Essays
My essays are published through the Be Wrong newsletter. I send out posts at least once a month, which is around how long it takes for me to ensure that it's a good essay.
This is the deal I make with my readers. I might not be the best writer you could be reading, but I've gotten pretty good. And I refuse to publish anything that wouldn't be fun to read.
Author's Picks
These are the pieces I think have held up well over time, ranked in descending order of favouriteness. Topics include social dynamics, ideas that are alive, good form, and grand theories of everything. And some econ, of course.
What Do Your Ideas Want From You? — are you being used by your ideas, do you want to be?
The Problem of Too Much Money — yes, it’s a real thing. yes, i wish i had that problem too.
Markets Are Kinda Fake — truly efficient distribution has never been tried.
Form is Fake — you don't have to do it that way + a case for rule-skepticism.
Apologies as Signalling — nervous hedging or signifier of taste?The Expected Value of Friendships — there's still alpha in friendships + other financial analogies.
A Speech I would Like To Give Undergrads — on slow rebellions + avoiding little leagues + doing better.
The Desert Island Test — a thought experiment in mimetic desire + the nebulous nature of wants.
Why We Haven't Solved Everything — a taxonomy for problems + human-complete problems + why they'll always be around.
Network States and the Nature of the Firm — what Coase might have had to say about starting a bunch of new countries.Blogroll
The writers in this list are people who's writing I am always excited to recieve new installments of.
| Blog | About |
|---|---|
| Secretorum | weird ideas, metascience, cults |
| Experimental History | psychology, more weird ideas, culture |
| The McLegibilist | communication theory, humans, metascience, the inexact sciences |
| The Inexact Sciences | communication, philosophy, langauge, social dynamics, illegible science |
| Subpixel Space | internet culture, media, the wonderful web, lots and lots of cool stuff |
| Robin Sloan | books, modern life, short stories, creative computing, the internet |
| Things Of Interest | code, time, science fiction |
| Egg Report | philosophy, culture, short stories, armchair psychology |
| Mythical Strength | lifting, training, rants, raves, getting stronger |
| Default Wisdom | internet history, millennial nostalgia, media ecology, fandom and fan studies, wisdom & advice |
| Numb at the Lodge | culture, the dying internet, pseudepigrapha, essays, manifestos, satyrs and screeds. |
| samzdat | modern society, half-truths, quantification, occassional nihilism |
| Hotel Concierge | psychology, people, culture critique, possible TLP alt |
| Samstack | social science, EA, philosopy, forecasting, interesting miscellania |
| Overthinking Everything | good advice, thinking, estimation, being human |
| Dan Wang | annual letters, technology, China, the secure transport of light |
| Dan Luu | computers, productivity, tech culture, benchmarking |
| chiefofstuff | tech, operating, careers, fun stuff |
| Commoncog | business expertise, learning, careers, 50% academic / 50% practical |
| The Diff | finance, technology, inflections |
| Kalzumeus + BAM | marketting, software, SaaS, careers, financial infrastucture |
| nadia.xyz | tech and OSS culture, co-ordination, ideas, philanthropy, notes |
| Strange Loop Canon | economics, technology, science, society, a science of business |
| The Honest Broker | music, history, culture, internet publishing |
| Table Stakes | law, regulation, policy, realness, vignettes |
| Putanumonit | math, rationalism, economics, dating, numbers and bell curves |
| Information Processing | statistics, genomics, science, economics, optimism of the will |
| Don't Worry About The Vase | game theory, rationality, philosophy, economics and trading |
| Axiom of Chance | math, science, statistics, systems |
| SLIME MOLD TIME MOLD | mad science, epistemics, experiments, bad hypotheses. |
| Bzogramming | computer science, neuroscience, math, programming weirdness |
| Desystemize | philosophy, details and date, decisions, more philosophy, |
| Qualia Computing | qualia, cognitive science, consciousness engineering |