The archive

Articles

Considered, original analysis across the fields Nitikos follows. Fewer pieces, each thought through to the bottom.

AI & Tech

The AI Student Who Never Paid Tuition

Anthropic says Chinese labs ran 24,000 accounts through Claude for 16m answers. What AI distillation is, why export controls can't stop it,…

August 1, 2026
AI & Tech

The Cheapest Brain Wins

The same AI task costs $35 on OpenAI and $1.30 on DeepSeek. Why Chinese AI is so cheap, who's already switching, and…

July 19, 2026
AI & Tech

Everyone Buried Nokia Too Early

Nokia lost the smartphone war but may have won the next one. Inside its $1B NVIDIA deal, AI-RAN, 20,000 patents, and the…

July 11, 2026
Macroeconomics

The Business That Lost Money on Every Sale

For nineteen years the U.S. Mint made a coin worth one cent for 3.69 cents, printed the loss in its own annual…

July 7, 2026
Finance

The Rebellion That Bought Treasuries

Somewhere in El Salvador, a crypto company most people barely understand is lending the U.S. government more money than many sovereign nations…

July 3, 2026
Cross Currents

Last to Build, First to Scrap

India just became the world's number one ship-recycling nation. Celebrate it - then read the second sentence hiding inside the first.

June 27, 2026
Macroeconomics

You Can’t Sanction a Gold Bar

Every signal screamed buy gold, and instead gold fell. The reason isn't weakness. It's who quietly kept buying every dip ...

June 23, 2026
AI & Tech

The Cap Table You Were Never On

Soon you'll pay $20 for what cost $2,000. It'll feel like a gift. The real AI fight isn't about jobs...

June 21, 2026
Geopolitics

The War Behind the War

The 2026 Iran war wasn't decided in Tehran or Washington, but at its edges: Lebanon's hills and Yemen's waters...

June 20, 2026