AI-driven workloads, fragmented time, and post-pandemic instability are driving chronic stress at a systemic level. Here we explore why this surge is happening and what it reveals about modern life.
Mass shootings sit at the intersection of political power, economic incentives, mental health, global dynamics, and specific responses.
Explore how much more productive we actually are, when and why the pattern changed, the role of technology and AI, and what all of this means for mental health, work intensity, and who actually benefits from these gains.
We have already spent time exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping industries and redefining what work looks like across the economy. What is becoming clearer now is not just where AI is going, but how uneven its impact will be. Some careers are already being compressed, others are being redefined, and a smaller group may…
This is not our normal subject matter. Most of the time here we explore economics, climate systems, global inequality, technology, or the way social structures shape human lives. Yet one of the most fundamental forms of interconnectedness is not economic or environmental. It is experiential. Everything we know about the world comes through the experience…
Explore how online vs retail sales in 2026 influence societal trends and reflect deeper patterns in consumer behavior and wealth distribution.
