Author: Insights

In 1839, a new technology reshaped how the world captured itself. The invention of the daguerreotype by Louis Daguerre introduced photography to the public, not as a fringe curiosity, but as a legitimate tool with wide cultural and commercial potential. That year, the French government acquired Daguerre’s patent and released it freely to the world, ushering in the first wave of public access to image-making through mechanical means. Within a decade, photography had moved from novelty to enterprise. Studios opened in major cities across Europe and North America, offering portrait services at a fraction of the cost and time...

Imagine a man with a bullhorn standing in front of a school, shouting that giant spiders are abducting children from the playground. There is no evidence of any kind of spider, giant or otherwise, no missing children, and no eyewitnesses. But the claim is loud, repeated, and terrifying. Within days, some parents demand action. The man with the bullhorn declares the need for urgent safety measures. He insists that playgrounds be reinforced with concrete and wire mesh. He demands that funding be allocated to combat this threat. He drives the issue like a wedge between neighborhood parents, creating a...

Calls for a Second American Civil War have become a persistent theme among extreme factions aligned with Donald Trump, particularly within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. These individuals frequently evoke the imagery of 1861, imagining a new conflict that they believe would pit Red states against Blue states in a battle for the nation’s future. However, their comparison to the first Civil War is historically and structurally flawed. A modern American civil war would not resemble the geographic simplicity of North versus South. Instead, it would be a fragmented, chaotic, and deeply internalized conflict that would devastate...

Trump’s re-election in 2024 was accompanied by a predictable resurgence in economic nationalism, particularly his fixation on punishing China through sweeping tariffs. But in his second term, the strategy became reckless and detrimental in its immediacy. Within days of inauguration, Trump slapped 145% tariffs across wide sectors of Chinese imports, a move he claimed would bring manufacturing home and cripple Beijing. Instead, it cratered consumer imports and drove global markets into chaos. China responded not just with retaliatory tariffs but with a deeper, quieter blow. That included a deceleration in manufacturing for the U.S. market. Chinese factories stopped or...