Writer and podcaster; co-author of Abundance with Ezra Klein, a staff writer at The Atlantic for 17 years until 2025 and a contributing writer there as of 2026, and host of the Plain English podcast.
Derek Thompson did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Donald Trump is a poor president despite being a good candidate.
Donald Trump is very good at running for president, but he is very bad at being president.
derekthompson.orgSaid 4 Nov 2026This on korrents
Demand for AI computing power is growing faster than supply.
Despite all the investment in new AI chips, it costs a quarter more to rent older GPUs than it did a year ago. This tells us that demand for AI computing power is growing faster than supply.
derekthompson.orgSaid 23 Oct 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Hiding
From one piece The Trump Decade Is Over 2 beliefs · derekthompson.org
korrents.com
The U.S. has an enormous and growing debt that will likely require tax increases in addition to spending cuts.Their words
The U.S. has an enormous and growing debt that will likely require tax increases in addition to spending cuts.
Their words
Donald Trump is very good at running for president, but he is very bad at being president.
Their words
Despite all the investment in new AI chips, it costs a quarter more to rent older GPUs than it did a year ago. This tells us that demand for AI computing power is growing faster than supply.
The AI Story Wall Street Doesn’t Want to Hearderekthompson.org
Their words
I am a realist who recognizes that a rapidly improving technology whose output is intelligence is destined to make violent contact with a modern sensibility that prizes human intellect and often equates it with purpose, dignity, and self-worth.
From one piece The 26 Most Important Facts About AI and the Economy 3 beliefs · derekthompson.org
Their words
The winners of the AI boom dominate stock market returns in 2026.
korrents.com
The cost of building AI is the most expensive infrastructure project since the 19th century railroads.Their words
As a share of the economy, this is the most expensive infrastructure project since the 19th century railroads.
Their words
But it took AI about three years, making this the fastest-growing technology on record.
From one piece Bad Feelings 3 beliefs · derekthompson.org
korrents.com
Envy is usually based on a distorted, delusional picture of another person's life rather than reality.Their words
The good news about envy is that it is very often a delusion.
korrents.com
Envy is triggered by feeling similar to someone, not simply by the size of the difference between you.Their words
Although it seems to be based on a perceived difference ("he is rich, and I am not"), it is actually triggered by a feeling of similarity ("if he and I are so alike, why is he so much richer?")
korrents.com
Small disadvantages relative to others hurt more than equivalent small advantages help.Their words
It's unfair, not only materially, but psychologically. The bad we feel about small disadvantages is greater than the good we feel about small advantages.
From one piece Why Harvard's Dean 'Encourages' Students to Use AI 2 beliefs · derekthompson.org
Their words
Artificial intelligence has unleashed a torrent of cheating on campus and created chaos in the job application process, as both students and employers use large language models: the former, to write hundreds of AI-assisted applications; the latter, to screen those AI-written applications with AI-written filters, thus removing from the process of finding a first job those procedural frictions sometimes known as "people."
Their words
The value of a degree is in question, as tuition costs have increased in the last few decades while the college premium-the expected benefit from getting a diploma-has flatlined and possibly even declined in the last few years.
korrents.com
AI industry leaders publicly call for slowing AI development while continuing to accelerate it themselves.Their words
Judging by their words, AI luminaries are begging the world to force them to hit the brakes. Judging by their work, these same people are pressing down on the accelerator with every fiber of their being.
From one piece We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet 2 beliefs · derekthompson.org
korrents.com
Bots will soon make up nearly all internet traffic, leaving little human activity online.Their words
I think it's not long before 99% of internet traffic is bots.
We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internetderekthompson.org
korrents.com
Writing is itself an act of thinking, so automating the writing removes the thinking, not just the labor.Their words
The act of writing is an act of thinking, and to automate our paragraphs is to populate our screens with words without filling our minds with the ideas necessary to conceive of them.
We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internetderekthompson.org
Nothing matches.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Donald Trump is very good at running for president, but he is very bad at being president.
The Trump Decade Is Over Said 4 Nov 2026
The U.S. has an enormous and growing debt that will likely require tax increases in addition to spending cuts.
The Trump Decade Is Over Said 4 Nov 2026
Despite all the investment in new AI chips, it costs a quarter more to rent older GPUs than it did a year ago. This tells us that demand for AI computing power is growing faster than supply.
The AI Story Wall Street Doesn’t Want to Hear Said 23 Oct 2026
I am a realist who recognizes that a rapidly improving technology whose output is intelligence is destined to make violent contact with a modern sensibility that prizes human intellect and often equates it with purpose, dignity, and self-worth.
I Know Why the Mathematicians Weep Said 15 Oct 2026
But it took AI about three years, making this the fastest-growing technology on record.
The 26 Most Important Facts About AI and the Economy Said 8 Oct 2026
As a share of the economy, this is the most expensive infrastructure project since the 19th century railroads.
The 26 Most Important Facts About AI and the Economy Said 8 Oct 2026
The winners of the AI boom dominate stock market returns in 2026.
The 26 Most Important Facts About AI and the Economy Said 8 Oct 2026
It's unfair, not only materially, but psychologically. The bad we feel about small disadvantages is greater than the good we feel about small advantages.
Bad Feelings Said 14 Sept 2026
Although it seems to be based on a perceived difference ("he is rich, and I am not"), it is actually triggered by a feeling of similarity ("if he and I are so alike, why is he so much richer?")
Bad Feelings Said 14 Sept 2026
The good news about envy is that it is very often a delusion.
Bad Feelings Said 14 Sept 2026
The value of a degree is in question, as tuition costs have increased in the last few decades while the college premium-the expected benefit from getting a diploma-has flatlined and possibly even declined in the last few years.
Why Harvard's Dean 'Encourages' Students to Use AI Said 11 Sept 2026
Artificial intelligence has unleashed a torrent of cheating on campus and created chaos in the job application process, as both students and employers use large language models: the former, to write hundreds of AI-assisted applications; the latter, to screen those AI-written applications with AI-written filters, thus removing from the process of finding a first job those procedural frictions sometimes known as "people."
Why Harvard's Dean 'Encourages' Students to Use AI Said 11 Sept 2026
Judging by their words, AI luminaries are begging the world to force them to hit the brakes. Judging by their work, these same people are pressing down on the accelerator with every fiber of their being.
AI Safety Is Having a Moment Said 10 Sept 2026
The act of writing is an act of thinking, and to automate our paragraphs is to populate our screens with words without filling our minds with the ideas necessary to conceive of them.
We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet Said 1 Sept 2026
I think it's not long before 99% of internet traffic is bots.
We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet Said 1 Sept 2026
There is a good argument that AI writing will be as good as human writing, possibly even surpass human writing within the next decade.
We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet Said 1 Sept 2026
An analysis by the AI Security Institute found that the capabilities of frontier models (i.e., from OpenAI and Anthropic) are roughly doubling every few months, and this doubling rate has actually gotten faster over time.
How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypse Said 19 Aug 2026
By 2027, almost every country-and every non-state group with sufficient computing power-will have the ability to download open-weight models even more powerful than the ones that attacked Hugging Face and use them for whatever they like.
How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypse Said 19 Aug 2026
The first is that new AI models have the know-how to escape containment in testing environments, which should challenge any assumption that advanced AI can be easily controlled by its makers.
How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypse Said 19 Aug 2026
American sports laws amount to a kind of out-in-the-open conspiracy to help a lucky few billionaires get much, much richer
The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshit Said 14 Aug 2026
Major sports leagues are de facto cartels with the power to block entry and competition.
The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshit Said 14 Aug 2026
economic research has repeatedly found that they rarely generate enough marginally income, employment, or tax revenue to justify the subsidy.
The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshit Said 14 Aug 2026
This is the biggest and fastest-growing infrastructure project of our lifetimes.
The Great American AI Rebellion Said 11 Aug 2026
The fastest-growing political movement in America is dead-set on stopping the construction of data centers, which are critical to the growth of the fastest-growing industry in America.
The Great American AI Rebellion Said 11 Aug 2026
it's not out of the question that Anthropic or OpenAI-which barely had any revenue before 2023-could equal or surpass the revenue of all of Musk's public companies some time in the next 12 to 24 months.
The 9 Questions I’m Obsessed With Right Now: AI, Politics, Movies, Drugs, and Western Civilization Said 7 Aug 2026
The long-term risk for Hollywood is that an age of original blockbusters raises the bar for success.
The 9 Questions I’m Obsessed With Right Now: AI, Politics, Movies, Drugs, and Western Civilization Said 7 Aug 2026
Combined with Nietzsche's observation, I think you could argue that moderns are both more selfish and more guilt-stricken than our ancestors.
The 9 Questions I’m Obsessed With Right Now: AI, Politics, Movies, Drugs, and Western Civilization Said 7 Aug 2026
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Battle Cry of Freedom is a relentlessly compelling history of the antebellum years followed by a cinematic history of the Civil War.
derekthompson.org 10 Feb 2026
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Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Link verified 25 Sept 2026.
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