Author Archives: Aadith Vittala

Back to the 90s: A decade that feels way too familiar

A deeply-researched account of a nebulous right-wing political coalition that emerged from the leftovers of Reagan era. Ganz focuses on a few of the biggest names of the era: Ross Perot, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, and Rudy Giuliani and he uses these men to illustrate the counter-revolutionary fervor against the Civil Rights era of theContinue reading “Back to the 90s: A decade that feels way too familiar”

Why we should break up Big Tech

The Age of Extraction (Tim Wu) A short but fiery polemic written by a tech policy insider. Wu offers a lesson in the economic history of tech companies while making a strong anti-monopoly argument against the current tech giants. At the same time, his matter-of-fact prose hides a deep nostalgia for the 1990s and earlyContinue reading “Why we should break up Big Tech”

The Battle for Pure Food: Then and Now

The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum Our obsession with the health effects of what we eat may feel uniquely modern, but this excellent book chronicles the war against food adulteration in the late 1800s, which rhymes so perfectly with the current fights around saturated fats, microplastics, and ultra-processed foods. The author includes memorable renditions ofContinue reading “The Battle for Pure Food: Then and Now”

The $1,000 You Don’t Know You’re Spending

How social media platforms monetize your attention and what it’s actually worth Social media promised seamless connection. After a decade of competition and consolidation, a handful of platforms now dominate with billions of users each. The average user spends about 140 minutes per day on social media 1, paying nothing for it. Advertising revenue coversContinue reading “The $1,000 You Don’t Know You’re Spending”

Clickbait Science: Why Titles Matter

How a scientist tells the story of their research is often just as important as the research itself. Take the title of this 2002 paper in Nature: “Rat navigation guided by remote control.” It grabs your attention instantly – and it certainly made me click! The study behind that headline is elegant but more conventional. Scientists implanted three electrodesContinue reading “Clickbait Science: Why Titles Matter”

How to Stay Wealthy

In 2019, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders made headlines when he wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that the three richest Americans together owned more wealth than the bottom half of the country. He was right. According to Forbes estimates from 2016, the combined net worth of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Jeff Bezos exceeded the total wealth ofContinue reading “How to Stay Wealthy”