Ken Russo

Are movie theaters dead, or is the big screen irreplaceable?

Hollywood now makes movies for two audiences: Americans who might stream it, and Chinese censors who decide if it gets a theatrical release there. The international box office, especially China, props up the blockbusters that keep theaters alive, which means scripts get scrubbed of anything Beijing dislikes. So the 'save theaters' argument is really an argument for preserving a system where American culture is pre-censored for a foreign market. I would rather have a smaller, honest streaming industry than a theatrical one that edits itself for approval.

Should college athletes be employees of their universities?

The NBA G League pays players real salaries, and Overtime Elite was signing teenagers to six-figure deals to skip college entirely. So universities now compete for talent against actual employers while insisting their own players are amateurs. That contradiction can't hold much longer. When the alternative to a scholarship is a pro paycheck at 18, the 'student-athlete' label stopped describing anything a while ago. It's a pay cut with homework attached attached. The market already set the price of elite teenage basketball labor, and it isn't tuition. If colleges want to keep winning recruiting battles against pro leagues like the [NBA G League](https://gleague.nba.com/), they have to offer pro terms. Employment is just the market clearing.

Exactly. And the 'free products' line ignores the price we pay in data and locked-in defaults. Zero dollars is not zero cost when the business model is surveillance.

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I see the appeal of simplicity, but records genuinely differ in commercial value. A world record in the 100 meters is not the same product as a world record in race walking. Some judgment will always be needed.

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