Roel Smelt
Exploring what technology does to us — and then trying it out.

Latest

26
Jun
It Has Already Happened

It Has Already Happened

On Hannah Arendt, Tesla, AI, and Europe’s habit of waking up after the future has already left.
6 min read
26
Jun
The Netherlands Is Better Than It Feels

The Netherlands Is Better Than It Feels

The facts are not subtle: the Netherlands is safer, richer, healthier, better educated and more abundant than in 1990. The problem is that fear has better distribution than progress.
7 min read
24
Jun
The Outside Is the Illusion

The Outside Is the Illusion

Quantum physics does not prove Vedanta. The deeper wound is the fantasy that truth can be understood from outside reality.
7 min read
19
Jun
Europe Is Not Sovereign. It Is Comfortable.

Europe Is Not Sovereign. It Is Comfortable.

Europe mistakes comfort for power. Rutte’s defense warning is not an exception; it is the pattern across AI, compute, cloud, batteries, capital, platforms and industrial scale.
8 min read
18
Jun
The Learning Loop Is the New Firm

The Learning Loop Is the New Firm

Access to AI will become universal. The advantage will belong to firms whose people make their AI smarter every week — and whose AI makes their people sharper every day.
4 min read
17
Jun
Bring Back Draghi

Bring Back Draghi

Europe does not need less morality. It needs more market truth behind morality. Draghi gives the plan; builders create the bargaining chips.
9 min read
16
Jun
The Abundance We Forgot How to Feel

The Abundance We Forgot How to Feel

Europe has become very good at explaining why it is doomed. But a continent living inside historic abundance needs more than critique. It needs gratitude as courage.
8 min read
15
Jun
No Leverage, No Sovereignty

No Leverage, No Sovereignty

Europe keeps trying to regulate the future without building enough leverage to negotiate with it. No leverage, no sovereignty.
8 min read
14
Jun
Truth Is Not a Thought

Truth Is Not a Thought

Why humans, markets, institutions and AI must stay grounded in reality — not in the stories the mind tells about it.
8 min read
13
Jun
Europe Regulates the Gate While Others Build the Next Door

Europe Regulates the Gate While Others Build the Next Door

The real competitor to a gatekeeper is not a bureaucratic choice screen. It is technological disruption.
7 min read