That Was The Year in Tech: When Nothing Happened (except Everything, Everywhere, All at Once)
That was the year in tech. When nothing and yet everything happened. A year betwixt and between, simultaneously revolutionary and uneventful. That's the ironic conclusion Keith Teare and I reach about Silicon Valley in 2025. It's as if the AI revolution is changing the world without us fully noticing. AI has become electricity—ubiquitous and essential, yet barely noticed. So what will happen on the tech front (or not happen) in 2026? Will it be another year in which nothing happened (except everything, everywhere, all at once). Or are we reaching 1789 or 1917 or 1989—a grand historical year where the logjam breaks and tech formally takes over the world? A true end and beginning of history. The first real year of the tech 21st century.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 2147: Matthew Warshauer on the Real Story of 9/11 (it's not what you think)
Episode 2146: Sasha Issenberg on how to build more trust and transparency in American politics
Episode 2145: Deesha Dyer explains how she undiplomatically rattled the entrenched culture of the White House
Episode 2144: Edward Ball on his own Family History of White Supremacy
Episode 2143: Andrea Freeman on Food Genocide and Oppression in the United States
Episode 2142: Why the Kamala Harris campaign has all the strengths and weaknesses of a tech start-up
Episode 2141: Nicola Twilley on how Refrigeration has Transformed our Food, our Planet, and Ourselves
Episode 2140: Kimberly Meyer on five refugee women's invention of a new American dream
Episode 2139: Joel Salatin explains how to fix America, one bite at a time
Keen on America featuring Batya Ungar-Sargon
Episode 2137: Anne Snyder on how to morally repair and renew America
KEEN ON America featuring Joshua Browder, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and great grandson of the US Communist Party leader
Episode 2135: J. Malcolm Garcia on the humanity of San Francisco's homeless community