just listened to @DKThomp's pod with psychologist @a_m_mastroianni on why culture is stagnating (the theory is that life got so safe we killed deviance)... polymarket did $3.6b in volume on the election. kalshi just raised at $11b valuation. we didn't invent prediction markets because we wanted them. we invented them because people need a risk outlet

serial killers peaked in the 80s. so did cults. teen crime, pregnancy, drug use, alc, etc. all plummeting since the 90s. same years movies became sequels, logos went minimalist, architecture lost ornamentation optimization killed creativity

generations prior faced existential risk constantly. wars, disease, no safety nets. risk was ambient so taking more risk barely registered now we prob live to 80+. every choice compounds. so we sanitize everything.,, including culture

prediction markets exploded because they're one of the last controlled environments where stakes actually exist we've engineered physical risk out of civilization. so we invented financial risk theater to fill the void. it's a pressure valve for a risk starved society

the same safety that gave us longer lives killed the weirdness that made culture worth living so now we bet instead of making art that challenges anything 🥲

pod