Weekend Reading
Writing worth reading 26th/27th July 2025
What turning a blind eye to deviant behavior is doing to London by Adrian Wooldridge
“The food-delivery industry rests on an infrastructure of crime and illegal immigration. Visit any flea-pit hotel that houses undocumented migrants, and you will encounter youths hanging around in the street and shady figures recruiting them for jobs delivering fast food or groceries for supposedly respectable companies. The going rate for delivery drivers is so low that they have no choice but to ride at terrifying speeds — hence the number of accidents and hence the fact that the cyclists wear face masks…”
Peter Thiel and the Antichrist by Ross Douthat
“There’s an epistemological question you can start with on the “Back to the Future essays: How do we even know whether we’re in stagnation or acceleration? Because one of the features of late modernity is that people are hyperspecialized. Can you say that we’re not making progress in physics unless you’ve devoted half your life to studying string theory? Or what about quantum computers? Or what about cancer research and biotech and all these verticals? And then how much does progress in cancer count versus string theory? You have to give weightings to all these things.…”
The Tony Seba and James Arbib interview Why the future belongs to stellar societies by Eric Markowitz
“James Arbib: Well, before we met, Tony had already written Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation and developed this whole framework around technological change. I came at this from an environmental background — I was investing in cleantech and trying to shift capital away from fossil fuels. One of the projects I was involved in led me to a meeting with the U.S. military, focused on the national security implications of transitioning to clean energy…”
Founders (need) Focus
This week we shared that we’re starting Founders Focus, a new membership program from 9others; a space for you to carve out time to work on the hard things that really matter. Check out the announcement here.
What does it do?
Founders Focus keeps you focused, accountable and connected.
Who it’s for?
Founders Focus will suit Solo Founders, Remote (Co) Founders, and Freelancers, CxOs and Side Hustlers.
Qs?
Read more and check out the FAQs on the 9others Notion, here.
We hope you’ll join us.