Archive
Every connection in one place.
When a rising power meets a ruling one
Why do a rising power and a ruling power so often end up at war?
Arguing your way to truth
Can disagreement be a tool instead of a fight?
The work of a human being
What did the Stoics actually teach, and what do we get wrong about them?
The rescue you didn't earn
Why does an unearned ending feel like cheating?
Charity before the welfare state
Who fed the poor before governments did?
Nothing for nothing
Why does every favor create a debt?
Good enough, fast enough
Why do shortcuts so often beat perfect calculation?
True but empty
Can a statement be perfectly true and worth nothing?
Power you can see
Why do rulers make the body speak?
Land for loyalty
How do you govern a kingdom without money or a state?
The password you cannot fake
How do groups tell insiders from outsiders?
The misstep that marks you
Why can one small mistake reveal so much?
Inventing is not commercializing
Why did the printing press bankrupt its inventor and enrich a city he never worked in?
Structured conversation as self-improvement
Can a club make its members smarter?
Chosen hardship
Why would anyone choose the cold water?
Loyalty versus competence
What does it cost to give loyalty its own chain of command?
Reforming without letting go
Can a system built on control loosen its grip and keep its balance?
The boundary of the sayable
Why do impossible ideas become policy?
Who gets the new money first
Why does printing money help some people and hurt others?
What hidden knowledge does to markets
Why do the best used cars never reach the lot?
Stable is not the same as good
Why do bad situations persist when everyone can see they are bad?
The vital few
Why do a few causes produce most of the results?
Being behind concentrates effort
What does losing a race do to the loser?
Order costs energy
Why does everything drift toward disorder unless something pushes back?
The alarm that runs ahead of thought
Why do you flinch before you know what scared you?
Attention is filtered before it is conscious
Why do you suddenly notice a word everywhere the day after you learn it?
Happiness resets
Why does the thing you were sure would make you happy stop working?
A model that survives attempts to kill it
What makes an idea scientific rather than just convincing?
Naming machine labor
What did we reveal by calling our machines “forced labor”?
The point past which models fail
Is there a horizon in the future we cannot see beyond?
Competence without wisdom
Could a machine be brilliant and still do something catastrophically stupid?
Ideas that punish knowing them
Can a piece of true information hurt you simply by being known?
Is this base reality?
How could you tell whether the world around you is real?
Civilization measured in energy
How would you rank civilizations you cannot see or visit?
Breaking an impossible question into factors
How do you make progress on a question you can't answer?
Stability without effort
Is there a place you can stay put in space almost for free?