Commentary · 8 min read
The Age of Dis-Enlightenment
The Enlightenment asked whether a claim could be supported. The Dis-Enlightenment increasingly asks how the claim makes us feel.
Domain
Ideas
Frameworks, evidence and intellectual habits: how we reason, where reasoning fails, and what history keeps trying to teach us.
Against the Lane – A letter to the next generation
Marc O. DinesAI,Investment,LearningsLife Perspectives,Stewardship
“Jack of all trades, master of none” was once a compliment. Why breadth beats specialisation, and why AI has just made the generalist more valuable than ever.
Podcast: Are Family Offices the Answer to Unmet Sustainability?
In March, 2026 Brett S. Chappell sat down with Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA, and Filipe Albuquerque from Stockholm-based Nordsip to talk about family offices and sustainability investments. If you have 35 minutes and want to learn more, then please tune in to this episode of ESGpresso. The spoken language is English. Links:Spotify / Apple Podcasts
The Scale Problem With Space
Brett S. ChappellLearningsAstronomy,Astrophysics,Perspective,Scale,Science,space
What looks close in the night sky almost never is. The Moon, the Sun, and even the nearest stars are separated by distances that defy everyday experience. Using a simple scale model, this piece explores how far “far away” really is, and why space stops being something you can walk through or draw long before you reach the stars.
Greenland: A Controlled Experiment in Collapse
Brett S. ChappellLearnings,SustainabilityArctic History,Climate Adaptation,Cultural Adaptation,Environmental Lessons,Greenland,Historical Collapse,Inuit History,Jared Diamond,Little Ice Age,Medieval History,Societal Resilience,Stewardship,Sustainable History,Viking History
Twenty years ago I read Jared Diamond’s Collapse. The story of Norse Greenland still matters because it shows how societies rarely fail suddenly. They fail slowly, through reasonable decisions that no longer fit a changing world.
The World Is Not Static
Brett S. ChappellLearnings#Adaptation,#FamilyOffice,#LongTermThinking,#PlanetarySystems
The Earth operates on longer cycles than we do. Deserts expand and recede. Seas disappear and return. Even Polaris is temporary. Stewardship demands we plan accordingly.
Is Trump Governing Like a Socialist?
Brett S. ChappellInvestment,LearningsEconomic Policy,Market Structure,Political Economy
Comparisons between Trump and Bernie Sanders are increasingly common. This piece steps away from rhetoric and examines specific executive actions to assess whether recent economic policy relies more on administrative direction than on market pricing and private decision making.
Imagine getting paid to use electricity!
Marc O. DinesSustainabilityClean Energy
Battery storage costs have plummeted 90% since 2010. The arbitrage opportunity is staring us in the face: bank free solar at noon, sell it back at 7pm when everyone gets home and prices spike.