Misaligned Markets

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Misaligned Markets podcast teaser

Misaligned Markets podcast teaser

Misaligned Markets intro episode0:00/202.1139911× Transcript Welcome to the Misaligned Markets Podcast. I'm your host, Mike. I'm also the writer of the Misaligned Markets blog. Fundamentally, Misaligned Markets is a project about a marriage that has gone deeply wrong, a marriage between capitalism and

Rapid unscheduled devaluation: The geometry of the SpaceX IPO

Rapid unscheduled devaluation: The geometry of the SpaceX IPO

No rules were broken in the making of the largest IPO ever, revealing a deeper flaw than critics realize.

Monochrome image of empty urban railway tracks surrounded by structures.

To steer the future we must imagine a different past

Governance determines the evolution of an innovation, giving society power over a technology’s ultimate form.

The geometry of rules (or how to "game the system")

The geometry of rules (or how to "game the system")

The way players cheese games reveals how markets, networks, and other systems are exploited.

An orange robot blowing bubbles with a purple wand - enchantedtools via Unsplash

What to expect when you’re expecting a (AI) bubble

Don’t look to the dot-com bubble to understand the consequences of the current one.

Spiral of golden circles overlayed over each other in a chaotic vortex.

On Chrematistics and societal problems

We know simple metrics can’t work for complex problems. So why do we build systems that measure the wrong thing?

Greed is not selfishness

Greed is not selfishness

Greed is not just a personal vice but something far more dangerous.

February 2026 Updates

Here's the latest happening at Misaligned Markets in Feb 2026

Custom graphic that says Plutonomy in the style of the Monopoly board game

It’s the plutonomy, stupid!

The economy's composition changed over 20 years ago, but economic reporting hasn't caught up.

Misaligned Markets blog post review - First year edition

Misaligned Markets blog post review - First year edition

Catch the highlights from the first year of the Misaligned Markets blog

Reflecting on one year of Misaligned Markets!

Misaligned Markets turns one year old. I reflect on the year and what comes next.

Modern conflicts over property rights and commodification

Modern conflicts over property rights and commodification

Issues like right to repair and privacy are extensions of age-old battles over property rights, which are inherent to capitalism.

AI hype is a mirror of market fundamentalism

AI hype is a mirror of market fundamentalism

Both AI enthusiasts and market fundamentalists gloss over the context needed to understand complex systems.

Robot, Prohibited, and Brain using Facebook's emojis.

LLM “intelligence” is a dark pattern

LLMs leverage scaffolding and user psychology to appear as slabs of raw intelligence in service of a costly illusion.

Memento gif - Leonard Shelby seen externalizing his cognition, much like an LLM has to.

A (less) technical guide for understanding large language models

Disambiguating LLMs from other machine learning tech is the first step to making sense of the current AI boom.

Start Here

New to Misaligned Markets? Here's an overview of the ideas behind the project.

Glossary

A field guide to the metaphors and mechanisms of capitalism’s runaway optimization.

The historical contingencies of Anglo-capitalism

The historical contingencies of Anglo-capitalism

Capitalism is a social technology and a system of governance predicated on specific historical developments.

A mock JSON file that imagines a house ran through hypothetical “protocols” of capitalism - created in Carbon sh

Capitalism runs like a computer (and it's being hacked)

Like computer networks, market capitalism rewards actors that exploit gaps created by system and user behavior.

Unfair Seesaw - Open Clip Art

The tension at the heart of market capitalism

Capitalism promises competition, but its biggest winners avoid it. Separating markets from capitalism explains this paradox.

Lead warning on a gas pump at Keeler's Korner, Lynnwood, Washington. Keeler's Korner, a former grocery store and gas station - Credit Wikimedia

What do AI alignment fears reveal about market capitalism?

Capitalism's misincentives won't create Skynet but resemble optimization problems AI programmers face.

When optimization goes wrong: Caught in Mammon’s Grasp

When optimization goes wrong: Caught in Mammon’s Grasp

We return to my metaphor for maloptimization, or optimization failure, to describe different ways optimization processes often go wrong.

Simple negative feedback loop - Credit Wikimedia

What is optimization?

Optimization and optimization-like dynamics shape the behavior of systems like markets and societies, making even a high-level understanding of optimization valuable for navigating the modern world.

King Midas with his daughter, from A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1893) - Credit Wikimedia

Beyond greed: Mammon as an analogy for maloptimization and wicked problems

“Mammon” is my name for the tendency of technology to give rise to seemingly paradoxical and unintended consequences.

Book list - Rising Risks: Navigating the Modern Risk Society

Book list - Rising Risks: Navigating the Modern Risk Society

Complex risks, fueled by abstract and sometimes interrelated crises, are becoming a common feature of the modern world and our politics.