Karim Spring

The hidden systems shaping our world — from geopolitics and artificial intelligence to nature and technological history.

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Latest essays

  1. Series · The Intellectual Selfie · 8/10The abundance trapAI can make competent writing almost unlimited. That creates a strange problem for writers: the reader does not need another article. They need a reason to return to you. When words become abundant, judgment, experience, continuity and trust become scarce. And the reader still has the final vote: they can leave.9 min read
  2. Essay · AI & the EconomyThe Economy Beneath AII asked readers to treat “The Sovereign Agentic Economy” as an open-source map: take a branch, challenge it, extend it, fork it. So I did the same. This is my first fork. I followed one question: “If AI stops merely answering and starts acting, where does the economic value move?” My answer changed as I followed it.15 min read
  3. Series · The Intellectual Selfie · 7/10The institutions that believed the pageA student submits a perfect essay. An employee presents a brilliant memo. A journalist publishes a polished article. AI makes one old assumption harder to trust: “does the page still prove the understanding, reporting or judgment behind it?”10 min read
  4. Series · The Intellectual Selfie · 6/10The detector looking at itselfAI writes the essay. AI disguises the essay. AI inspects the disguise. AI assigns a probability to whether AI was involved. …and all of them are looking at the exact wrong place: the sentences. We are counting words when what matters is intent. My article on why AI detectors are asking the wrong question.7 min read
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Series

Series · 8 of 10 partsThe Intellectual SelfieWe learned to curate our lives for the camera. Now we curate our minds for the feed. A ten-part series on what happens to writing, thinking and reputation when anyone can publish anything, and a machine can write it for them.Read the series →Series · Complete · 7 partsThe Other InhabitantsA bird races a plane on a runway, and doesn’t know it’s a race. Seven chapters told in the first person by the animals who share the planet with us: the bird, the horse, the cow, the wolf and the dog, the rat, and finally the sea.Read the series →

The books

The Quiet Fracture of GlobalizationKarim SpringCover of The Quiet Fracture of GlobalizationThe Quiet Transformation of Our WorldKarim SpringCover of The Quiet Transformation of Our WorldThe Wall of SystemsKarim SpringCover of The Wall of SystemsDear WaterKarim SpringCover of Dear WaterThe ReturnersKarim SpringCover of The ReturnersThe Family Tree of TechKarim SpringNewCover of The Family Tree of Tech

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About the author

Books and essays on the hidden systems that shape our lives: technology, history, geopolitics and the natural world.

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