Why We Need And Lose Institutions

July 24, 2026

It’s sometimes easy to forget that institutions often arise as solutions to problems. For example: • Journalism uncovers and spreads information that matters to people that would otherwise be hard for them to know. • Education teaches people what they'll need to know that they won't easily learn on their own. • Science increases our understanding of (and control over) reality. • Civil Courts right wrongs between people. • Finance (among other things) e...

Ten Skills Our Civilization Needs

October 10, 2020

Here are ten skills I believe our civilization needs, if we hope to create an amazing world instead of a dumpster fire. 1. Evidence evaluation Converging on a valid consensus about what’s true based on evidence/argument (e.g., being able to converge as a society on questions like "climate change real, how bad will it get if we don't act, and how quickly?"). 2. Coordination Developing and applying mechanisms to avoid collective action problems (e.g., working to make it in nobody’s in...

Low-Hanging Fruit Policies That Don’t Get Implemented

August 23, 2020

Some policies seem like low-hanging fruit to benefit the US and its people, yet don’t get implemented. Why? It’s probably a combination of: • political wars that pull things back and forth instead of moving forward • voter confusion • voters prioritizing other topics • collective action problems • they’re blocked by the few who are made worse off by them • they are bad ideas, I’m wrong about them, or people’s values around them differ too much Regardless of the reason, here...

50 “Laws” of Everything

July 6, 2020

Parkinson's Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. Gates' Law: Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. Goodhart's Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or, ...