The DAO Joan Index 🍕 I write about tech + politics + culture.

There’s too much noise in the system.

The volume is deafening these days. Opinions screech out of our screens, each personality trying to outshout the other. Viral social media voices dom...

When connection is the cure, not the cause.

We glance at our phones a hundred times a day, doomscroll endlessly, overshare, and online shop till we (mentally) drop. Experts label it digital add...

Left in the wilderness: the price of ideological zealotry for American liberals.

The political landscape in 2024 is defined by the ideological unity of the right and the fracturing of the left. The liberal left, which encompassed ...

Cover photo

The Apple Vision Pro is here. Football ain’t ready.

Trajectory is a new series from Joan Westenberg focusing on tech, economics and culture in sports - with an emphasis on the NFL. Subscribe to The Ind...

Why are Australian CEOs so out of touch with consumers?

The abrupt resignation of Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci should come as no surprise. There is a widening disconnect between Aussie corporate elites and...

If the Republican Party bans the UBI, what the fuck is their plan?

Business Insider:Republican lawmakers in Arizona are joining a chorus of conservatives across the country trying to ban basic income programs, which ...

“Democratisation” covers all manner of sins.

Wired:We already know that OpenAI’s chatbots can pass the bar exam without going to law school. Now, just in time for the Oscars, a new OpenAI app ca...

Musk fucks around (with US sanctions) and finds out.

Musk’s X sold checkmarks to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, report saysAfter buying Twitter for $44 billion, Musk started charging users for ch...

Social media is the creator’s dilemma.

Before the internet transformed how creators distribute work, we operated in relative obscurity, largely dependent on gatekept channels like gallerie...

Cover photo

How startup culture runs on bullshit.

Tech runs on myth-making. From the outside, the startup world seems like a meritocratic utopia churning out innovations that "change the world." But ...