In-N-Out And AI

Double-Double Toil And Trouble

Alex Park | Oakland Review Of Books | 14th May 2026

Media critique, interesting throughout. A branch of the In-N-Out fast food chain near the Oakland airport became the subject of international tabloid scrutiny even before its closure was announced in 2024. Not in itself significant, this event became the case study for America's crime problems, perhaps because the city where it occurred was "too gentrified, or not gentrified enough" (3,500 words)

Boarding China’s Last Bus

Zilan Qian | Asterisk | 20th May 2026

Americans are fearful of how AI will reshape their economy. In China, people seem more enthusiastic. Why? Because Chinese workers already lived through the forced economic restructuring of the 1990s, during which "the only possible response was to move with it before it moved without you". Embracing the new reality and catching the "last bus" to post-socialist prosperity was the way to survive (4,600 words)