Past Mind

Tech History

The Secret Rulers of Everything: Why Every Culture in History Invented the Same Story

From Babylonian shadow councils to medieval Jewish blood libel to QAnon, humans have been generating the same basic conspiracy narrative for at least four thousand years. Modern cognitive psychology doesn't just explain why — it explains why we probably can't stop.

Mar 13, 2026

Tech History

The Rise, Fall, and Stubborn Resurrection of Digg: The Site That Almost Broke the Internet

Before Reddit became the undisputed front page of the internet, there was Digg — a scrappy, user-powered news aggregator that dominated the mid-2000s web. This is the story of how it rose to cultural dominance, lost a war it should have won, and refused to stay dead.

Mar 12, 2026