The Garden of Forking Paths

The Garden of Forking Paths

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August 2025

The Grifted Age
Move over Gilded Age. In the 21st century, hucksters and swindlers are exploiting mass stupidity and conspiratorial thinking—and getting filthy rich in…
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Brian Klaas
42
Blood Diamonds and the Lottery of Earth
How geography and geology shapes our destinies.
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Brian Klaas
10
Brain Food
Alzheimer's breakthroughs of mice and men, the stranger-than-fiction phenomenon of comb jelly intelligence, RIP Dobby, and three recommendations.
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Brian Klaas
18
The Despot's Guide to Job Statistics
Dictators routinely lie about economic growth. Trump just took a page from their playbook in appointing an unqualified, Nazi-admiring, January 6th hack…
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Brian Klaas
16
Just War Theory and the Philosophers of Gaza
Philosophers have long tried to develop clear moral principles to govern the conduct of warfare. Here's why they're engaged in a fierce debate over…
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Brian Klaas
24

July 2025

The Red Queen Fallacy
Humans weren't made to tick off checklists and clear inboxes. We've lost sight of who we are, amid the mindless excesses of hustle culture and a…
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Brian Klaas
33
The Death of Democracy Promotion
Murdered by Donald Trump and his acolytes, as they embrace dictators and declare open season on global election rigging.
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Brian Klaas
15
Jerome Powell and the Authoritarian Sirens of Odysseus
Why strongman presidents become weaker—to everyone's peril—when they remove constraints on their own power.
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Brian Klaas
14
The Catastrophic Risk of Space Junk
Decades ago, scientists warned about the cascading risk of space collisions. Now, Musk is making it much worse—and Trump is eliminating the tracking…
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Brian Klaas
15
Brain Food
Old trees, new forgeries, insider trading on war, the evolution of lactose-induced nightmares, and how I fell in love with seals.
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Brian Klaas
9
© 2025 Brian Klaas
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