Ben Landau-Taylor

Preserving Text For The Year 5000

My work these days is preserving our civilization’s text on tempered glass tablets, to last for future historians thousands of years from now.

Nov 15 • 

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October 2025

Why the New Leisure Class Enjoys Activism and Philanthropy

Full article at Palladium.

Oct 25 • 

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September 2025

Military Revolts No Longer Work

Across the Western world, appointed administrators have gained power at the expense of elected legislators. More and more of the most consequential…

Sep 9 • 

Ben Landau-Taylor

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No, The Black Death Was Not Good For The Economy

People love repeating counterintuitive factoids. People do not love conducting deep historical research to check whether clever-sounding factoids are…

Sep 3 • 

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July 2025

Why Do Victims of Massacres Go Quietly to Their Deaths?

I often hear that it’s a moral imperative to learn from the great 20th century atrocities, that these events are a window into what humans are capable…

Jul 23 • 

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Will Future Civilizations Bother to Excavate Our Remains?

Full article in Palladium magazine.

Jul 12 • 

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March 2025

Alignment Research and Intelligence Enhancement: Discussion on The Failed Strategy of Artificial Intelligence Doomers

The people I critiqued in my Palladium article The Failed Strategy of Artificial Intelligence Doomers have responded, and I’ll reply to some of that…

Mar 19 • 

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February 2025

Industrial Greatness Requires Economic Depressions

The state’s role in supporting economic growth is critical. Our wealth comes from industry, that is, from the ability to mass produce goods—more goods…

Feb 27 • 

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The Failed Strategy of Artificial Intelligence Doomers

In recent decades, a growing coalition has emerged to oppose the development of artificial intelligence technology, for fear that the imminent…

Feb 1 • 

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December 2024

The Christmas Truce

On Christmas Day, 1914, in the middle of World War I, the guns fell silent.

Dec 25, 2024 • 

Ben Landau-Taylor

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November 2024

Medieval Chinese Economic Progress: Acceleration and Stagnation

This is a transcript of a talk I gave at the Progress Conference in 2024, lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Nov 20, 2024 • 

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Against Extroversion

There’s a common idea in pop psychology that people are either “extroverts” or “introverts”. This isn’t totally wrong but I don’t think the usual…

Nov 13, 2024 • 

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