The theme of this issue is bigness. Big ships, big buildings, big data.

The cover story by Jude Russo examines the decline of the American shipping industry. Ships are the main way international trade gets from point A to point B and also a crucial element of America’s national defense. If it ever becomes necessary to get tons of supplies from our shores to, say, the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy can’t do the job alone. Commercial ships will be called to assist. If there aren’t enough of them, then that will be a problem.

The decline of American shipping can be seen both in manufacturing and in staffing; we neither build ships nor train sailors in the same numbers we once did. Some of the reasons why will be familiar from other industries that have seen manufacturing decline, and some are unique to the maritime world.

Why do men build skyscrapers? Ego is the answer most people give. In the case of the Gulf oil lords who commission record-breaking towers and Adrian Smith, the architect they hire to design most of them, the answer is the same: to do the will of God. TAC regular Nic Rowan profiles the man who built the Burj Khalifa. Keep an eye out for a cameo from Donald Trump at the end of the piece. 

The takeover of the American dating scene by apps has coincided with a fall in marriage rates and fertility. Something is broken in American romance—and AI is about to make it all much worse. Robert Mariani has seen up close the distinctive ethos of Silicon Valley, and his word for it is safetyism. It fears real life and seeks to eliminate life’s dangers by relegating human interaction to the virtual world. Mariani seeks a better way.

There is a bittersweet note to one of the pieces in this issue. Bradley Devlin has been with TAC for three years and risen to the position of political editor. He is moving on to new challenges. Happily, he leaves readers with a final meditation before he departs. Bradley is a proud son of Yorba Linda, California, the hometown of President Richard M. Nixon. Living in Washington and seeing the deep state up close has given Bradley a new appreciation for his hometown hero. He writes eloquently on the man and the place. Farewell, Bradley, it has been a pleasure working with you.