In Praise of Bad Writers
In praise of bad writers In the summer of 2026 a professor began to suspect that most of his students
Newsletter
The full archive of my newsletter, covering psychology, philosophy, business and culture. Every post features a photo from my travels.
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Skin in the game
This is just a draft of a post I'll share in much better shape next week. I just
Go Get a Name
If I started calling you 'Wainwright', you might wrinkle your nose. Not because it's a weird
The Hunt for Inequality
I often joke that America could solve its immigration problems overnight if it started broadcasting images of McDowell County, West
No Way to Die
For some people, the risk of death is already “priced in”. Economists use that phrase to talk about events that
The Curse of Accretion
There's a video I watched of a man standing by his garden fence filming, narrating as his lawn
The Opposite of Evil is Usually Evil
The Opposite of Evil is Usually Evil I remember first hearing the story of Icarus as a child, and you
A life of hard things
Things should be harder than they are. Or, perhaps it's better to say, things are often much easier
The Stranger You'll Become
The Stranger You’ll Become Hal Hershfield put people in brain scanners and asked them to think about themselves; about
The Most Improbable Thing
The Most Improbable Thing The universe seems to strive for equilibria; for perfect states and manageable forms. In humans, this
Blame the Traffic on This Guy
Blame the Traffic on This Guy If you've ever felt as though everywhere you go, traffic materialises around
The Banana Problem
Why becoming too consistent or formulaic is a trap. The banana – bred for reliability, now vulnerable to extinction – as a metaphor for creative work that optimises for recognition over growth.
