"We live in a time of much conflict, a hard time to survive." I've been hearing that phrase a lot lately. In the news, in casual greetings. Every time I hear…
"We live in a time of much conflict, a hard time to survive." I've been hearing that phrase a lot lately. In the news, in casual greetings. Every time I hear…
Continuing from last time Last time, I took apart an organization called FIFA. Two threads came out of it. The non-profit form doesn't prohibit generating…
The plan that vanished in four days On July 28, FIFA announced a plan for a new company called "FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE)." The idea was to move the men's…
I've been in the same industry for a long time, and I hold a reasonably senior position in it. And yet I have no idea who "so-and-so from such-and-such place"…
Founding myths follow a fixed template Startup founding stories mostly follow the same template. A shy, awkward young man who just loves technology. He builds…
Everyone was making such a fuss in April. The blue ticket system for bicycles was introduced on April 1st. Every day, TV showed footage of the crackdowns.…
A while back an acquaintance shared this news with me: "A simulation of AI running society. Only Claude achieved zero crime. Grok collapsed in 4 days."…
I've been investing since my student days. It's not my main job, just a hobby around the level of pocket money, but I've been at it for a fair number of years…
<https://radiotalk.jp/talk/1030064 This is a transcription of something I posted on Radiotalk. It was semi-automatically transcribed using speech recognition,…
In America, small talk sometimes happens at the supermarket checkout. This isn't just a scene from a TV drama. It's a fairly common everyday occurrence. When I…
These days, using the word "sustainability" sometimes gives me an uncomfortable sense of jumping on a bandwagon. The streets are full of office workers wearing…
Europe — though really just Milan and Berlin — was somewhere I feel reasonably lucky to have visited during this period (Japan eased its border measures on…
It was around 2015, while I was working on launching my own venture, that I started asking questions like this. What seemed at first like a far-fetched…
I read Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto quite a while ago, the book that was both a bestseller and the thing that suddenly thrust Mr. Saito into the public…
I read "Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto" a while back — this book was both a bestseller and the thing that suddenly turned Kohei Saito into a public figure —…
It's a common theme, so it's no surprise that I get asked for my opinion on it too. [Affirmative objection ①] Most jobs will be automated. This is only…
Once you turn 40 — or maybe it starts creeping in during the late 30s — there's one thing you start feeling for certain. You have no idea what young people are…
Considering the "Air" (Bunshun Bunko edition) Masks and "air" (this isn't about breathability) I had this exchange with someone the other day. "Why does…
I read the following book by Akira Ikegami, a colleague of mine at Tokyo Institute of Technology (in name only, of course — our positions are nothing alike). I…
The other day I was watching TV without any particular purpose, and a story about a certain entrepreneur and a story about a certain researcher happened to air…
I have never had a career that placed me inside a government institution, but through my work I have found myself deeply involved with government bodies, or in…
The 19th-century physicist James Maxwell devised the famous Maxwell's equations, and his achievement deserves special note not just physically but for what it…
In the 200xs, we faced the wave of the "smartphone" and were filled with joy. "Finally, the device we'd been waiting for was born!" Demand for a mobile form…
Individualism and statism can coexist In fact, they depend on each other At first glance this might sound like a strange thing to say, but it's an undeniable…
The other day my first half-year as a "university adjunct lecturer" came to an end. It wasn't the kind of class you might imagine, some thick textbook, a…
The trigger was the "Book Cover Challenge," popular during the self-restraint period, which eventually made its way to me. I dug a bit deeper than "books I…
I've felt for the past few years that phrases like "the failure of capitalism" and "the collapse of democracy" have become trends discussed everywhere. I…
Why Liberalism Failed Why Liberalism Failed The author is Patrick J. Deneen, a professor in the political science department at the University of Notre Dame in…
I've come to feel that in recent years phrases like "the failure of capitalism" and "the collapse of democracy" have started showing up everywhere as a kind of…
The other day, someone told me, "I have low self-esteem." That person went to an arts-focused high school and became painfully aware there of how unremarkable…
<https://note.com/claytech Please refer to the latest post here. --- Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2020/02/278/. Translated with…
I hold a somewhat negative attitude toward the sharing economy. What follows is a long piece. If the title already irritated you, you probably shouldn't read…
Have you heard the phrase "the Mississippi Scheme"? It refers to one of the largest bubbles in history, which took place in 18th-century France. I'll leave the…
The other day my wife read an article about "AI that reads people's emotions and makes recommendations, and how this technology will develop going forward,"…
Here's a dump, in no particular order, of the books I read in the second half of last year. I really am an omnivorous reader. Technical books aren't included…
Roman Senator Gugurecas and the poet Terawaros were childhood friends. (See Wikipedia.) I found myself recalling the dawn of the internet, now more than twenty…
Irrationality and inconsistency are both generally disliked, but when it comes to whether they can be trusted, they're worlds apart. Here's how an irrational…
This is a reprint of a past post The other day, an acquaintance of mine here posted something on Twitter to the effect of: "When multiple arguments — differing…
The other day I had dinner with a Swiss man named OT. He was around 60, an uncle-type figure with real wit in the way he responded to things. A Stanford…
"I've come up with a groundbreaking idea!!!" I often feel like dancing with joy about this in the shower. But that "groundbreaking idea" almost never actually…
This is a past post = backNumber Spice and Wolf (1) (Dengeki Comics) I recently read Spice and Wolf and thought being a merchant looked like fun. (A shallow…
This article is a reprint of an earlier post — a back number First of all, connections matter a lot in American society. I sensed that a little even while…
Living in America unfortunately gives me a sense of alienation now and then. Well, that can't be helped. I'm an outsider here. According to the experienced…