Videos

Spy novelists often make excellent moralists and the American writer Daniel Silva (https://danielsilvabooks.com/about-daniel/) , author of the Gabriel Allon series of best-selling thrillers, is a particularly sharp critic of contemporary morals. His new Allon thriller, A Death in Cornwall (https://www.amazon.com/Unti-Silva-Novel-2024/dp/0063384205) , focuses on money laundering, murder and mayhem in the…

Earlier this week, I visited the offices of Floodgate Partners in Menlo Park to talk with its co-founding partner Mike Maples (https://www.floodgate.com/team/mike-maples-jr) . As an early investor in Twitter, Twitch.tv and many other successful start-ups, Maples is one of Silicon Valley’s most respected venture capitalists. He is, to borrow the…

In episode 2022 (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2022-is-the-ai-tech-boom) , That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare and I violently disagreed about the current AI boom. Keith, the eternal techno-optimist, thinks AI is about to radically change everything; as the perennial techno-pessimist, I argued that much of the current Wall St AI insanity is a…

The seductive promise of microfinance might have conveniently died in the Western media, but Muhammad Yunis’ alluring economic idea has actually wreaked unintentional havoc around the world. Mara Kardas-Nelson’s important new book, We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250817228/wearenotabletoliveinthesky) , reveals the damage done by microfinance loans…

Last week, That Was The Week (https://www.thatwastheweek.com/) publisher Keith Teare and I discussed whether Silicon Valley has an AI Bubble Problem. (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2013-does-silicon-valley) And we return to the same subject today, comparing today’s AI driven Wall Street techno-mania with the automotive centric Wall Street madness of the roaring 1920s. As usual,…

Memoirs are usually morally uplifting reads with happy endings. But Phil Elwood’s new memoir, All the Worst Humans (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250321572/alltheworsthumans) , is a confession of how Elwood, as a top DC based PR operative, created what he calls a “counter-narrative” for Assad, Gaddafi and the Qataris. Elwood isn’t proud about any…

In 2011, Simon Reynolds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Reynolds) is one of the world’s most prolific music journalists, came on KEEN ON to explain why (https://techcrunch.com/2011/10/22/keen-on-why-the-internet-has-been-bad-for-both-musical-artists-and-fans-tctv/) the Internet has been bad for both musical artists and fans. Back then it took a brave man like Reynolds to argue against the supposedly cornucopian cultural potential…

Our second July 4 interview features Diane McLain Smith (https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B004ULSWNW/about) , author of Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future For All (https://www.remakingthespace.org/) . The problem with America, McLain Smith believes, is that “we the people have become the problem” with our…

As the former Assistant Attorney General for Maryland, one would expect Debbie Hines to be a strong supporter of the American criminal justice system. But the Baltimore based veteran trial lawyer is unambiguously critical in her new memoir, GET OFF MY NECK (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262048910/get-off-my-neck/) , of what she sees as the…

Last week’s horror show debate woke up a lot of progressive Americans. For Celeste Marcus (https://libertiesjournal.com/author/celeste-marcus/) , managing editor of Liberties Quarterly, Biden’s dismal performance was akin to the shock of the January 6th insurrection. In contrast with Jan 6, however, Marcus is calling for a political insurrection amongst progressives…