https://threadonomist.com/ Independent, interactive essays on science, culture and power. en-GB © 2026 Ian Todd Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/08-what-will-hunting-is-hunting/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/08-what-will-hunting-is-hunting/ Good Will Hunting is remembered as a film about a genius wasting his gift. It is really about an orphan who can prove anything except that somebody loves him. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/07-glad-to-be-here/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/07-glad-to-be-here/ A Blue Angel flew too low over Pensacola Beach. The squadron called the pass unsafe and announced a safety review; the public argument mistook no punishment for no problem. Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/06-kayfabe-politics/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/06-kayfabe-politics/ Trump-era politics speaks wrestling's language: belonging in a known fiction, paid for in public profession. Wrestling confessed the fix in 1989 — and kept the house. Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/05-the-return-leg/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/05-the-return-leg/ Fascism is when you do imperialism to white people, runs an internet joke. The trips home are documented: copied statutes, repatriated officers, surplus armour. Harder to explain is why the postwar audit — the Nuremberg charter, the Genocide Convention — left so much of its drafters' own conduct off the charge sheet. Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/04-the-wrong-meter/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/04-the-wrong-meter/ Global averages make AI's data centres look small. Locally, one project can strain a town's water or a small grid — and no energy bill says what the machines are for. Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/03-the-age-of-reason/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/03-the-age-of-reason/ Governments are again lowering the age at which a child can be tried, and reaching for science to settle it. Developmental evidence can show that young children distinguish harm from broken rules; it cannot tell a court what one child deserves. Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/02-shell-shock-cheaply/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/02-shell-shock-cheaply/ Ukraine says drone units logged over 800,000 strikes by mid-June. The airframe is cheap; who chose, what the blast did and who will pay are harder to establish. Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://threadonomist.com/issues/01-machine-heal-thyself/ https://threadonomist.com/issues/01-machine-heal-thyself/ Two 2026 trials show that medical AI can improve the record and amplify bad advice. The contest is over who controls the lessons. Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT