Marvin’s Best Weekly Reads Nov 30th, 2025
"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." — Hal Borland
Palmer Luckey is a true patriot and working on one of the most important companies in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nCPZW1o50
2. "Every generation mistakes its turbulence for the end. History proves it is often the beginning. Nations in turmoil see only shadows. History decides which were omens and which were illusions
All I am saying is that you must hope. You must have purpose for the future. Times of lead do define countries. But they also define how you build in the aftermath."
https://pplsartofwar.substack.com/p/how-do-nations-survive-years-of-lead
3. "The mistake most people make is believing stability is the norm. It isn’t. Chaos is the default state of the world. Your ability to survive and thrive - depends on how well you move through it.
You don’t need to know what comes next, only that you have the ability to handle it when it arrives. That’s confidence and determination to use chaotic times to your advantage. Even to your benefit.
Confidence is not knowing the future - it is knowing that no future will arrive without you adapting to meet it.
Survival in a chaotic time is not about avoiding hardship—it’s about being the kind of person who outlasts it. You do not need to predict the storm. You need to know where to stand when it arrives."
https://gatelessbarrier.substack.com/p/how-to-survive-in-a-time-of-chaos
4. "Why does this old-world virtue still matter? Because sprezzatura represents the antidote to today’s fast paced and self-centered culture.
In a time when people chase constant validation, the man who quietly excels without self-promotion is magnetic to others. He reminds us that true confidence comes from within. That kind of elegance is not something one flaunts to gain the attention of others. It is part of a natural mastery of skills and confidence in every aspect of life.
Sprezzatura is about presence, not performance. It’s about elegance without effort.
To live with sprezzatura is to live with grace under pressure and humility in success.
A gentleman should never be too rigid or frantic. And he must never appear desperate to be noticed. Instead, he should be known for his cool presence, his ease, and the quiet mastery that speaks even when he says nothing at all."
https://thewaysofagentleman.substack.com/p/sprezzatura-the-gentlemans-art-of-61c
5. "The bear case on Google usually centers on innovator’s dilemma – they’re too wedded to search revenue to fully embrace AI. But that misreads what’s happening. Google isn’t trying to protect search; they’re using search to bootstrap into AI dominance. The search business generates $200+ billion annually to fund AI development. That’s a war chest that dwarfs any competitor.
In the end, AI competition isn’t about who has the best demo or the most hype. It’s about who can train the biggest models, deploy them most efficiently, and improve them fastest based on real-world feedback. On all three dimensions, Google’s structural advantages compound over time. They might not win every news cycle, but they’re positioned to win the war."
https://investinginai.substack.com/p/why-google-will-win-the-ai-race
6. "When strategists sit down to move pieces on the global chessboard, they aren’t just moving tanks or ships — they’re answering that first, deceptively simple question: What kind of world are we living in?
If you believe in liberalism, you’ll bet on trade, democracy, and institutions to keep the peace. If you believe in realism, you’ll assume every rival is out to maximize power — and you’ll plan accordingly.
The tragedy, as John Mearsheimer reminds us, is that leaders may wish for peace, but the system rarely lets them choose it. The world isn’t a seminar room or a family dinner table — it’s closer to a cage match with no referee.
And that’s why, whether in the Pentagon or Zhongnanhai, the answer to that opening question still determines everything."
https://jaymartin.substack.com/p/from-the-pentagon-to-beijing-one
7. Living large in Shanghai. Also some insight on how China is winning the EV war and are just able to build stuff.
We need to be paying attention and stop with the Western Cope and arrogance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4yBZ4QJYNY
8. "The model for making money on the internet these days is straightforward, if difficult to execute: build an audience and charge subscribers for content.
This is how OnlyFans influencers like Mia Khalifa have made millions. It’s how Substack writers like Heather Cox Richardson have become more influential and profitable than traditional media outlets. It’s not that different from “as a service” business models, which rely on marketing to build a customer base and then charge customers for a recurring online service.
Who popularized this style of business? Who should numerous people and companies credit for determining how to make money online?
All roads lead to an unlikely source: a stripper and softcore porn star who went by the name Danni Ashe.
Ashe, who’s been lauded as the only person in history to be featured on the cover of both the Wall Street Journal and Juggs is the original internet subscription entrepreneur. But even as her pioneering business ideas have become the surest way for creators to make money online, she’s largely been forgotten."
https://thehustle.co/originals/the-stripper-who-ushered-in-the-modern-subscription-based-internet
9. 7-15 years out. Humanoid robots, the biggest opportunity in tech. Driven by AI. "Infinite Labor machines."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdHLZt_B51U
10. "The counter-intuitive truth is this: to build manufacturing strength, invest where it already exists. Spreading jobs evenly across regions may seem fair from a regional development perspective, but it dilutes expertise, limits knowledge spillovers, and undermines competitiveness. Manufacturing excellence depends on dense ecosystems where process know-how circulates naturally between suppliers, producers, and supporting industries. Networks of specialised suppliers, technical education institutions, and related sectors cannot be recreated through isolated factories.
Accordingly, European industrial strategy should concentrate resources in existing geographic clusters rather than dispersing them for political reasons. Some regions must become centres of excellence, while others focus on complementary economic strengths. In addition, modern clusters need more than factory space. They require housing for technicians and engineers, proximity to urban centres that attract skilled professionals, and a critical mass of related industries to generate career progression, innovation, and knowledge spillovers.
Concentrating industrial investment in clusters may feel counter to traditional notions of fairness, but it creates the density and dynamism that underpin long-term industrial competitiveness.
Now, clusters provide the physical and human foundation, but without the right financial tools, investment cannot scale effectively—Europe must also develop production capital."
https://www.driftsignal.com/p/europes-new-industrial-challenge
11. Stephen Kotkin on how Europe can defend themselves against Russian hybrid war & general aggression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gymefXjpn5A&t=75s
12. Another good episode from the NIA guys, teardown of latest tech news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7llzftWF8&list=PLIBc05HkMJHFpVxxZTD-_MbTAYtwAOEg_
13. It's hard to listen to this. So much admiration for the Ukrainian armed forces and people. Incredible spirit and endurance. We owe them support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7mCuNQiE6w
14. "I see this constantly. Founders with ten users claiming they’ll have millions next year. No business model, no go-to-market strategy, just slides full of dreams. They’re so busy pretending to be crushing it, they forget to actually build something."
https://newsletter.startupistanbul.com/p/the-next-unicorn
15. I guess we will see if this comes to pass.
"It looks like Russia is also being pulled into China’s priorities, namely helping them with Taiwan. Meanwhile, Trump remains on track with China, especially with the Communist Party, to reach some kind of a deal. The ramping up on the American side is no doubt related to the meeting the two sides have now agreed to. I remain convinced that, in the end, the US and China will set the terms of the Grand Bargain. Russia, Europe and Ukraine will have to accept whatever deal the US and China announce. Trump will meet his Chinese counterparts next months in south Korea and both sides have agreed to a state visit in Beijing in early 2026."
https://drpippa.substack.com/p/the-hot-war-in-cold-places-continues
16. Pretty important discussion on how to reindustrialize America and build scale. Creating Freedom's Forge 2.0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShkxpBoObCQ
17. "Smart local capital tells us that something is seriously amiss. That is why France has the largest TARGET deficit of any country in the euro. If the second-largest economy in the euro with the largest debt load is experiencing a bank walk, it doesn’t bode well for the future of the common currency. The problem is that France is too big to fail, but too big to bail out as well. And this is where it becomes interesting for Satoshi’s faithful. What will the policy response be from the French politicians, the ECB, and foreign monetary authorities to the quickly deteriorating French finances?
This essay will focus on why France is fucked. Why a change in US monetary and foreign policy means German and Japanese capital can no longer finance the generous French welfare state. The variety of ways France can steal capital from domestic and foreign savers. And finally, what the policy options are for the ECB. The TLDR is that many folks will wake up one morning and understand that money in the bank is not yours and then fully comprehend why Bitcoin is so necessary. The ECB will valiantly print money to forestall the loss of its raison d’être. It shall be a glorious day for the faithful as printed euros will combine with printed dollars, yuan, yen, etc to bid up the price of Bitcoin.
If you are not a denizen of Europe™ do not buy European financial assets under any circumstances. Instead, buy some Bitcoin, sit back and watch your sick gainz as printed euros contribute to the bull market in growth of the fiat money supply. If you want to know when the cracks in the euro will emerge, watch the trajectory of France’s TARGET deficit."
https://cryptohayes.substack.com/p/bastille-day
18. "Socialism-lite turns out to be a very delicate balancing act. The oligarchs need to constrict the economy sufficiently to mute the rise and influence of rivals, but not so much that they cause economic collapse or specific catastrophes that would result in them being discredited and thrown out. They were managing this balance fairly well until the Ukraine war messed it up for them, and now their backs are against the wall.
At the same time, they have turned their gaze towards the Atlantic with trepidation. They see in Trump’s election a vision of the dark future that awaits them if they let New Men like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and whoever else get out of hand. They’ve also noticed that key actors in the American tech sector played some role in Trump’s victory, and this is yet another reason for them to hate the whole world of technological innovation, from the internet in general to social media and large language models and everything in between. It is a very worrying source of New Men.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t think our oligarchs sat down at a table somewhere and hashed out climatism to mess up the economy. The oligarchy is very large and diffuse, but like everybody else they are inclined to believe things that redound to their practical benefit. Climatism emerged via a confluence of interests, but the oligarchs’ enthusiasm was decisive."
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/climatism-as-an-oligarchic-strategy
19. Supply chains are the key to victory in war. Logistics in Ukraine & Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4EOL_Nn3Xk
20. The best B2B investing show right now. Worth listening to every week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4uXoaRVoCQ
21. Critical Minerals Crisis. This is a bit depressing but solving a problem requires acknowledging we have one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUZbLsNrOoM
22. "Truly great companies don’t just talk about what they make possible. They bear witness to what’s at stake. What could be lost; what could be gained; and why it matters — in human terms. That’s how American Dynamism companies earn trust, build momentum, and convince the brightest people who could probably work anywhere to take on challenging, dirty problems for (often) lower salary. Because it’s worth it.
The most important work can’t be reduced to an abstraction. American Dynamism sectors are too consequential and too complex for platitudes to carry the weight. Tim O’Brien’s lesson is that the most powerful storytelling makes the message vivid in concrete detail, in the contradictions customers actually live with, and in the people whose lives are shaped by it."
https://ryanomics.com/p/storytelling-in-american-dynamism
23. Wide ranging but valuable discussion on building tech & great startups in Silicon Valley with Marc Andreessen, Charlie Songhurst and John Collison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_1cTlLpNMg&t=2721s
24. "Notable here I think that Europe is now moving full pelt in using immobilised CBR assets - the underlying assets, all $330 billion in Western juridications, to support Ukraine. German chancellor Merz has announced his support for a €140 billion reparations loan to use these assets to secure Ukraine’s financing for the next few years - the European Commission is in agreement. I understand the UK, US and other G7 countries will follow suit.
That will secure Ukraine well over $200 billion in financing, more than enough to cover its financing needs for several years to come. And how better than to get the Russian taxpayer to pay for the costs of its aggression against Ukraine and for the defence of Europe. I expect some of these monies will be used to fund joint ventures to take Ukrainian defence innovation and put these into mass production in Europe and to ensure Europe’s defence. Likely some will be used as seed capital for Ukrainian - European defence innovation funds to again fast track Europe, and Ukraine’s defence capabilities against Russia.
Europe’s defence, and survival, now depends on Ukraine. Ukraine can win this war for itself, and for Europe."
https://timothyash.substack.com/p/ukraine-is-the-key-to-europes-defence
25. We are nowhere close to a coherent strategy right now.
"While Trump’s first administration was famous for assembling a “team of rivals,” Trump 2.0 takes the dynamic to new heights — featuring a bureaucratic civil war (and occasionally literal fist fights) between economic nationalists seeking to rebuild American industrial capacity, hard-power competitors determined to maintain technological and military superiority, and transactional restrainers pursuing concrete deals that reduce the cost of foreign entanglement.
The tragedy of Trump’s China policy is that each camp has legitimate goals and credible policy ideas to achieve them — but pursuing all three at once creates a strategic schizophrenia that leaves America weaker than committing fully to any single path.
The past nine months have delivered contradictory lurches on trade, technology, Taiwan, and American alliances in Asia. A coherent National Security Strategy — one that finally clarifies what the United States wants from China — is the administration’s best path out of this morass."
https://www.choosingvictory.com/p/the-war-for-americas-china-policy
26. Understanding stablecoins and why it's a big deal in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgFvKjVmbRI
27. Reality is brutal. A big self-own by America. End of US dollar dominance & geopolitics. Gold, Bitcoin and Land (and bullets) probably not a bad idea to have as part of your portfolio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZNS1zjBthU
28. This was a great episode, back to business like it started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddAwgZ6ietc&t=394s
29. "Entrepreneurs would do well to remember this: control your controllables. What’s within your power? What’s outside of it? How can you keep your team focused on what they can control—and not distracted by what they can’t?
At the end of the day, entrepreneurs must control their controllables."
https://davidcummings.org/2025/10/04/control-your-controllables/
30. "If anyone could claim the title of the most interesting man in the world, it would probably be Sir Richard Francis Burton. The Victorian Era adventurer spoke 29 languages, translated the Kama Sutra into English, and completed the sacred Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca while in disguise. While these feats alone are impressive, they merely scratch the surface of this gentleman’s incredible life."
https://thewaysofagentleman.substack.com/p/sir-richard-francis-burton-the-most-257
31. "This is what the 996 crowd doesn’t understand. They post their suffering like medals. Screenshot their commits. Count their hours. They’re performing intensity to avoid asking if they even care.
Mercenaries do performance theater about 996. Missionaries don’t even look at the clock.
You can’t beat someone who thinks they’re playing.
When you genuinely love the problem, the hours disappear. You’re not counting. You’re playing."
https://writing.nikunjk.com/p/996-is-not-your-competition
32. Back to the future. PMCs aka Mercenaries will thrive in this new global disorder. Especially in the global south.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuuANWNrOtA
33. "This is balance through multiplicity. The Saudis are creating overlapping deterrent links that prevent any single regional power, Israel included, from claiming a monopoly over Gulf security.
It’s mostly signaling, rather than a broader military policy shift. Riyadh is showing it has options.
Saudi Arabia aligns without binding itself, diversifies without replacing its core patrons. Then exploits the contradictions between powers to create room for its own diplomacy. Others must now calculate with that fact in mind."
https://pplsartofwar.substack.com/p/whats-behind-the-saudi-pakistan-mutual
34. As always, an eye opening take on China's grand ambitions and capabilities.