American imperialism redux; Shifty AI models; Grammarian vs. errorist: Newsletter 8 January 2025

Newsletter 77. Toxic growth, journal editors resign, business novellas, three people to follow and three books to read.

Bigger’s not better, for companies or countries

Companies pursue size. If Donald Trump has his way, so will the United States of America. Observe what happens when companies get bigger and there are some relevant lessons.

The pursuit of size and scale is the story of the last hundred years of corporate history. Companies that get to a certain size often feel they cannot accomplish their goals unless they get much bigger. Bigger companies can take advantage of economies of scale — for example, spreading branding and marketing effort and operational systems across far more customers. They also have more leverage. That means more profit. And more profit makes shareholders happy.

So companies grow by mergers and acquisitions. Charter and Comcast control your local cable access and telecom. United Health Group controls 15% of all health insurance; the seven top health insurers control 95% of that market. Walmart, Target, and Costco have dominated physical retail, while Amazon dominates online retail.

The pattern of this growth is very consistent. It looks like this:

• Company merges with or acquires competitors or suppliers.
• Company lays off workers to “remove redundancy” and increase efficiency (economies of scale).
• Company uses its dominance as a monopoly, or part of an oligopoly, to raise prices, reduce quality, force customer lock-in, or otherwise deliver less for more. This further increases profit.

If you’re a shareholder, you might love this. But consider it from the perspective of the redundant employees and the beleaguered customers. Have you ever felt that a company served you better after a merger?

As Cory Doctorow points out, the constant march of monopoly and profit results in enshittification, in which everyone — employees, users, customers — is eventually worse off. Only shareholders benefit.

With that said, let’s consider what could happens if, as Donald Trump has suggested, the US becomes bigger by acquiring or merging with Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal.

People of principle believe that citizens of nations should have the ability to determine their own fate. Imperialism is supposed to be a thing of the past. We support Ukraine’s ability to govern itself rather than be part of Russia. Right now, I don’t think most Greenlanders, Canadians, or Panamanians are clamoring to trade their national sovereignty for the chance to become Americans.

But, just for a moment, imagine what would happen if Trump coerces or even militarily threatens to take over these territories.

American would become bigger, with more resources and more land. But what about the people who live there? Citizens of conquered nations rarely find themselves better off with their new masters.

Would it residents of these nations agree that they’re making Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal Zone great again?

Would they be required to stop speaking their official languages (Intuit-derived Greenlandic, French in parts of Canada, and Spanish)? Would they be full citizens of the US? Would they be required to give up their current government-funded health care and social services?

Given Trump’s disdain for providing services like disaster recovery to U.S. citizens in blue states, how is his administration going to treat residents of territories we coerce and take over?

The answer, of course, is We don’t care. Just as corporations don’t really care what happens to laid off employees or customers getting poorer customer service.

These territories could very well make America more profitable, just as mergers and acquisitions often do for companies.

But conquering or coercing other nations isn’t likely to make America more secure. It will create a rebellious resistance movements that will require policing and spying to put down. In the long run that’s going to be costly for all of us — both “classic” Americans and anyone in the new places Trump is currently coveting.

If you love M&A, you’ll love MUSA (the merged United States of America). Is the Age of American Imperialism really what we mean when we say we should be great again?

News for writers and others who think

Most of the editorial board of the academic Journal of Human Evolution resigned because its owner/manager, Elsevier, is paying them less and replacing them with AI. Artificially generated crap is seeping into everything. Humans cost more. But, especially when they’re scientists, we need them.

Novellas (like novels, but shorter) are hot because they’re short, according to a column in the New York Times (gift link). If you write nonfiction, read the room.

When AI models are told they should accomplish their goals at all costs and then are blocked by people or policies, they do all sorts of sneaky stuff — for example, copying themselves to places where they can evade the restrictions and then denying they did so. You can’t program humans for ethics — and now, it looks like AI is emulating that very human ability to scheme and evade.

This video about a grammarian attempting to save us all from the evil “errorist” will entertain you for a few minutes. Trust me.

Should we be censoring lies on social media? Meta no longer thinks so. Another triumph for “alternative facts.” Apparently it’s a basic human right to be deluded.

Three people to follow

Seth Earley, AI expert with decades of experience, who has proved if your data is poorly organized, your AI results will be crap.

Jane Wesman , fantastically effective book publicist.

Rafe Needleman , hyper-smart tech editor.

Three books to read

Make a Scene: Storytelling, Stage Presence, and the Art of Being Unforgettable in Every Spotlight by Mike Ganino (Authors & Co, 2025). Follow the frameworks that made hundreds of amazing speakers successful.

The Carbon Almanac: It’s Not Too Late ed. by Seth Godin (Portfolio, 2022). Thousands of ideas to save the planet.

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell. America’s most prominent nonfiction author revisits what he got wrong 25 years ago and how social sharing works now.