Artemis II and the Earthly Human Condition

NASA's Artemis II flies by the Moon whilst we all struggle with existential issues on Earth.

A. Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz have a bombshell story for The New Yorker on OpenAI’s Sam Altman. Worth reading with Keach Hagey’s book The Optimist (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2026).

B. Livestreaming NASA’s Artemis II and its Moon flyby.

C. Australia’s most decorated soldier (and Special Forces Operator) Ben Roberts-Smith has been arrested and charged with five war crimes in Afghanistan.

D. Jacobin Magazine on managerial power in workplaces.

E. President Trump and paramilitary violence in the United States.

F. Today’s MIT OCW free course is Non-Violence As A Way Of Life created by Dr Lee Perlman.

G. Don’t be haunted when your family (essentially) cuts you off: it’s their loss.

H. Memes have taken over United States culture. Sadly, those interviews I did with memetics authors in 1998-99 (the tapes were stolen before being transcribed) means that my originally planned book will never come out.

I. AI may shape career pathways to better jobs.

J. The Heritage Foundation has released its 2026 Index of Military Strength.

K. Cato on the great political realignment that is unfolding.

L. AUKUS Pillar 2 relevant: quantum’s industrial moment.

M. Tehran’s strategic calculus.

N. 10 hours of NASA’s Artemis II and its Moon flyby.

O. Adam Tooze talks with David Harvey for two hours about Karl Marx (Capital volume 1) and Harvey’s new book The Story of Capital (New York: Verso, 2026).