The Internet Found a Way to Monetize Reality Itself. It's Going Exactly as You'd Expect - Week in Tech

How much would it take for you to tattoo a memecoin's name on your forehead? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the platform where crypto speculators pay strangers to do almost anything in service of pumping their coin's value: Pump.fun Go. But Taylor argues this is bigger than a weird internet rabbit hole — it’s a burgeoning ‘bounty economy,’ that’s quietly warping reality itself.

Then: Sriram Krishnan, the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, is leaving the White House. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains his impact, what this means for the future of federal tech policy and who is jostling for influence in his place.

Finally, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) on the ‘show’-ification of everything. Even the tech industry is getting into the game, literally. The Founders Fund just bankrolled a slick YouTube series where tech billionaires like Sam Altman and Palmer Luckey play Mafia, the parlor game. It’s bizarre. So why does Silicon Valley keep trying to make content happen, and who is it actually for?

Additional Reading:

These 430 Viral Videos Are Being Preserved in a British Archive
The Bounty Economy Is Breaking Reality - by Taylor Lorenz
Top Trump artificial intelligence adviser to leave the White House
Kareem Rahma and the Tyranny of Web Video Shows | The New Yorker
Can Tech Legends Find the Liar? (Mafia Episode 1)

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