The Garden of Forking Paths

The Garden of Forking Paths

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Does taxing the rich cause millionaires to flee?
A progressive who wants to tax the rich just won the Democratic primary in NYC. Critics say hiking taxes causes an exodus of wealth from high tax…
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Brian Klaas
46
The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of Cognition
One professor's reflections on the end of an era, as AI tools such as ChatGPT have murdered the student essay (RIP). Here's why that threatens the…
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Brian Klaas
57
The Evolution of Modern Dogs
Virtually every dog breed you see today is the byproduct of a bizarre social experiment in Victorian Britain—one with profound lessons for modern social…
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Brian Klaas
23
How to Build a Cult of Personality
Lessons from dictators and despots on the eve of Trump's military birthday parade.
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Brian Klaas
21
The Value of Proportionate Fines
Why do most governments issue the same fines to both plutocrats and paupers?
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Brian Klaas
15

May 2025

Substack Economics
The media world is splintering into a mililion different fragments. Is that good for humanity?
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Brian Klaas
57
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?
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Brian Klaas
30
Brain Food
Snake bites, lion bites, underground mosquitoes that bite. Plus: the surprising uniformity of finger wrinkles, detecting forgeries, and the history of…
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Brian Klaas
9
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.
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Brian Klaas
47
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…
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Brian Klaas
14
The Age of the Surefire Mediocre
Why have so many aspects of our lives converged toward boring sludge?
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Brian Klaas
23
The Status Cheats
Why do ordinary people engage in deceptive behavior to earn social clout?
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Brian Klaas
39
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