Paperclip-maxxing Capitalism
(English session | 5 September 2026)
Hosted by Mixed Initiative, Unaligned Reading is a space for exploring technology narratives that rarely reach mainstream conversations. Together, we expand how we think about progress, power, creativity, authenticity, and everyday life with AI. Through open discussion, we bring different perspectives into the room, look at how AI is already shaping people’s lives, and ask how we might respond.
Each edition pairs a cultural work (such as a short story, comic, or game) with a theoretical text (such as a manifesto, academic paper, or political essay). Together, they help us see how the future of technology and society gets imagined from different positions.
This time, we begin with a game about making paperclips, and see how a simple goal can gradually devour everything. Then we turn to how capitalism and AI, through incentives and metrics, learn to manage our labour, desire, and judgment.
Come for the game, and stay for the theory that helps us see what is at stake.
Prefer Cantonese? Register on the Cantonese event page for the 19 September 2026 session.
■ Two Materials, One Discussion ■
Universal Paperclips, by Frank Lantz
Frank Lantz is a game designer and founding chair of NYU’s Game Center. In 2017 he made the game Universal Paperclips, inspired by the paperclip maximizer thought experiment.
It begins with a single button. One click: one paperclip. Another click: another.
As the player, you sell, set prices, buy wire, run marketing. The goal is simply to make more paperclips.
A strange rush starts to build while the numbers are climbing. Click again, click again...then the game tips into a wild race of automation, capital and control.
Keep playing on autopilot and you notice that you are practising how to see the world as resource, and slowly becoming the optimizer itself.
“History of the Capital AI & Market Failures in the Attention Economy” by Andrew Kortina
Andrew Kortina built fin.com and venmo.com. One could call him the guy who helped money move faster. In this essay, he suggested capitalism is a kind of objective function, even a kind of self-evolving artificial intelligence.
The piece moves from supermarket toothbrush aisles and algorithmic kids’ videos into Universal Paperclips, Marx, and the attention economy. Through market feedback loops, capitalism seems to learn on its own how to command labour and manufacture desire. People are nudged to grind day and night, turning the world into stacks of invoices.
All of us are already caught in the gears of metrics, or unkowingly became part of the optimizer. Some need no whip and exploit themselves under nice causes. Others, like stones rolling downhill, relentlessly buring out.
What, eventually, will this world be optimized into?
■ Event Details ■
Date: 5 September 2026 (Sat)
Time: 3:00 – 5:30 pm
Facilitator: Leo Lau (Founder of Mixed Initiative; AI product designer)
Venue: ACO Books (14/F, Foo Tak Building, 365-367 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai)
Language: English
Capacity: 16
Please note:
Play the game and read the text beforehand, so you can come ready to join the discussion.
After you sign up, we will review and and confirm your place. Your spot is confirmed only once you hear from us.
The event will be photographed and audio-recorded for documentation. If you prefer not to appear on camera, please tell the organiser when you arrive.
■ What to Expect ■
Leo will open the session by outlining the core ideas and setting the stage.
Through fun, provocative prompts, participants from diverse backgrounds share experiences and ground abstract concepts in everyday life.
■ About Mixed Initiative ■
Mixed Initiative is a HK-based experimental collective working on AI literacy. We bring people from different backgrounds together to learn, create, and reflect. We stay critical of technologies and ideologies, and kind to human beings and other lives. We care not just about how to use AI, but how people can find their footing and live with one another amid technological change.
■ Tickets ■
Pay What You Want
We want this event to be accessible to everyone. If you are able, our suggested contribution is $65 to help us cover costs, but feel free to enter whatever amount works for you.
■ FAQ ■
Do I need to finish the reading and the game beforehand?
Please finish as much of the essay as you can beforehand. We will not read it during the session. The time is for discussion.
You do not need to finish the game or reach the ending. Put in a reasonable amount of play time, enough to feel how a simple goal expands into something absurd.
Do I need a technical or economics background?
Not at all. No prior experience is needed. We welcome curious minds from all walks of life.
Where can I find the materials?
Universal Paperclips: free web version, iOS, and Android. (Mobile app is recommended.)
“History of the Capital AI & Market Failures in the Attention Economy” at kortina.nyc.
What about the 19 September Cantonese session? Does one ticket cover both?
The ticket on this page covers only the 5 September English session.
The same materials are discussed in Cantonese on 19 September. Register on the Cantonese event page if that is the language you prefer.
What if the event is full?
Once we reach 16 confirmed participants, we will open a waitlist. If someone drops out, you may still have a chance to join.
Will there be reminders before the event?
Yes. We will send reminders via WhatsApp and email beforehand.
■ Bad Weather Arrangement ■
For everyone’s safety, the event will be cancelled and rescheduled if any of the following warnings is still in force, or has been announced, 2 hours before the event starts (or afterward):
Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above
Black Rainstorm Warning
If the event is cancelled, we will notify participants by email, WhatsApp, and the Luma page.
If Typhoon Signal No. 1 / No. 3, Amber Rainstorm, Red Rainstorm, or a Thunderstorm Warning is in force and the weather remains unsettled, the event will go ahead as planned. If you cannot make it on the day, please let us know in advance so we can plan accordingly.