Essays

A curated reading list, roughly themed around progress studies: how do we build a better future? Started November 2020.

Top Essays

• Paths of Glory Ian Parker Will old age temper the burning fire of Rory Stewart's youthful ambition? Flat out brilliant. My favourite profile, ever
• The Parable of the Talents Scott Alexander IQ, moral worth, and the concept of innate ability
• Tech Entrepreneurship and The Disruption of Ambition Matt Clifford The most personally impactful essay on this list. Scale your impact and you might dent the universe
• The Atomic Bomb Considered As Hungarian High School Science Fair Project Scott Alexander "The Hungarian Phenomenon", the atom bomb, and the role of genetics
• The Scaling Hypothesis Gwern Neural nets absorb data & compute, generalizing and becoming more Bayesian as problems get harder
• Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind David Samuels Why did Allan Bloom's critique of American culture spark a cultural war?
• Two Paths to the Future Alvaro de Menard AI or Human Enhancement – what leads us to the future?
• Your Life in Weeks Tim Urban An OG internet blogger doing what he's best at: visualising the human experience with fun charts
• When the Worst Man in the World Writes a Masterpiece Alvaro de Menard How did the worst man in the world manage to write the best biography?
• Federer as Religious Experience David Foster Wallace Roger Federer, the nature of beauty, genius and the sublime
• A Reductionist History of Humankind John Sexton How did the idea of human nature shape the history of civilisation?
• On The Referendum #21 Dominic Cummings The real story behind the EU referendum from the main player
• The Mystery of the Miracle Year Dwarkesh Patel Why do great scientists have miracle years of multiple breakthroughs?
• Why we stopped making Einsteins Erik Hoel Is the downfall of aristocratic tutoring to blame for modern society's lack of geniuses?
• Even if you beat me Sally Rooney Writing as an art form

Noteworthy