Max Read, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

S.E.Z. Noir

1 week ago | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! In today’s newsletter, a new coinage-slash-microgenre: arty thrillers about globalization, which I’m going to call “S.E.Z. Noir”A reminder that this newsletter publishes at the pleasure of its paying subscribers, whose generous contributions allow me to treat it as a full-time job--reading, reporting, thinking, writing, and doing all the other things that mean you get at least one single relatively pleasurable email in your inbox every week.
Regarding "white genocide,"

3 weeks ago | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! In this week’s edition, “White Genocide Grok.” I had the pleasure of appearing this week on the Double Pivot podcast, where some of the same ideas I’m writing below were discussed--how fortunate that Elon Musk spun out at the same time as we were talking. (We also talked about Tottenham Hotspur.) The podcast is paywalled for now, though if you’re a soccer fan it’s absolutely worth the subscription.
Cucks vs. breeders

1 month ago | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! In this week’s dispatch:A further dissection of the differences between the first and second Trump administrations, focused in this case on the sexual fantasies that structure the politics of each; andan examination of Chinese manufacturer TikTok and its response to the Trump tariffs.
Apocalypse Delayed?

1 month ago | unpopularfront.news | John Ganz |Max Read

Three months ago, speaking to Quinn Slobodian and , I proposed that the market might be the only remaining form of rationality and therefore the only thing that we might be relying on to temper Trumpian madness. Now, as a person whose scattered thoughts on economics are shaped by the traditions of Keynes and Marx, this is not a particularly hopeful idea. I don’t happen to think the rationality of the market is very rational at all.
Deconstructing the new American oligarchy

2 months ago | bloodinthemachine.com | Brian Merchant |Max Read

Two genres of image loom large over the news feeds of the Trump 2.0 era so far: photos of shackled men and women, rounded up for detention and deportation, and pictures of various modes of Tesla protest; vandalized Model 3s and assailed dealerships. They are not unrelated, of course, the latter capturing the spasms of resistance to the cruel authoritarian state documented by the former.
What is it like to be a low I.Q.?

2 months ago | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! In this week’s newsletter, a rundown of a particular flavor of I.Q. discourse on Twitter. A reminder: This newsletter, which comes out at least twice a week and almost always has at least one (1) good joke, is written an edited by one guy (me).
Is OpenAI's new story-generating model good at writing?

2 months ago | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! An A.I.-heavy newsletter this week, discussing the new short story generated by a secret OpenAI model (“it got the vibe of metafiction so right,” says Sam Altman) and the continuing use of “A.G.I.” by tech journalists. First, a reminder: This newsletter is the product of a lot of reading, thinking, listening, interviewing, staring at the ceiling, writing, deleting, writing again, etc.
The future of digital media: 15 key takeaways

2 months ago | mattruby.substack.com | Matt Ruby |Tom Kuegler |Ethan Sherwood Strauss |Max Read

āTell me about the future of digital media!ā you say. OKā¦š£ Negative attention is better than no attention. National politics aināt about cash anymore. Ezra Klein:Democrats still believe that the type of attention you get is the most important thing. If your choice is between a lot of negative attention and no attention, go for no attention. And at least the Trump side of the Republican Party believes that the volume, the sum total of attention, is the most important thing.
The A.I. backlash backlash

Mar 7, 2025 | maxread.substack.com | Max Read

Greetings from Read Max HQ! In this week’s newsletter, a consideration of the current state of A.I. discourse. Some housekeeping: This week I appeared on Vox’s “Today, Explained” podcast with Noel King to talk about the Zizians. Also, Jamelle Bouie recently posted video of my appearance talking about Air Force One on the “Unclear and Present Danger” podcast with him and John Ganz.
су́ка блядь

Mar 2, 2025 | unpopularfront.news | John Ganz |Max Read |Henry Farrell |Brad DeLong

This is a regular feature for paid subscribers wherein I write a little bit about what I’ve been reading and/or watching. I’m going to comment briefly on the disgraceful Trump-Zelensky Oval Office scene, but first…In case you missed it, and I hosted political scientist on our intermittent podcast.—Speaking of podcasts, I’m very excited that next week I’ll be the first guest on Inflection Point, the relaunched Berkeley Political Economy podcast with economist and sociologist Dylan J. Riley.