Max Rosett

James Scott’s “Seeing Like a State” is a fascinating account of how centralization schemes fail. The book’s title follows from a simple observation: centralized administrators need legibility to function. A state can’t collect taxes unless it knows who its citizens are and how much income they’re …

Ben Thompson's characteristically excellent article this week focuses on how Google has forced online travel agencies (like Expedia) to pay for traffic by prioritizing ads and pushing organic results further down the page. Part of this is clear product improvements, like a paid-inclusion hotel module that's useful to users while …