The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Something Big Is Happening: Here’s the thing nobody outside of tech quite understands yet: the reason so many people in the industry are sounding the alarm right now is because this already happened to us. We’re not making predictions. We’re telling you what already occurred in our own jobs, and warning you that you’re next A developer’s firsthand account of the step-change in AI coding capabilities and what it means for software engineering as a profession. (shumer.dev) see also The Doomsday Scenario for AI and Jobs: What are the strongest cases for it and against it? Derek Thompson on the biggest divide in his coverage of the economy — the growing possibility that AI displaces workers faster than new jobs can be created, and why even optimists should take the downside case seriously. (Derek Thompson)
• Inside the Booming Business of Monster Porn: Teratophiliacs were once a niche group that bonded over their sexual attraction to monsters in obscure forums. Now—as online communities proliferate and genres like romantasy grow—monster porn is going mainstream. (GQ)
• The Big Scary Myth Stalking the Stock Market: The concentration of the S&P 500 in a handful of mega-caps has everyone spooked, but the historical record suggests top-heaviness is more normal than you think. (Wall Street Journal) see also The Fallacy of Concentration: The academic paper making the rounds on why index concentration isn’t the risk everyone assumes it is. (SSRN)
• 26 Rules to Be a Better Thinker in 2026: Ryan Holiday’s annual list of mental models and Stoic-flavored advice for sharpening your thinking. (Ryan Holiday)
• Is inherited wealth bad? Despite associations with the idle rich, the fact that inheritances are rising is a sign of a healthy, growing economy. (Aeon)
• Betting Men: Inside Kalshi and Polymarket’s Bull Market: The CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket Are Betting On the Most Hated Experiment in Business. Prediction markets entice enterprising nerds to make and lose fortunes by wagering on everything from politics to the weather. Here’s why they’re unstoppable—and only getting more powerful. The prediction market wars are heating up, with billions in weekly volume and a legal battle over whether these are financial instruments or just gambling with extra steps. (Vanity Fair) see also Thousands of Amateur Gamblers Are Beating Wall Street Ph.D.s Prediction market bettors on Kalshi are proving just as accurate as professional forecasters at predicting economic indicators — and even better on inflation. Turns out the crowd has one big edge: they only bet when they’re confident, while the pros have to guess every month regardless. (New York Times)
• Are We Tripping? The next billion-dollar blockbuster drug could be a psychedelic. There’s just one problem. (Slate)
• Even a Decade of Accidental Shootings Hasn’t Slowed America’s Top Pistol Maker: For years, gun owners have been suing Sig Sauer for alleged design defects in its flagship handgun, the P320. The company’s solution is to ban the lawsuits. (Businessweek)
• Learning About Longevity From Long-Lived Animals: The secrets to extending human lifespans might lie in the animals that can already live for centuries. What naked mole-rats, Greenland sharks, and immortal jellyfish can teach us about aging — and why the biology of extreme longevity is more complex than any supplement pitch. (Works in Progress)
• The ‘Harvard of Umpire Schools’ Closes as Changing Times Favor Tech Over Tradition: The last independently-run umpire school recognized by MLB is shutting down — a casualty of robo-umps and a sport that increasingly trusts sensors over human eyes. (The Athletic)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Heather & Doug Bonaparthe, a married couple who work together and wrote a book on the financial challenges couples face: “Money Together: How to find fairness in your relationship and become an unstoppable financial team.” Our discussion sits somewhere in between financial planning and couples therapy, built around real stories that try to help couples find a healthier approach to money.
The Global Cost of Living Index 2026
Source: Visual Capitalist
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