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social theory

shock therapy for the hype hustle: how David Edgerton de-centered innovation in C20th history

shock therapy for the hype hustle: how David Edgerton de-centered innovation in C20th history

David Edgerton’s The Shock of the Old argues that innovation is real, but tech-focussed futurology is nonsense. A true history of sociotechnical change should feature far fewer heroic inventions, and far more cumulative combinations.
Paul Graham Raven Sep 30, 2026
week 38 / 2026: condensers and collapses

week 38 / 2026: condensers and collapses

In this instalment: the demise of the deodand; a history of the microphone; and a gloss on civilisational collapse. Plus: the more-than-human in Haraway! The set-pieces in Iain M Banks! And my seeming inability to say no to academic writing opportunities, despite no longer being an academic!
Paul Graham Raven Sep 20, 2026
horse piss and dirty honey: on the more-than-human in (and beyond) Haraway’s Staying With the Trouble

horse piss and dirty honey: on the more-than-human in (and beyond) Haraway’s Staying With the Trouble

In this inaugural Deep Read essay, I pull a few strong threads from Haraway’s masterpiece string figure of a book, and attempt to rescue the concept “more than human” from its ongoing reduction to greenwash nonsense.
Paul Graham Raven Sep 16, 2026

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Worldbuilding.Agency is the research journal of Magrathea Futures AB, a private limited company registered in Sweden (org. 559442-9754)