Johann Packendorff

1. Come up with something to make everyone pissed off, especially your friends 2. Escalate into major conflict 3. Retreat when you face opposition 4. Declare victory 5. Request recognition, money, awards and admiration from everybody 6. Name the incident after yourself 7. Repeat

Autism is not a disease. Autism is not an epidemic. Autism is a multifactorial genetic-based neurological condition. And it’s not caused by vaccines or nebulous “environmental toxins.” A thread 👇🏻 1/

The Sputnik moment: Shit, we’re losing the hi-tech race, we need science and engineering aplenty! The Lutnick moment: Shit my boss is reminiscing the 50’s, we need armies of millions screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones.

this week in america

This should be obvious!

Tariffs xkcd.com/3073

Trump is learning what Truss learned before him: that the market is the last bastion of commonly-accepted truth, which all sides accept as empirically real open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

Next time someone tries to explain a complex geopolitical situation based on what they've seen on their feeds, just remember: they're essentially describing the plot of a movie after only watching the trailer and reading some angry comments about it.

“America is spinning quickly in the direction of Hungarian populism, Hungarian politics, and Hungarian justice. But that means Hungarian stagnation, Hungarian corruption, and Hungarian poverty lie in our future too,” @anneapplebaum.bsky.social warns. theatln.tc/yK2nzSbM

This piece from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social starts with a bang and just gets better and better. Gift link.

Nothing screams “I spent way too much time playing SimCity as an undergrad” as billionaires wanting to build and rule over their own perfect cities. They’ve thought of everything, except “who wants to live there, once we removed the original inhabitants?” www.insidehook.com/internet/pet...

Lunchtime in Antibes, France.

🚨🚨 THIS is a MAJOR story: Amidst civil unrest in the country and Erdogan's despicable jailing of his main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu Elon Musk's social media platform X has suspended several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey.🧵 www.politico.eu/article/musk...

Last night in Västerås, Sweden.

Oligarchy + authoritarianism = stagnation. The current movers and shakers making sure they will never be out-competed. Shielded by politicians who will say anything to get your vote, and do anything not to be dependent on it again. Putting the lid on societal development and growth.

"On October 8, 1931, a law went into effect requiring every Italian university professor to sign an oath pledging their loyalty to the government of Benito Mussolini. Out of over 1,200 professors in the country, only 12 refused. All of them were immediately fired." www.chronicle.com/article/what...

🚨🚨 For those of you who missed this, I just published a piece for @bylinetimes.bsky.social on the #ReArm Europe plan. Tldr; Defending Ukraine without the US will be complex, costly and politically challenging – but there is simply no alternative, EU needs to step up. bylinetimes.com/2025/03/20/e...

A narcissist mindset: That didn't happen, and if it did, it wasn't that bad, and if it was, it's not a big deal, and if it is, it's not my fault and if it was, I didn't mean it, and if I did, you made me do it.

Varför kan inte jag åka fort när Moa ilar?

Too often interviews measure acting ability rather than skills. We’re not selecting the best based on merit; we’re selecting from a narrow circle not disadvantaged by bias based on class, non-English names, gender, age, race, looks, disability, etc. hbr.org/2025/02/the-...

Trump policies make US ‘scary place to invest’ and risk stagflation, says Stiglitz

One of the roads to decline: make sure your finest entrepreneurs are preoccupied with power gaming and sucking up to political whims, rather than inventing and innovating.

Across the world; people living in theocracies lead poor, surveilled and circumscribed lives; in stagnating and cruel societies; where the liberating promise of God is reduced into invasive human power structures. You don’t want it for yourself, and you certainly don’t want it for your daughter.

Department Of Interior Bans Unlikely Animal Friendships theonion.com/departm...

Broligarchs are sawing off the branch they're sitting on. They built corporations and fortunes in the legal and cultural environment shaped by Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama. Trump 2.0's inward-looking nostalgia and invasive politics aren't the environment where new Silicon Valleys are born. 🤔

In the era of Wilhoit's law - "…there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru... This is soon the only practical reason for return-to-office mandates: to scare away talent. Makes me wonder who will fill their shoes. I mean, even the “loyalists” would probably like to have 21st century working conditions.

An authoritarian is someone who will say anything to get your vote. And who will do anything not to be dependent on it again.

The war on "woke" is actually a war on workers. Like Musk before him, Zuckerberg appears to resent the people who work for him and make him rich. @amandamarcotte.bsky.social www.salon.com/2025/01/17/t...

Hört på X: Big Pharma, Ilumnati, George Soros, den djupa staten och Hunter Biden gick tydligen samman och köpte upp alla braiga journalsystem, och raderade dem sedan. Så då fanns det ju bara Millennium kvar.

December. A black month also for personal integrity. Orwellian proportions.

Oväntat!!!

Stockholm, Sweden. Last rays of sun before the dreaded snowstorm.

Forbes featured my book, Diversity (Routledge) www.forbes.com/sites/benjam...

The reality is that you can't mandate RTO without losing talent. To the larger companies that are trying, the smaller ones say "Go ahead, take remote work away. Make your employees angry enough to quit, as doing so helps me attract your talent." www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Lookism bias: Women are criticized for their appearance at work no matter how they look. The femaleness of their body stands out, considered abnormal in a traditionally male space. See my new Fast Company article. www.fastcompany.com/91229638/loo...

Diskussion om meritokratins utmaningar. Med anledning av höstens nyhetsflöde. www.linkedin.com/posts/johann...