– Trillions erased from gold and silver. Added to the list. This is still just January.

When you tell your therapist something, there are rules. When you tell ChatGPT something, there aren't. Memory arrived before obligation.

Human memory is not complete or exact. We remember in fragments, shaped by what we already know and expect. Much of what we experience is forgotten, and even what remains is rarely an exact record. That imperfection isn’t a flaw; it’s how memory works for humans. Memory is intimate because it’s tied closely to identity. Our past experiences shape how we respond, what we notice, and who we become. That’s also why the loss of memory is so devastating: as the past disappears, so does a part of who we are. But forgetting matters too. It’s what allows life to move forward without being endlessly replayed. It creates space for forgiveness, reinvention, and change. It makes life liveable. We forget because we must. Artificial intelligence is now rewriting how memory works. Systems are beginning to carry context forward across interactions. Memory no longer fades by default. A more continuous record can span decisions, preferences, conversations, and contexts - assembling a working sense of a person over time. This evolution changes the conditions under which identity stays fluid. The process of moving on from who we were - and discovering who we are becoming - is less certain.

Historically, crises were conveyed, even mediated, through gatekeepers. Some of these were logistical: the newspaper was delivered once a day, the evening news didn't start till 6pm. Others were structural. A journalist, their editor, even a newspaper's ownership may have dictated what stories you saw, and more importantly, how they were told. We're now watching sovereign debt crises and policy reversals unfold in real-time. No editorial distance. No retrospective framing. Just raw feed. This visibility is the biggest threat to economic and political power.

Up. Or down.

Countries move through predictable stages: - Hedge finance: Cash flows cover all obligations - Speculative finance: Cash flows cover interest only - Ponzi finance: Cash flows insufficient even for interest; survival requires rising asset prices or continued borrowing Governments are entering stage three: - US: $38 trillion debt, more than annual GDP - Japan: 230% debt-to-GDP ratio - UK: £1 in every £12 spent just servicing debt interest As part of last week's global market sell off, the S&P fell 2.1% after Trump's Greenland threats and EU tariff announcement. A modest decline, but as asset prices fell and the potential impact on pensions and portfolios became visible, he reversed course within days. Ponzi logic: policy responding to prevent a further cascade.

Elegantly put. One is storing value in the old system's logic. The other is recognising that the barriers just fell.

Iran: entering three weeks of internet blackout during protests. Uganda: internet suspended two days before election. When the online feed is infinite and ungated, as with Nostr, governments have one tool left: kill visibility itself.