The (real) dead economy theory
The concept of the dead economy theory suggests that financial markets are failing to accurately value assets, leading to a focus on investments based on speculation rather than actual value. This theory is exemplified by the rise of cryptocurrency and the investment in companies like Spacex, which are valued highly despite not generating significant profits. The dead economy theory is also related to the investment in AI technology, which is often prioritized over other areas of research and development.
- ▪Elon Musk's net worth has increased from $20b to $1t since 2020, despite his post-2020 ventures being largely unsuccessful.
- ▪The value of assets like cryptocurrency and Spacex is often based on speculation rather than actual value or usefulness.
- ▪Investment in AI technology is prioritized over other areas of research and development, such as medical research.
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| Original publisher | Pluralistic |
| Canonical URL | https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/17/its-the-stupid-economy-stupid/ |
| Publication time | Wed, 17 Jun 2026 23:04:38 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-17T23:37:54.136Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-17T23:37:54.136Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | xrCVpdU5ArZu |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
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| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Pluralistic: The (real) dead economy theory (17 Jun 2026) Today's links The (real) dead economy theory: Vibes and memestocks, all the way down. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Jim Baen has had a stroke; Blame Apple for iTunes DRM; France v the internet; "Rotters"; 1901 undersea cables; Washington Post wants Trump coverage blackout; Taxes are for the little people; Gamer lifecycle; Ghanian postal song; "What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower": Murder of Jo Cox; 12 year old doxed by anti-vaxers; Hong Kong bookseller recants forced confession. Upcoming appearances: LA, Menlo Park, Toronto, NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago, London, Edinburgh, Brighton, South Bend. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Pluralistic.