Ideas

The Big AI Risk We’re Not Talking About

Artificial intelligence safety proponents and like-minded technologists believe there’s a significant chance that an advanced AI system will cause human… Read More

3 days ago

Some Reflections on Reparations

Whether reparation payments should be made to Americans who are descended from slaves is a fraught topic. But the moral… Read More

7 days ago

In Defense of Defensive Confidence

Again, it is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with… Read More

1 week ago

Centers of Progress

Some people deny the reality of progress. Others look back and find even the idea of progress naive. True enough,… Read More

1 week ago

The World Before the Thaw

The fundamental difference between 20th-century dictatorships and our own today is ideology. Back then, aspiring despots could camouflage their thirst… Read More

2 weeks ago

What the Poor Know About Housing

In this second conversation in a series on cities (the first is here), Mercatus distinguished visiting scholar Alain Bertaud discusses… Read More

3 weeks ago

Some Reflections on a ‘Right to Volunteer’

Is there a right to help people? It’s not a question that comes up often in liberal societies. More frequently… Read More

3 weeks ago

Keep the ‘Doing’ in Doing Things

I was reading the replies to a question on Twitter once: something like, “What do you miss about being a… Read More

1 month ago

“Studies Have Shown” Is Not Enough

We’ve all encountered enthusiastic people who jump onto bandwagons of promising new ideas and harangue everyone else to do likewise.… Read More

1 month ago

Outward Action Is Good for Your Brain

Beyond a given point man is not helped by more “knowing,” but only by living and doing in a partly… Read More

1 month ago