The ReThink

The ReThink

The assumptions on the table

Each essay picks up one assumption we all inherited and walks around it slowly — truth first, hope on top — asking: is this still true, or is it just old?

  1. Nº 08

    The Smartest One in the Room Shouldn't Be President

    A line from a recent political speech — reportedly, that if someone is smarter than you, you shouldn't hold the office — turns out to be a serious philosophical claim. Follow it honestly and it points somewhere nobody intended: at the machines. A thought experiment about competence, consent, and who gets to rule. Open questions, not a verdict.
  2. Nº 07

    Three Fronts, One Week: The Weights, the Wiring, and the Referee

    In one week: a 975B open-weight model dropped, the strongest post-transformer pitch yet got made, and the most powerful AI CEO in the world asked to be regulated. Signal from hype on all three — and why they're actually the same fight.
  3. Nº 06

    Safe Autonomy: The Promise of AI You Can Actually Trust to Run Things

    AI is learning to act on its own, not just answer. That's a gift — if it's built to be trustworthy. A manifesto on safe autonomy: what 'safe' really means, why governance beats fear, and how to keep a human at the center.
  4. Nº 05

    The Vault, Cross-Examined

    The companion piece asks the harder questions: who does the newborn-account design actually favor? Is it a tax shelter, a captive bid for the market, a feel-good gesture? Each charge pressed at full strength — then ruled on honestly, including the ones that don't hold. Not financial advice.
  5. Nº 03

    The Eighteen-Year Bet

    Every American newborn now gets $1,000 locked in an index fund until adulthood — and penalty-free until 59½. A fair look at a fascinating tension: what does a two-decade lockup mean if the economy transforms in five years? Not a takedown, not a cheer — an honest walk around a genuinely interesting question. Not financial advice.
  6. Nº 04

    The Peace Treaty

    Cap and Col have been fighting for 150 years — and both are half right. Here are actual peace terms: keep the market's engine, build a floor indexed to abundance, give everyone a deed to the machines, and move the first portion forward first. A concrete proposal to debate, not a decree. Truth first, hope on top.
  7. Nº 02

    The Thousand-Day Question

    The triple whammy: if you don't know, you can't prepare. If you do know, time is short. And no one is coming. All 3 are basically true — and all 3 turn over. The honest wake-up call on AI and cognitive work. Not career or financial advice. Truth first, hope on top.
  8. Nº 01

    Why Can't Communism and Capitalism Be Friends?

    Two old rivals, one pie — and what happens to a ten-thousand-year knife fight when the pie starts learning to bake itself. Truth first, hope on top.