The Theory Brief
Victor ShammasA newsletter about politics, culture, and social theory.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 62 | Founded | 3 years ago | Last Issue | 16 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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theorybrief.comLatest Issues
Will We Someday Punish AI Agents?
Trial of a Sow and Pigs at Lavegny, 1457. From Robert Chambers (ed.), The Book of Days (1863). Wellcome Collection.
Who’s responsible when agentic systems cause harm? In a widely read 2019 article, anthropologist Madeleine Clare Elish coin...
The Tamagotchification of AI
Meta’s Muse Charm. Image: Meta
Browsing the Internet in the age of AI can be frustrating. Many websites now have a distinctly vibe-coded, AI-slopified feel, from the out-of-place dark-mode palette to the all-caps labels to excessive AI ver...
The Politics of Sociological “Liquidation”
Screenshot: Pamela Paul, “Is It Time to ‘Liquidate’ the Study of Sociology?” The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2026. Illustration: WSJ/Getty Images.
A recent Wall Street Journal piece asks whether it is time to liquidate sociology—not a qu...
Elon Musk for the Not-So-Perplexed
Elon Musk at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo: Gage Skidmore)
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed (HarperCollins, 2026).
Elon Musk is one of the...
One Giant Leap for Oligarchy
Bootprint on the Moon, 21 July 1969. Photo: NASA / Buzz Aldrin
The world is becoming ever more oligarchic. As private capital increasingly wields control over essential infrastructure, Silicon Valley’s expanding political influence is forg...
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The writers behind this newsletter.
Associate Professor of Sociology in Norway—with a global perspective. Writing on politics, culture, and social theory.
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