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Consciousness Catching Its Own Tail
A conversation about predictive processing, insight, and existential threats — to the self and to society.
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Asterisk Magazine
, 
Jake Eaton
, and 
Ruben Laukkonen
The Impossible Calculator
Google Android’s calculator is (probably) the most widely used calculator in the world. It’s also the most advanced.
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Asterisk Magazine
6
The Georgist Roots of American Libertarianism
How did American libertarianism come to embrace Henry George, too?
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Asterisk Magazine
 and 
Reed Schwartz
4

June 2025

Knockout Mouse
“Cancer is extremely varied and adaptive, and is likely the hardest of these diseases to fully destroy.” — Dario Amodei
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Asterisk Magazine
1
Brain Freeze
The idea of cryonics — freezing the bodies of the dead in the hopes that they can one day be revived — has existed since the 1960s. We’ve since learned…
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Asterisk Magazine
The Origin of the Research University
Universities have existed for more than a thousand years — and for almost all of that time, they weren’t centers of research. What changed in 19th…
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Asterisk Magazine
1
The Universal Tech Tree
When we try and pick out any technology in isolation, we find it hitched, in some way, to every innovation that preceded it. (Except for the Oldowan…
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Asterisk Magazine

May 2025

What Are Schools For?
The modern education system around the world continues to bear the imprint of mass education’s original goal: obedience.
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Asterisk Magazine
2
Can We Trust Social Science Yet?
Everyone likes the idea of evidence-based policy, but it’s hard to realize it when our most reputable social science journals are still publishing poor…
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Asterisk Magazine
3
Forecast Series: The Mortality Impacts of USAID Cuts
A special series of five forecasts on the Trump Administration's cuts to some of USAID's most effective programs.
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Asterisk Magazine
8
Forecast: The Impact of USAID Malaria Cuts
by Bruce Tsai
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Asterisk Magazine
Forecast: The Impact of USAID Nutrition Cuts
by Anna Gordon & Lauren Gilbert
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Asterisk Magazine
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