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
The Heartbeat of the Wild: David Quammen's conservationist manifesto from landscapes of wonder, peril and hope
Do You Dream of Electric Sheep? Jordan Crandall on the appropriate literature for our new age of superintelligence
That Was The Week in Tech: Keith Teare predicts a failed Apple virtual reality headset but is more bullish on Twitter's reinvention as X
Message on an Envelope: Stephen Games rethinks the publishing industry by reimagining books as postcards
The 7 Deadly Myths: Alex Ryvchin on antisemitism from the time of Christ to Kanye West and the Ashburton Army
The Wounded World: Chad Williams on W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World World
Anything but Halycon: Elliot Ackerman imagines an America of President Al Gore in which there is technology that can resurrect dead people
Our Kids Will Ask Us What We Did: Skye Perryman explains why she is fighting to save American democracy
Like the Appearance of Horses: Andrew Krivak on war, language, memory and why ChatGPT will never understand beauty
The World as a Big Book Club: David Blake explains the resiliency of the physical book and why he is cautiously optimistic about the impact of AI on both publishing and storytelling
Carry Strong: Stephanie Kramer offers an empowered approach to navigating pregnancy and work
Talking Turkey: Soli Özel makes sense of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's return to political power
How to Scale Trust: David Samson on making tribes and tribalism work in the 21st century