What you missed in March 2025

Masayoshi Son’s legacy, the false promise of abundance, who is free software for, and much more!

Photos: Flickr/Noboyuki Hayashi, The World If meme, Unsplash/Florian Olivo

Do you feel liberated? The spectacle Donald Trump put on at the White House this past week was something to behold, not just because of the empty showmanship, but because of how it continues to tank the United States’ relationships with so much of the world — let alone its own economy. You have to wonder at what point it gets so bad the US government is finally pulled into line once again by the country’s own elites, but that also seems hard to imagine for the moment.

Well, another month is behind us — and we’re already a few days into April. Things have been a little slow with Disconnect lately, in part because my travel schedule has been intense, but also because of some bigger projects I’m plugging away at and hoping to have details on soon. I will get back to a more regular posting schedule this month though — and hope to share some insights from those travels too, including my experience driving some Chinese cars in New Zealand.

Before we get into the roundup, a few quick notes about what I’ve been up to: Over the past month, I’ve given talks in Dublin and San Francisco, with another coming soon in Auckland if you happen to be in that part of the world. I did interviews with Dystopia Now, Second Thought, and most recently with The Majority Report. Plus, I’ve been continuing to interview brilliant critics over on Tech Won’t Save Us and have great discussions on System Crash. For the next few weeks I’m also doing a show on the Canadian election with my friend Rachel Gilmore.

Now, with all that said, let’s get to the stories you might have missed in March — including great pieces about what’s going on with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, bullshit calls for abundance, and who free software really serves.

Fingers crossed for a good April!

— Paris