Library

The Library

The content library, arranged as learning paths — from the Pillars of Power to the latest Insights. Each piece links to its full text on Substack.

42 pieces · updated October 11, 2026

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Canonical pieces

Path 1

Getting to Know AquaVis

How AquaVis sees, how the content fits together, and where to begin.

  1. The AquaVis Map 2026-06-02
    How AquaVis content fits together, from foundational frameworks to current Insights, and where to start reading.
  2. Content User Guide 2026-03-20
    A guide to AquaVis content types, series and frameworks, and how to navigate the archive.
  3. Framework 2025-01-26
    An overview of the AquaVis approach: first principles, Nature-inspired patterns and the Pillars of Power.
Path 2

Foundations: the Pillars of Power

See any headline through Technology, Energy, and Money, and know what Power is made of.

  1. Pillars of Power 2024-06-28
    The Pillars of Power framework explained: why Technology, Energy and Money are the three sources of national power and how they connect.
  2. Interconnected Flywheels All the Way Down 2026-06-14
    Why energy flows sit beneath every system, from Nature to nations, and how interconnected flywheels explain power, markets and change.
  3. The Way of AquaVis 2025-07-11
    The philosophy behind AquaVis: observe Nature, follow the flows, simplify the complex, and position with the current.
  4. The Three Duties of Power 2026-06-06
    A framework for judging leaders: the three duties that come with power, and how they apply to nations, companies and individuals.
  5. The System Series: Power & Pendulums (Part I) 2025-11-27
    Why power swings between extremes in four recurring pendulums, and how to tell where each one sits today.
Path 3

The System: from Old to New

Why the post-WWII System broke, what is replacing it, and the order in which it is happening.

  1. The End of the old & The Beginning of the New 2026-05-09
    Why the post-WWII system has reached its limit, and what the New System being built in its place looks like.
  2. The System Series: Tariffs (Part I) 2025-04-27
    Tariffs are a tool for rebuilding the system, not just a tax. How they expose imbalances, create leverage and fund the transition.
  3. The System Series: Tariffs (Part II) 2025-05-25
    Shock, allied deals, then China: the tariff phases laid out in May 2025, and why they point to a peaceful US-China re-balancing.
  4. PoP: The Middle East & The Emergence of a New System 2025-06-11
    Why the 2025 Gulf deals trading Technology for Money and Energy became the template for US alliances in the New System.
  5. Insight: Semiconductors > Rubber Ducks 2026-06-26
    Why the US reshores chips and other critical products but not rubber ducks, and what the distinction means for trade, tariffs and markets.
  6. PoP: The Multi-Decade Quiet War & The System Phase Transition (Part I) 2026-04-25
    The decades-long, mostly unseen contest between the US and China across Technology, Energy and Money, and why it is coming to a head.
  7. PoP: The Multi-Decade Quiet War & The System Phase Transition (Part II) 2026-05-06
    How decades of quiet competition built the imbalances behind today's US-China shift, and why a peaceful re-balancing is now possible.
  8. The Current Beneath the Chaos 2026-05-15
    Tariffs, Greenland, Panama, rare earths, stablecoins and Space were not separate events. One sequence connects them, step by step.
  9. Insight: The Signal Is in the Sequencing 2026-09-27
    Tariffs, allied deals, then China talks: how the order of US moves since 2025 reveals the strategy, and what the sequence points to next.
Path 4

Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny

How one generation's decisions over 30 years shaped today's economy, markets, and society.

  1. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part I) 2026-01-31
    Why demographics are the slowest, most predictable force in the system, and how generational flows shape policy, markets and power.
  2. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part II) 2026-02-04
    Follow the Boomer cohort through 30 years of decisions on debt, trade and markets to see why the system looks the way it does today.
  3. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part III) - Corporates 2026-02-15
    How short-term incentives drove buybacks and offshoring, and what that cost US productive capacity and national security.
  4. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part III) - Stock Market Ownership & Control 2026-02-20
    Who owns US stocks by generation and wealth, how that ownership translates into control, and why it matters for markets and policy.
  5. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part III) - Stock Market Composition 2026-02-22
    How passive flows and demographics concentrated the stock market in a handful of companies, and the risks that concentration creates.
  6. The System Series: Demographics, Decisions, & Destiny (Part III) - Society 2026-02-27
    How the decisions of one generation shaped affordability, inequality and trust for the generations that followed.
Path 5

US and China: the Peaceful Re-Balancing

Read US-China competition as a re-balancing rather than a march to war, and track it with signposts.

  1. PoP: US & The Trump Agenda 2025-02-16
    The second Trump term read through the Pillars of Power: what the US is building in Technology, Energy and Money, and why.
  2. PoP: China & The Xi Agenda 2025-02-25
    Xi's agenda read through the Pillars of Power: China's strengths, dependencies and goals in Technology, Energy and Money.
  3. PoP: US & China - Connecting the Dots 2025-03-02
    How early-2025 US and China moves connect through Technology, Energy and Money, and what they signalled about the tariff phase.
  4. PoP: US & The Trump Agenda - 6 Months In 2025-08-10
    A six-month review of the Trump agenda through Technology, Energy and Money: tariffs, deals, public-private partnerships and next steps.
  5. PoP: US & China - Important Perspective on Cold War 2.0 2026-03-07
    Why US-China rivalry is better read as a re-balancing than a march to war, through Technology, Energy and Money.
  6. Insight: How to Peacefully Re-Balance the World 2026-06-28
    A short guide to the Peaceful Re-Balancing: how the US and China can correct decades of imbalance through trade, currency and production.
  7. The Peaceful Re-Balancing in Motion 2026-05-26
    A short update on the US-China Re-Balancing after the May 2026 summit: what moved, and the signposts still ahead.
  8. The Three Duties of Power: The Trump Admin Scorecard 2026-06-16
    A scorecard of the Trump administration against the Three Duties of Power: what it is shepherding, strengthening and rebuilding.
  9. PoP: US & China - A Brief Update on Cold War 2.0 2026-03-03
    A short update on US-China competition in early 2026 and the signposts that matter next.
Path 6

The New Spheres: Arctic, Space, Ocean

Why competition is moving to new physical frontiers, and how they connect.

  1. PoP: The Arctic & Its Rising Importance 2025-03-09
    Greenland was not a real estate bid. Why the Arctic sits where Technology, Energy and Money meet, and why it matters for Space.
  2. PoP: Space & The New Frontier 2025-07-27
    How Space connects Technology, Energy and Money, why SpaceX matters to national power, and why the Moon is the next chokepoint.
  3. PoP: Elon Musk & His Rising Importance 2025-03-26
    How Musk's interconnected companies span Technology, Energy and Space, and why they matter to US national power.
  4. The New Spheres 2026-07-29
    Why the Arctic, Space and the deep Ocean are becoming the contested frontiers of US-China competition through Technology, Energy and Money.
Path 7

Money, Markets, and Mind

Apply the frameworks to capital and attention.

  1. Media, Markets, & Mindset 2026-03-16
    How media incentives and market narratives capture attention, and the mindset needed to think independently about both.
  2. The Battle for Your Mind 2026-07-10
    Why attention is the scarcest resource in a noisy system, how media and markets compete for it, and how to protect independent thinking.
  3. The Pillars of Power Portfolio 2026-04-01
    Why the 60/40 portfolio is a relic, and how a portfolio balanced across Technology, Energy and Money adapts to a changing system.
  4. Re-Balancing at Extremes: PoP Portfolio Pivot Points 2026-06-18
    How the Pillars of Power Portfolio shifts between Technology, Energy and Money when one becomes stretched, with the 2026 pivot points.
  5. Insight: The Top of the Wave 2026-07-03
    Why June 2026 looked like the crest of the technology wave: concentration, positioning and the signals that called for re-balancing.
  6. The Pillars of Power Portfolio - Update 2026-05-20
    An update on the Technology, Energy and Money portfolio: what changed, why it re-balanced, and how it is positioned now.
  7. The Multi-Year Mar-a-Lago Accord (Prelude) 2026-09-20
    How tariffs, stablecoins and allied deals form a multi-year plan to keep dollar dominance without a strong dollar, and the signposts to watch.
  8. Insight: Tracks, Then Trains 2026-10-11
    The Financial bubble can pop while the Revolution continues — Phase 1 concentrated the value, Phase 2 will distribute it.
  9. The Application Layer 2026-06-21
    How AquaVis moves from understanding the System to applying it: where frameworks meet portfolios, time and attention.

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