China is decoupling from the West
Ever since the trade war between the US and China started in 2018, the mantra of Western businesses has been to decouple from China and reduce their dependency on Chinese goods.
Ten shelves · 50 essays
The Reading Room
I.
Tech
Quasi-logarithmic kitchen timer
Like some of you, we have several kitchen appliances with integrated digital timers.
How to install an app on your Commodore 64
The Reviewers Are Crazy; the iPhone Duo Is Fantastic
Mountain peaks to show the shifts
II.
Culture
Sometime between the late Middle Ages and the 18th century, people came to believe that love should play a role in the selection of a spouse
Sometime between the late Middle Ages and the 18th century, people came to believe that love should play a role in the s…
Sylvia Plath’s verbal calisthenics. Nothing was off limits, including sonnets, villanelles, poems in terza rima, even Audenesque quatrains
Annie Ernaux: “Alfred Nobel’s intentions were noble. But everything that follows — the mountains of mail, the endless requests — is a burden”
Edward Hopper bristled at the “lonely” label: “If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint”
The philosopher Bernard Williams refused every ism. That made him hard to pin down. And hard to refute
III.
Life
No One You Love Is Ever Dead: Hemingway on Loss and the Meaning of Life
"We must live it, now, a day at a time and be very careful not to hurt each other."
The Founding Father of Neuroscience on Solitude, the Search for Truth, and the Ideal Environment for Breakthroughs
I Feel, Therefore I Am: Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio the Consciousness of the Body
Four useful questions
Polyvagal Theory and the Neurobiology of Connection: The Science of Rupture, Repair, and Reciprocity
IV.
Design
Fortune Telling and Speculative Design
Practical tools for design engineers to explore possible futures through speculative design
Planning with Agents: Divided Worlds, Boundary Objects, and Thicker Interfaces
August 2026
In Memoriam, Encountering World War I, and Thinkable Horrors
One Developer, Two Dozen Agents, Zero Alignment
V.
Economics
Anti-Monopolists Soared in the Midterms. You Can Help With What's Next.
Democrats are joyful, the stock market is weirdly higher, and a $400 billion corporation, CVS, just broke itself up tryi…
What Drives Censorship on College Campuses?
Wednesday assorted links
The Blue Tsunami
Well, That Was a Thing!: BULLET DODGED OF THE DAY
VI.
Finance
Wednesday links: a spent force
Another new term - "speedball" capitalism
New word in finance - FOGO
Personal finance links: running the numbers
Market Knows Best: The Not-So-Hidden Risks of Private Ratings
VII.
History
Yet More Flying Notes From Egypt
The Confessions of a Very Reasonable Man
The US Election in 6 maps
Why Italy ruled Europe but couldn’t rule itself
The Art of Blaming Israel For Everything
The future of Britain in 7 maps
VIII.
Philosophy
The Vindication of Normal Politics
SLOW BORING HAS BEEN VINDICATED AT THE BALLOT BOX
Extreme Vegan Claims Aren’t Hyperbole
Sand Gods, Foom, and p(doom) (with Séb Krier)
Do we need to take reincarnation seriously? – Part I
AI Consciousness Debate: Michael Huemer vs. Simon Goldstein
IX.
Psychology
Brave Men, Reproductive Effort, Motivation
Links and recommendations
The art of political decision making
Sometimes It Hurts to Ask
Separating the art from the artist
Aligned, but with whom?
X.
Science
He Won the Fields Medal. He Says AI Beats Him.
Richard Borcherds and Eric Weinstein on AI and mathematics
Mark Solms: Consciousness Isn't in the Cortex
Mark Solms: Consciousness Isn't in the Cortex
Off-grid data centers have 60-80% higher emissions
Scott Aaronson: “I Heard That a Robot Solved the Math Problem You Worked On”
Life · Feature
The Souls of Animals
“They do not sweat and whine about their condition,” Walt Whitman wrote of the other animals, “they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things.” Here was “th...
From the Stacks
Browse the full archive → Five rediscoveries from the back issues, rotated by the day
Read slowly. There is no hurry.