Steps to Phaeacia

And the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down optimization from heaven

On the false analogy between evolution and optimization

Nov 13 • 

Ben Chugg

5

1

1

October 2025

The hard problem of community building

Reflections on RatFest 2025

Oct 18 • 

Ben Chugg

7

4

1

September 2025

On Recht's bureaucratic theory of statistics

Engaging in the statistics wars. Does it make sense to talk about ex ante policy on its own?

Sep 18 • 

Ben Chugg

15

3

1

August 2025

Book review: Stoner

John Williams' 1965 classic. Or, the best book ever written.

Aug 29 • 

Ben Chugg

31

16

8

Two math cultures

Math as engineering vs math as discovery

Aug 25 • 

Ben Chugg

8

There are no Ramanujans in Abstract Expressionism

Or: What does it take to draw a rectangle really really well?

Aug 9 • 

Ben Chugg

3

5

July 2025

Scientific evidence vs statistical evidence

Formal scientific evidence is impossible, yet statistics makes formal claims all the time. What gives?

Jul 26 • 

Ben Chugg

5

1

Book review: One hundred years of solitude

Incest, flying carpets, and ice, all fractally wrapped into a bundle of mega pessimism.

Jul 15 • 

Ben Chugg

3

6

1

Incentive Cascades

What do grade inflation, environmental review scores, and philanthropic evaluation all have in common?

Jul 11 • 

Ben Chugg

4

1

June 2025

Book review: Ubik

Philip K Dick's 1969 amphetamine-inspired classic

Jun 13 • 

Ben Chugg

5

1

May 2025

On moving and community

Some of the hidden costs of moving that revealed themselves only with time

May 23 • 

Ben Chugg

3

Book review: Parfit

The tragedy of a genius who ended up focusing on what didn’t matter

May 11 • 

Ben Chugg

29

11

2