Jul 26, 2026

[This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done. I’ll be posting about one of these a week for several months. When you’ve read them all, I’ll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked]

Part 1.

The...

Jul 17, 2026

The annual prediction market conference was earlier this month. This was the year prediction markets went from an obscure hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry; from semi-illegal to having the President’s son as an advisor. I can’t remember if anyone talked about any of that. It didn’t even register. All eyes...

Jul 17, 2026

I.

Having kids has given me new appreciation for old poetry. The first time I read Song of Hiawatha, I skimmed over the part in Book 3 where Hiawatha first meets his father Mudjekeewis:

Filled with joy was Mudjekeewis
When he looked on Hiawatha,
Saw his youth rise up before him
In the face of Hiawatha,
Saw the beauty...

Jul 10, 2026

In recent posts on Trump and dictatorship, people have asked me - how do you know you’re not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome?

I take this seriously; we’ve all lost loved ones to this condition. The best check on my reasoning would be an objective measure of the health of American democracy. There are...

Jul 10, 2026

The most controversial part of last week’s article on the Midjourney ultrasound scanner was medical experts’ recommendation against whole-body screening (including existing whole-body screening technology using MRI).

Isn’t this crazy? Whole-body screening can save lives by detecting serious diseases like cancer....