https://mnstry.org/topics/economics/ As machine intelligence gets cheap, everything it is good at gets cheap with it, and the price signal migrates to what abundance cannot manufacture. These articles walk the economics of restraint from the first sorting to the swap test, ending where the long read behind them ends: restraint is the product. https://mnstry.org/writing/escape-goods-and-savor-goods/ https://mnstry.org/writing/escape-goods-and-savor-goods/ The two-category distinction that decides where automation creates value and where it destroys it, and which side human transformation sits on. The canonical treatment of escape and savor goods. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://mnstry.org/writing/positive-friction/ https://mnstry.org/writing/positive-friction/ The case that friction is a design material rather than a defect, from the IKEA effect to the regrets of infinite scroll's inventor. The canonical treatment of positive friction. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://mnstry.org/writing/metric-proxy/ https://mnstry.org/writing/metric-proxy/ How streaks, counts, and scores hollow relationships without taking any of your time, and the design test that separates a metric proxy from an aligned one. The canonical treatment of the metric proxy. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://mnstry.org/writing/counter-positioning-of-restraint/ https://mnstry.org/writing/counter-positioning-of-restraint/ Why restraint that hurts incumbents' metrics is a moat rather than a virtue signal, with Patagonia and Vanguard as the two measured cases. The canonical treatment of counter-positioning applied to restraint. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://mnstry.org/writing/swap-test/ https://mnstry.org/writing/swap-test/ A single question that sorts which human roles stay expensive as intelligence gets cheap, and what exactly it is that refuses to transfer. The canonical treatment of the swap test. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT