Archive - The Garden of Forking Paths

May 2025

Substack Economics

The media world is splintering into a mililion different fragments. Is that good for humanity?

May 30 •

How many politicians are psychopaths?

So-called "Dark Triad" traits are clearly over-represented in positions of power. Are the halls of Congress and Parliament overrun with psychopaths?

May 26 •

Snake bites, lion bites, underground mosquitoes that bite. Plus: the surprising uniformity of finger wrinkles, detecting forgeries, and the history of…

May 22 •

A Modest Proposal for Life After Death

Human existence is an astonishing menagerie of vibrant forms. We should stop leaving such banal, meaningless traces of ourselves after we die.

May 15 •

Trump's Deal with an Authoritarian Hitman

The Trump administration is trying to outsource immigration policy to a dictator who hunts down and murders his political opponents with ruthless…

May 8 •

The Age of the Surefire Mediocre

Why have so many aspects of our lives converged toward boring sludge?

May 5 •

The Status Cheats

Why do ordinary people engage in deceptive behavior to earn social clout?

May 1 •

April 2025

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