Alex Li

Manufactured Recognition: AI Companions and the Social Conditions of Reciprocity

AI companion services offer continuing, personalized conversation as friendship or intimacy. Their relational features are also product choices: providers configure personas, memory, access, and the criteria by which responses are selected. Drawing on product documentation, a dev...

Beyond GDP: A Three-Axis Theory of National Influence Capacity

Why can a commercially small state exercise influence beyond its output, while a materially large state loses leverage when alliances, payment channels, or administrative reach fracture? This article develops a three-axis theory of national influence capacity: productive capacity...