This won’t become the consensus view until after I’m an old man, but the largest empire in recorded history wasn’t the British or the Mongols, it was America around 2005.

It’s perfectly legitimate to say "I can’t refute your argument, but your conclusion still seems wrong and I don’t buy it". But it's critical to *notice* the "I can’t refute your argument" part, ideally out loud, and to remember it going forward.

One thing I've realized as I’ve grown older is that, above a low threshold of basic functionality, trying to shore up personal weaknesses is mostly a waste of time, and effort is better spent doubling down on strengths.

One absolutely required major reform that would improve lives greatly is transparent medical pricing There is absolutely no honest reason why people can never get a straight answer for "how much will this cost?" when dealing with this industry

Apparently the first of the 1848 revolutions was sparked by one guy with no organization putting up posters that basically said "Revolution on the king's birthday, bring your friends."

Is the specific lifespan of ~1870–1960 the most extreme length of history for someone to see? Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957), Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), Picasso (1881–1973) Ideally live into your 90s and barely catch Gagarin or Apollo 11

I dunno that you can actually get massive industrial wealth by aiming at it directly. When it’s created, it seems to be a byproduct of competently-run ideological goals, like Faustian mastery over Nature, or utopian communist fever dreams, or undoing the Century of Humiliation.

I’m having trouble distinguishing patronage from bloat. Yes, there are some ways in which these categories overlap, & some circumstances in which they’re almost identical… but in general there are differences. Like EBT obesity vs EBT fraud. Is the dogmatic waste symptom or goal?

Yes, to inspire, culture needs to unite people to pursue high aspirations, and more wealth just doesn't suffice.

If you think the Democratic Party and NGO apparatus is inept now, wait until their pipeline of very liberal Jews willing to work for poor wages dries up.

56 years ago today: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind"

I'm not surprised that so many people sell out, but I remain very surprised by how absurdly low most sellouts will set their price.

Sociology is perhaps the single most important topic in the entire academic corpus and the fact that it’s become a garbage meme degree in the west is a profound indictment of our entire society, not a cheap own.

This has now become my most popular tweet so far. One thing it drove home is that there's a small, loud, and *extremely* confident minority that has a much, much lower bar for what it means to "explain" something than I do.

This is not Mark Zuckerberg’s first time throwing a hundred squillion dollars into developing a technology on the promise that it will totally upend society any day now.

I've had a lot of fun on Twitter, but it can be very bad for you if you're not careful. I think of social media like it’s dangerous heavy machinery: valuable, but don't turn your back. Except instead of losing a finger, carelessness will cost a piece of your soul. I've known too

New post: Why Do Victims of Massacres Go Quietly to Their Deaths? benlandautaylor.com/p/why-do-victi…

When people talk about learning moral lessons from the great 20th century massacres, they always mean man's capacity to kill innocents. It's equally critical to understand man's capacity to follow meekly as he's herded to his obvious death.