ZD 25.51: The Spirit of 2025
2025, distilled, with a little help from NotebookLM.
NotebookLM explains 2025. In the Distilled Spirit we celebrate a very AFCON Christmas; look into why iPods are making a comeback, and explore selected 2025 round-ups.
Production Note: This is the last issue of 2025. We will be taking a short winter break, see you in January.
2025, Distilled
2025 has had certainly had its fair share of plot twists. We have covered many of them here. If you told a 25 year old me that, in a few decades time, I would be sitting at home being entertained by AI-generated videos in an America where Donald Trump just legalized marijuana I probably would have called you crazy. But here we are. I really appreciate everyone who read and followed. Thank you for your time and your trust.
When you are running a solo operation, retrospectives and lookbacks can be challenging. You really need a writers room. NotebookLM changes that game entirely. It is an amazing tool — one that we have touched on before. For the unfamiliar, it is a Google tool that lets you load a variety of sources into a notebook and then to interact with them using AI.
Like all of the other Google AI tools, NotebookLM is dramatically better of late. Gemini 3, Veo and Nano Banana Pro provide the tools to craft amazing presentations and videos about the content. Google has added a ton of new features and quality of life tweaks to existing ones. Not only can it generate video overviews, you have the ability to guide the style and focus of the output. It is a truly amazing way to explore information.
Rather than just talk about this you can see it in action. Google added the ability to share a notebook publicly. I invite everyone to come explore the Zeitgeist Distilled of 2025 today. Google requires authentication, and I don’t have a way around that so you will need a gmail account. Once you are inside of the notebook, you will be able to interact with the content using the chat features. In addition, see the studio panel on the right for videos and infographics. Or keep reading for some highlights from those.
The Video
There is a technological boom happening on one hand, and massive societal gloom on the other. The response is intellectual survivalism and we move into a probabilistic era.
The Deck
Another way to look at the Zeitgeist is as a tension between three paradoxes. The AI paradox of a creation boom and a jobs and economic bust. The reality paradox where technology is permeating reality while still remaining fragile. The human paradox where we are the most connected and the most isolated mankind has ever been. NotebookLM’s presentation explores those conundrums effectively.
The File
Key Slides
In case you are not in a good place to consume a 21mb PDF, here are the key slides.
Pillar 1
Pillar 2
Pillar 3
Conclusion
No, the Zeitgeist is not a Destination
Thanks for taking this journey with me, I really appreciate your time. I hope everyone has some time for some holiday relaxation and reflection. We will be back in mid-January to continue distilling the Zeitgeist in 2026!
Happy holidays!
The Distilled Spirit
A Very AFCON Christmas
The football gods have given us an AFCON for Christmas. It is an amazing tournament — probably the best on the world. There is always drama and international excitement. There are a variety of play styles and real unknowns. Take some time to enjoy it however you can legally find beIN sports. Here are a few articles to get you in the mood.
🖼️ AFCON and the Art of Storytelling (Tosin Makinde)
AFCON is full of stories. Here are some good ones to get you started.
🌍 The Magic of AFCON (Sportsvrse)
Modern AFCON is a celebration of African diaspora.
📕 AFCON Pocket Guide (On The Whistle)
An amazing guide to the whole tournament, including a team support selection flowchart.
Selected 2025 Wrap-Ups
The flood of 2025 wrap ups has started, this publication included. Here are some good ones.
📰 Best Reads of 2025 (Garrett Johnson)
Garrett curates amazing links, here are his picks for the year.
📈 8 Lessons for Investors (📈 TKer by Sam Ro)
This has been a strange year in the market. Sam puts a bow on it.
🧠 2025 LLM Year in Review (Andrej Karpathy)
The man who coined the term “vibe coding” and is a leading mind in AI wraps up this year’s advances in five points.
🔗 20 Best Links of 2025 (Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends)
Catlin wraps up the cultural story of 2025 in 20 links.
Big Ideas
Some though-provoking pieces to close out the year.
🧐 The Revolution of Rising Expectations (Don't Worry About the Vase)
Rising expectations and requirements more than meet rising wages.
⛔ Make Everything Harder to Use (No Dumb Ideas)
Can making things harder to use make them more valuable?
🎧 Why iPods are Making a Comeback (Emily White)
Your vintage iPod might be worth something. Here is why.
🗣️ How to Become Well Spoken (NoteswNat)
An exhaustive list of ways to become better spoken.
😨 Backtesting CNN’s Fear & Greed Index (Trading Time Machine)
Can you trade on the venerable CNN Fear & Greed index?
All About AI
🤖 AI Agents are Eating SaaS (Martin Alderson)
Software as a service ate the business world. Now your AI tools are replacing your SaaS tools.
🏗️ Configuration Operations is the Key to AI (CipherTalk)
AI infrastructure gets more expensive, the price per token drops. Downtime will be expensive. The winners will be able to deploy fast and clean.
⚡AI Power Accelerating Energy Transition (Julian Alexander Brown)
AI needs unimaginable amounts of power. Clean energy scales faster than fossil fuels and is better positioned to meet the needs.
🤝 What is Working For Companies (Every)
Success is driven by knowing what you want to achieve, having buy in from leadership and it really helps when you have documentation.
Holiday Fun
🎄 Six Christmas Questions You Never Thought to Ask (The Science of Better)
St. Nick is weird and people give some truly bad gifts.
🏰 67 is Old School (Lights On by Farida)
Your kid is probably saying 67. So did Chaucer.
The Look
Bruce Mehlman shares some hope for the holidays, starting with a gentle reminder that the thing that has long term impact probably is not the leading headline.
Happy Holidays!
If you read this far down — Thanks for reading, I really appreciate you taking it all in. Have a great holiday season and a happy new year!
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