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No one wants to have kids anymore
As the world's population reaches 8 billion, we're slowly running out of babies.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 700 posts.
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Is there a housing shortage or not?
The housing shortage in the US is a perennially popular topic of conversation for the urbanist crowd (which online includes basically everyone.) The basic argument is that housing starts collapsed after the financial crisis and have never truly recovered.
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The branch banking model
Ever wondered how bank branches work at a nuts-and-bolts level? Let's dig into the logic and economics of them.
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The South Asian Polycrisis
In deciphering the global polycrisis it can be helpful to break down the interplay of crisis dynamics into regional systems.
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The case for energy optimism
I’ve been working on a few more involved projects but thought it would be good to put down my thoughts on recent energy developments.
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The scourge of Rec dot gov (2021)
Recreation DOT gov gets managed by the multi-billion dollar DC beltway firm of Booz-Allen-Hamilton. And here’s why I think it’s awful.
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The Typography of Legal Opinions
Typography for Lawyers
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How the Consumer Computer Is Consuming Computing
When the personal computer went from being a "bicycle for the mind" to a surveilled shopping mall.
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For the first time in four decades, the Rio Grande through Albuquerque is dry
For the first time in ~40 years (? – see below) New Mexico’s Rio Grande has “broken” – is no longer flowing – in what we call “the Albuquerque reach”…
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Lessons from Seoul's controversial privatized subway line
A dive into Seoul Metro's Line 9
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How messed up was Germany's energy policy?
It's not as bad as a lot of people are saying
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Science is political, and that's a bad thing
People who say “science is political” usually aren’t just stating facts - they’re trying to push something on you. Don’t let them
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Let’s Not Have a Beer
For the first time, I won a major raffle at a recent conference. However, I had to give the prize back since it was a beer dispenser and I don’t drink. If your reaction after reading the last line was “Why don’t you drink?” or “Most of us do and it’s your choice that you missed out.”, then this blog is for you. I’m…
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Voting from Antarctica
How to vote back home while you're in Antarctica!
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Repeal the Foreign Dredge Act of 1906
There are a lot of ludicrously terrible government laws, regulations and policies across all the domains of life.
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Ethnographic research on Dynamicland
The “Dynamic Medium Group” led by Bret Victor which is developing “Dynamicland” is much admired and closely watched in the interaction design community. Yet the information about their work is closely-guarded and usually only available in a highly moderated form. The work of ethnographer Götz Bachmann, who spent much…
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The Cost of Financialization-Globalization: You Lost $500k and Gained $137.13
Ponder what a clawback of the $50 trillion might entail, and the immense benefits of returning to producing quality goods and services by co...
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Walking the World: Seoul
Consumption, brutality, and the cute
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Arguing Without Warning
We should encourage more public disagreement.
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Finality does not exist in payments
Many people believe some transactions are final. The reality is a bit more complicated, and involves technical, social, and legal factors.
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Abuse and Harassment on the Blockchain
In the frenzy to attract venture capital funding and draw new users and investors into blockchain technologies, 'how will this technology be used to harass and abuse people?' is going unasked. While blockchain proponents speak about a 'future of the web' based around public ledgers, anonymity, and immutability, those…
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Observations on tragedy in a digital age
Viewed in the proper light, influencer is a career path of tragic dimensions.
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Brainwashing is sorcery
Can’t bring yourself to slaughter a nearby village, or a long-time associate?
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Old tech is haunted
We're making scientists and ghost-hunters kiss