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by Jonathan Mena Ya know, I’ve always had a problem with GDP. Gross Domestic Product. Every time it grows, the world rejoices. But I wonder … who  is actually growing? When you look at it, GDP doesn’t measure the well-being of people. It measures the output of a system. Is that really the defining factor of a successful country? Put simply, GDP is a measure of how much money moves. It’s one big, fat receipt. If more things are bought, sold, or financed, the number rises. If f

by Jonathan Mena (And by proxy, why you should) Most people who should start startups don’t need to be told to. So, kind reader, perhaps you shouldn’t. Everyone else probably shouldn’t either. I say this without ego. It’s just that the kind of delusional, narcissistic, borderline sadistic person who becomes obsessed with an idea or problem can’t stop thinking about it. So if you need to be convinced by an essay written by a 24-year-old at 7 p.m. on a random Friday night to st

by Jonathan Mena How collective judgment shapes individual behavior At a Fiesta supermarket one afternoon, I caught myself thinking something I didn’t like. A girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, stood in front of me at the checkout line. She had a cart that was mostly empty…a few items, nothing that suggested a big purchase. When her turn came, her parents suddenly appeared. Each of them had a cart filled to the brim. They cut in with her, as if it were planned all along. I felt

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I’m even doing this… writing essays. It’s not for clout or clicks. It’s partly selfish, but I’m mitigating that by not promoting these at all. They’ll be published quietly on my personal site, and that’s it. I’m trying to think out loud, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing around me. But deeper than that, I think it’s because of a quiet trend in the Hispanic community that’s been bothering me: anti-intellectualism. “But Jonathan, what do