Let’s talk econophysics . If you’re not familiar, ‘econophysics’ is an attempt to understand economic phenomena (like the distribution of income) using the tools of statistical mechanics. The field has been around for a few decades, but has received little attention from mainstream economists. I think this neglect is a shame. As someone trained in both the natural and social sciences, I welcome physicists foray into economics.

King, C. W. (2020). The Economic Superorganism: Beyond the Competing Narratives on Energy, Growth, and Policy . Springer Nature. If you are interested in the megatrends of the 21st century, then Carey King’s new book The Economic Superorganism should be on your reading list. It is a well-written, meticulously researched opus on how to understand the sustainability problems that face humanity.

Pity the billionaires. High in the towers on Billionaires’ Row, life is hard. The pencil-thin buildings groan as they sway in the wind, keeping penthouse dwellers up at night. Water pipes break, ruining posh décor. And elevators are unreliable, interrupting billionaires’ highly productive lives. So reads Stefanos Chen’s recent piece about the pitfalls of sky-high living.

This week I had the good fortune to talk with Rok Kranjc and Michel Bauwens about my research on degrowth and hierarchy. The full discussion will be available in a month or so at the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society (which supported this research). For now, here is my presentation. I discuss ideas from the paper Living the Good Life in a Non-Growth World: Investigating the Role of Hierarchy.

This is the second in a series of two essays written for and supported by the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society. These essays investigate the role that hierarchy plays in driving inequality and unsustainability. Summary Humanity’s most pressing need is to learn how to live within our planet’s boundaries — something that likely means doing without economic growth.

In my last post, I skewered human capital theory by comparing it to the pseudoscience of eugenics. Here’s a follow up — a presentation called The Trouble With Human Capital Theory . It’s a talk I gave to the SEEFAR research center at the Kedge Business School. I thank Christophe Faugère for inviting me to speak. An error occurred. Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.

If there was an award for the most pernicious scientific idea ever, what theory should get first prize? I would vote for eugenics, a theory that claims we can ‘improve’ humanity through selective breeding. If there was a second prize, I’d give it to human capital theory.

This is the first of two essays written for (and supported by) the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society. These essays investigate the role that hierarchy plays in driving inequality and unsustainability. This piece introduces the facts of hierarchy.

Well readers, 2020 is finally done. In most respects, it was a terrible year. But it turns out that being stuck in the house is good for a few things … one of them being writing. I churned out 50 posts this year and typed about 150,000 words. Here are the top 5 posts by views: What Trait Affects Income the Most? Stocks Are Up. Wages Are Down. What Does it Mean?

We’ve finally reached the end of 2020, a year that many people are happy to forget. In the history books, 2020 will be known for little besides the Covid pandemic. Fortunately, the end of this disaster is in sight. With multiple vaccines starting to roll out, it looks like 2021 will be a better year. Speaking of vaccines, I’ve been racking my brain to find things to be thankful for this holiday season. It’s not easy.

As a scientist, I spend much of my time writing. Over the years I’ve experimented with a panoply of writing tools. This week I thought I’d share what I’ve learned. While you can ultimately write on any device that records your words, a good tool makes writing less painful. For a lot of people, the writing tool is Microsoft Word (or some similar word processor). If it works for you, great.