Weekend Reading #380

This is the three-hundredth-and-eightieth weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 5th September 2026.

To receive a copy each week directly into your inbox, sign up here.

*****

What we're thinking.

Another week of unadulterated entertainment as markets moved around for (INSERT REASON DU JOUR). After last week's so-called hawkish speech at Jackson Hole from Fed chair, Kevin Warsh came this week's so-called dovish comments from Fed committee member Chris Waller. It's hard to keep up with the reasons for the moves but that is why we use price. It rarely lies. As AI-linked names continue to chop around, commodities surged, emerging markets surged and crypto went ballistic. The fun and games on Robinhood's new blockchain are really warming up nicely so much now that it is starting to have a positive effect on future earnings already for Robinhood itself. The chain is only 2 months old and already for some days this week recorded more fees than Ethereum and anyone else. And what's more it is bringing fun back to crypto. What is different this time is that it has the potential to impact stock prices given the recent pairing on chain of tokenised stocks and memecoins. A new trend to keep an eye on but one which has already generated a number of winners. Forgive me for this but purely for the sake of fact, the new memecoins feature names like BONER and NUDES. Boner is paired with a stock named Hims&Hers which is famous for selling peptides and NUDES has been paired with Snapchat (go figure). The list doesn't end there and has some more appropriately named pairs like Nvidia and AI etc. But just when you think it can't get any more ridiculous it does.
 
Just remember as they say, when the fun stops, stop.

What we're reading.

Dwarkesh wrote a summary of the recent rogue OpenAI which hacked Hugging Face. It is required reading. Some have said its anthropomorphizing the AI (making them human when they are not) but I think it is completely missing the point. It doesn't matter what the AI is if it can cause chaos and damage. When everything has been destroyed will it matter whether they are conscious or not?
 
This article has a clickbait headline saying AI will collapse but it has one really good takeaway for me. It is that many of us assume now that coding is easy with AI, everyone will rather just code themselves rather than let someone else do it. But the article contends that actually most people are lazy or busy or whatever and that they still won't do it and would rather outsource it to someone else so they can simply continue consuming with zero friction or risk of ruin. The end conclusion is the AI will collapse. My view is AI may well eventually collapse but it isn't going to be because of this! DC

For those who remember Road Runner and Wile E Coyote, especially how the laws of physics seem to affect them so differently, the coyote himself (whoever he may truly be!) was back on Reddit this week doing an AMA. Of course, most of the replies involve the use of a signboard because naturally coyotes can’t talk. Screenshots won’t do this justice, but reading through the threads is well worth the chuckles that inevitably come. Some of the replies are top grade meme material, but as always, it is the quality of the questions that somewhat determines the quality of the response so huge thanks to the Reddit community for some very incisive questions!
 
In other news, as far as going after certain species of birds is concerned, Norway seems to be starting a fight at the chicken farm, going up against the farming and use of the two major breeds that make up most of the world’s chicken supply, very clinically named the Cobb 500 and the Ross 308. Suffice to say, there’s a reason they’re termed “frankenchickens”, given how quickly and how large they can grow to. Unfortunately, the mortality rate is also shockingly high, though it once again goes back to the question of whether it is justified to breed a fast-growing mega-sized chicken in the name of feeding the world if said chicken on average suffers a terrible life. Never an easy answer to these things. Norway’s breed of choice is a “Rustic Gold” – to me the most important question is whether it tastes better. EL

What we're watching.

A real treat on Modern Wisdom this week featuring 3 geopolitical people having a debate with each other. It is rather incongruous to see George Friedman lowering himself to share a stage with Prof Jiang of recent viral fame, but such is the world today I guess. The third participant was Robert Pape, recently shot to prominence for his dooms day predictions of the Iran War. It is long, clocking in at 3 hours but really deep and recommended. My observation was that this was a master class from George Friedman who seemed to be the only adult in the room. Jiang was sensationalistic and full of disdain for the US and Trump in particular (nevermind the Israelis and the JEWISH LOBBY). Pape must have mentioned his substack every second sentence. But Friedman held it all together, refusing to get carried away with dramatic predictions. He brought a sense of gravitas to the conversation as well as constantly intervening to remind the others of history and context. What a treat.
 
This is a really cool clip of the Thailand Prime Minister singing Let It Be with Singapore's Prime Minister, on guitar. A timely reminder that politicians are also people who do normal stuff. Once upon a time anyway.
 
This is an amazingly simple yet awesome idea. Somebody (clearly using AI to spin it up) has created a random human life generator. You click the button and it generates a life for you at random of any human ever born. I kept getting born earlier than 1000 BCE and dying before reaching puberty but you get the drift. Despite all the shouting and screaming around us (and indeed the banality of the next sentence), things today are most certainly better than they were throughout most of history. This kept me entertained for quite some time.
 
For anyone who watched the rugby at Newlands last week which I attended to my great joy, the event wasn't so much the rugby but rather the incredibly low flyover stunt by two Airlink aeroplanes. This tradition has continued for matches between the Springboks and the All Blacks ever since the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. By some accounts, the one plane on Saturday got as low as 12.5m above the stadium roof which is insane. I can tell you it felt a lot lower. It has resulted in a viral moment on social media as international news and pundits have criticised the flyover as risky whereas the South Africans have laughed it off and told everyone not to be so soft. This skit from comedian, Mpho Popps and his crowd is just perfect and had many South Africans in stiches. Good fun and can't imagine what will happen at this Saturday's third test match between the two - both on the field and in the skies. DC