The post argues against the common myth that the Black Death positively impacted Europe's economy. It explains that while the bubonic plague killed a significant portion of the population in the 1300s, the economic growth in Europ...
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The post explores the moral imperative of learning from historical atrocities, emphasizing the importance of understanding not only the actions of perpetrators but also the passivity of victims. It questions why individuals often ...
The text discusses the unique tradition of archaeology as practiced by modern Western civilization, contrasting it with historical practices in other cultures, particularly the Neo-Babylonians. It highlights how archaeology, which...
The text discusses Carroll Quigley's analysis of Western civilization's ideology, highlighting its optimistic, moderate, hierarchical, democratic, individualistic, and dynamic nature. It emphasizes the belief that truth unfolds ov...
The article discusses the historical evolution of scientific measurements, particularly focusing on Millikan's experiment measuring the charge of an electron and the subsequent discoveries that challenged his findings. It highligh...
The article discusses the increasing power of appointed bureaucrats and judges in Western democracies, particularly in the US, at the expense of elected legislators. It highlights a historical trend since the World Wars where Cong...
The author, Ben Landau-Taylor, discusses his work in preserving civilization's texts on tempered glass tablets through the Ennigaldi Foundation and Ammonite Inscription Company. He explains the process of selecting and storing the...
The article discusses Thorstein Veblen's concept of the leisure class from his 1899 work, 'The Theory of the Leisure Class,' emphasizing its evolution over time. It highlights how the leisure class today engages in conspicuous lei...
The text discusses the failed strategy of artificial intelligence doomers and the responses to the author's article. It delves into the need for technical progress in alignment and the challenges associated with it. The author als...
The article discusses the critical role of the state in supporting economic growth and industrial production. It argues that the current economic policy is keeping outdated businesses alive, hindering industrial and technological ...
The text discusses the failed strategy of artificial intelligence doomers who oppose the development of AI technology, fearing that it could lead to human extinction. It outlines the coalition's arguments, their concerns, and the ...
0The Christmas Truce
2024-12-25 •
On Christmas Day, 1914, during World War I, British and German soldiers spontaneously put down their weapons, sang carols, traded cigarettes, played soccer, and shook hands. The Christmas Truce of 1914 was a moment of peace in the...
The text is a transcript of a talk given at the Progress Conference at Lighthaven in 2024, discussing the economic progress and stagnation in medieval China. The speaker, Ben Landau Taylor, works at Bismarck analysis and has condu...
0Against Extroversion
2024-11-13 •
The text discusses the common idea of extroversion and introversion in pop psychology, arguing that it is not a binary division but more like a normal distribution. It explains that the psychological propensity described as extrov...
0On Rational Economic Behavior
2024-10-02 •
The text discusses the limitations of the rational profit-maximization model of human behavior and the different styles of thought that people use to make economic decisions. It also talks about the influence of elites on economic...
0The Limits to Growth Are Interplanetary
2024-08-16 •
The article discusses the historical predictions of resource depletion and social collapse due to rising wealth and population, and how these predictions have been proven wrong. It highlights the shift from coal to oil and methane...
0The Academic Culture of Fraud
2024-08-02 •
The article discusses the academic culture of fraud in the scientific community, focusing on a specific case of fraudulent research on Alzheimer's disease. The paper published in Nature in 2006, which was a major contribution to t...
0America And The Future
2024-07-04 •
The text discusses the influence of American ideals and technological progress on the world and the future. It emphasizes the impact of American virtues and inventions on global societies and the potential for future advancements....
0The Fourth Form Of Government
2024-06-12 •
The text discusses the traditional three forms of government and introduces a fourth form, bureaucracy, which is the rule of salaried officials. It argues that the combination of democracy, aristocracy, dictatorship, and bureaucra...
0Looking Beyond the Veil
2024-05-01 •
The text discusses the history of science and how it has evolved from esoteric mysticism to a mass version, and the impact of this evolution on the pursuit of truth. It also highlights the difference between the scientist's mindse...
0Computers Are Overrated
2024-04-24 •
The text discusses the impact of computers and the internet on society, comparing it to other transformative technologies throughout history. The author argues that while computers are important, they are not as revolutionary as o...
0The DDoS Attack Of Academic Bullshit
2024-04-10 •
The text discusses the decline in the quality of academic research and the difficulty in finding reliable information due to the flood of low-quality content on the internet. It compares the current state of academic work to the p...
0How To Learn History
2024-04-03 •
The text discusses the importance of studying history and provides advice on how to learn history effectively. It emphasizes the need to understand historical events and theories, prioritize topics, follow a pyramid structure for ...
0Probability Is Not A Substitute For Reasoning
2024-03-06 •
The text discusses the use of probability distributions in predicting the arrival of AGI and other speculative technologies. The author argues that using probabilities does not absolve the necessity of having reasons for predictio...