Must Read: The Monks In The Casino

Really fantastic piece here by Derek Thompson entitled The Monks in the Casino. It serves as a rumination on "the loneliness crisis" (quotes his) and other modern ailments. I can't articulate it any better than the article itself but it speaks to recent changes in culture and policy that have resulted in a world where distractions are so plentiful we don't even register that we need to be with other people.

I'm going to share my favorite snippet from the summation of the article but you really should read the entire thing. It's filled with thoughtful moments. I'm saving this in particular as I find myself wanting to be offline more and more, so it felt quite pertinent.

Since the 1970s, America has over-regulated the physical world and under-regulated the digital space. To open a daycare, build an apartment, or start a factory requires lawyers, permits, and years of compliance. To open a casino app or launch a speculative token requires a credit card and a few clicks. We made it hard to build physical-world communities and easy to build online casinos. The state that once poured concrete for public parks now licenses gambling platforms. The country that regulates a lemonade stand will let an 18-year-old day-trade options on his phone.

In short: The first half of the twentieth century was about mastering the physical world, the first half of the twenty-first has been about escaping it.