[We] are witnessing a steep decline in “the average person’s ability to reason and solve novel problems”. The OECD – a forum of countries which are generally high-income and located in the Global North – finds that 15-year-olds peaked at reading, mathematics and science skills in 2012, with test scores falling ever since. The number of 18-year-olds who report difficulties with thinking, concentrating and learning new things – which remained stable throughout the 1990s and 2000s – shot up dramatically in the mid-2010s, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study. These trends are not limited to any one generation: OECD figures also show that adults of all age groups are increasingly struggling with reasoning, numeracy and problem-solving, and the decline in literacy skills is particularly striking. - Dazed
People: Colors of gentrification. Carjitsu. Tiny balcony use. Best friend ceremony (FR) and bestimonies. Bereavement policies. Solarpunk (HNews chat). Dunbar scale.
The millenial rebrand. Fighting / algospeak. Tactile sympathy.Tech: China automated road construction. Australia-Singapore energy link. Drones on cars. Security non-repudiation. SBI. China and fusion. CamoGPT: deleting EDI texts. Space junk.
Dark corners of the web, post-maga.
Business: Pressure on bangladesh workers. Deorbiting starlink sats. Freedom cities.
Futures: Future of animal wellbeing. Monstrous futurities. The future is too easy.
Rabbit hole: futures of AI in the water sector: with trends (and more), digital transformation, security, future techs, digital brains, in 2022, 2023, 2024.
Burning Connections
The stars were falling, burning bright as they tore through Earth's atmosphere—a daily spectacle in 2025, as old Starlink satellites, once beacons of connectivity, re-entered the atmosphere, casting trails over the city like some flaming fairy dust from the heavens. It was a sight that had become all too common, igniting discussions in coffee shops about how these celestial calamities were compromised electrical connections rather than glorious hardware, and how they added to the pollution of our sky like some metallic confetti of a dying age.^1
Meanwhile, on the ground, the walls of the city whispered tales of “freedom cities”—daring innovations drafted by young, progressive conservatives craving an escape from regulations that, according to them, only fettered creativity. One particularly lively enclave was gathering game developers and car-jitsu athletes alike in a furious dance of capitalism, where political fervor intertwined seamlessly with the wish to grapple within the recesses of a compact vehicle—a sport dubbed with as much enthusiasm as derision. It appeared that just like the old worlds of romance and purpose, even friendships were legally binding now as “Bestimonies”^2, but at least they offered snacks during the ceremony. If you didn’t celebrate, what were you doing? You were merely wasting precious time in a populated universe of diminishing sunlight and diminishing attention spans.
In the midst of this chaotic beauty, a nimble reporter was gathering her notes, her mind entangled with the echoes of discussions about digital manipulation. “Careful scrutiny of the banter around you,” she reminded herself, aware that every potential bond could also be a political landmine, especially as a generative AI named CamoGPT emerged, focusing on airbrushing diversity from the military’s handbook and creating a new world crafted more for a theater of war than for the human spirit. Just another thread in a quilt patched from aspirations and ulterior motives, that reeked of irony. Would she find meaning anywhere except in the minimalistic packaging that promised nostalgia and delivered only disappointment? All those cutesy brands celebrating the mortifying joys of consumerism were old hat, a kind of theater meant to distract from the binary realities of existence.^3
Yet, amid the smoke and raw absurdity, rays of genuine innovation flickered—green energy courses from the Australian deserts to the high-rises in Singapore, changed lives but not without the cumbersome undertaking of supply chains, politics, and civic duties. An exhalation about water—the most critical resource—dripped down from economists, peers criticizing the shift toward digital water management. Who would have thought that tomorrow’s plumbing would come wrapped in algorithms?
As the sun set, the young conservatives raised their flutes of spritzy cocktails, toasting to the blended vision of spontaneity and structure, their hopes anchored in a future that felt stitched from contradictions like the devices shuttered in their pockets. They might be sharing their investments in the next carjitsu bout, ready to fold camaraderie into elaborate contracts with their buddies, or plotting the steps toward their future-free regions. They understood very little of the damage it could incur or how society may evolve into smaller garrisons for human connection; they were just wrestling for control in a world where silence was no longer golden, but merely illustrative of imminent scarcity.^4
And so, as the heavens rained fireballs, cities crowded with car occupants engaging in the combat sport of life, a thin veil of laughter hung over the often exhausting but exhilarating chaos. In a time where the very essence of humanity was so finely tinged with irony, absurdity reigned supreme, leaving a question at the forefront: what does it mean to really connect in a world where sincerity had donned the vestments of a meme? They picked up their drones and the scattered pieces of their dreams, ready to launch into some other burning reality—literate enough to navigate the haze but knowing, in their marrow, it was always a matter of perspective.^5
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1. Do you think anyone really cared about the ozone layer anymore?
2. Perhaps someone should craft a brand around that.
3. I can only imagine how many missed UPS packages those 'outdoor spaces' would soon claim!
4. If one could make a buck without being tethered to someone else's ideology, that could become quite the niche market.
5. And, it’s comforting to consider that as long as they could tweet through it, they’d always be justifies in their surreal existence!