The Best of LessWrong

We're used to the economy growing a few percent per year. But this is a very unusual situation. Zooming out to all of history, we see that growth has been accelerating, that it's near its historical high point, and that it's faster than it can be for all that much longer. There aren't enough atoms in the galaxy to sustain this rate of growth for even another 10,000 years!

What comes next – stagnation, explosion, or collapse?

Back in the early days of factories, workplace injury rates were enormous. Over time, safety engineering took hold, various legal reforms were passed (most notably liability law), and those rates dramatically dropped. This is the story of how factories went from death traps to relatively safe. 

John made his own COVID-19 vaccine at home using open source instructions. Here's how he did it and why.

It's wild to think that humanity might expand throughout the galaxy in the next century or two. But it's also wild to think that we definitely won't. In fact, all views about humanity's long-term future are pretty wild when you think about it. We're in a wild situation!

A person wakes up from cryonic freeze in a post-apocalyptic future. A "scissor" statement – an AI-generated statement designed to provoke maximum controversy – has led to massive conflict and destruction. The survivors are those who managed to work with people they morally despise.

An in-depth overview of Georgism, a school of political economy that advocates for a Land Value Tax (LVT), aiming to discourage land speculation and rent-seeking behavior; promote more efficient use of land, make housing more affordable, and taxes more efficient.

Nuclear power once seemed to be the energy of the future, but has failed to live up to that promise. Why? Jason Crawford summarizes Jack Devanney's book "Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop", which blames overregulation driven by unrealistic radiation safety models.