Music is part of my monthly budget. Pre-pandemic this included live music, some vinyls on the side, not to mention subscriptions to the streaming platforms. During the pandemic it’s been Bandcamp Fridays, NFTs, and monthly donations through Patreon to support the venues and communities that are the soul of New York City  — that comprise…

James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds begins with a story of British scientist Francis Galton, who on a brisk autumn day in 1906 went to a fair where attendees could guess the weight of an ox. At the time, Galton believed that the average guess would be quite far from the actual weight, and thought…