Brian Klaas
@brianklaas.bsky.social
Professor of Global Politics @UCL. Author of “Fluke." Writer @TheAtlantic. Host, Power Corrupts podcast. The Garden of Forking Paths Substack.
"ants became farmers roughly 66 million years earlier than we did."
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 9mo agoI wrote about the stranger-than-fiction miracles of coevolution in nature and human society—and a smarter framework to understand ourselves. (Or: what connects avocados, ants who farm fungus, karma, and our relationship with dogs?)
I wrote about the stranger-than-fiction miracles of coevolution in nature and human society—and a smarter framework to understand ourselves. (Or: what connects avocados, ants who farm fungus, karma, and our relationship with dogs?)
"Good Heavens what insect can suck it?"
The stranger-than-fiction miracles of coevolution in nature and human society. (Or: what connects avocados, ants who farm fungus, karma, and our relationship with dogs?)
forkingpaths.co
Man Wouldn't Have Worn Costume To Work If He'd Known He Was Getting Laid Off
Heartwarming attitudes and actions that should spread worldwide "Our enduring inability to separate out homelessness from blame and those who “deserve” support ends up blinding us to what is ultimately an empirical question over what works and what doesn’t."
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 9mo agoShould we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
This is a long read but it's about the most positive thing I've seen in a while. Ostensibly (and constructively) about homelessness and poverty but relatable to broader politics and governance
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 9mo agoShould we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
Excellent article: "Greater Change’s results are impressive. According to their own checks, 85 percent of their clients have achieved 'permanent housing or sustained stable housing' in 2024-25. And 39 percent of their clients got a job in the aftermath of the intervention from Greater Change...."
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 9mo agoShould we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
The same is true of the Black Death, Mount Tambora’s eruption and the Mongol Invasions.
A GREAT read. Please have a look… “Most government policies remain based on hunches, what lawmakers say will work, rather than by testing various options to verify what works best. No experiments done, no evidence required.”
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 9mo agoShould we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
Should we just give cash to homeless people? I wrote about what the evidence shows--and a London-based charity called Greater Change that has a simple, innovative way of making a difference:
Should we just give cash to the homeless?
A new charity is tackling homelessness with a simple approach. Does it work?
forkingpaths.co
The film “I Swear” is one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last several years. Funny, but above all, *extremely* moving. The world would be a better place if more people saw it. (And Robert Aramayo deserves an Oscar.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeWq...
I SWEAR - Official Trailer | STUDIOCANAL
YouTube video by StudiocanalUK
youtube.com
Brian Klaas on fine form: "You only live around 30,000 days; today is one of them, and the world is far too fascinating a place to waste any more of them on something so destructively boring." And yes, I see the irony.
Is social media just...boring now?
Social media is destroying democracy and accelerating idiocracy. But it's also just...really, really boring.
forkingpaths.co
Lovely review in @audiofilemagazine.bsky.social of our #DouglasAdams audiobook #BookSky - featuring @brianklaas.bsky.social @stephenfry.bsky.social @realbaddiel.bsky.social @sanjeevbhaskar.bsky.social @lucycooke.bsky.social and many others. www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read...
DOUGLAS ADAMS by Arvind Ethan David Read by Arvind Ethan David Douglas Adams Sam Barnett Stephen Fry | Audiobook Review | AudioFile Magazine
AudioFile Audiobook Review: Multiple narrators come together to create an audio portrait that is part biography, part celebration, and part theatrical tribute to author Douglas A
audiofilemagazine.com
Some news: The Washington Post is preparing to cut newsroom staff even after several high profile exits. Bezos’ new opinion editor has privately told people The Post is in “severe financial distress.” Details in @status.news www.status.news/p/washington...
Pain at The Post
As morale sinks and top talent exits, staffers at The Washington Post are bracing for more pain ahead of the holidays—raising questions about Will Lewis’ leadership, nearly two years into his tenure a...
status.news
One of the better photographs depicting modernity, I'd say:
There are a lot of things happening under Trump that are illegal. The question that determines whether America remains a democracy or a competitive authoritarian regime is whether that matters.
Last year, it was CrowdStrike. This week, AWS. We are engineering critical social systems that are completely contingent on single points of failure. It’s designed fragility and it produces catastrophic risk—all because it’s marginally more efficient. We are foolishly careening toward disaster:
The CrowdStrike Debacle is a Warning
We have engineered social systems that are hyper-optimized, super efficient, but incredibly fragile. It's a mistake—and unless we fix it, we will careen toward much worse, utterly avoidable disasters.
forkingpaths.co
Demolishing American history for a grotesque, gilded vanity ballroom, paid for by opaque donors bribing the president.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 10mo agoNEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
I'm super grateful to now be a UK citizen, but I did end up spending £17,000 in visa fees over 12 years to get there. Changing visa types brings you back to zero; in-person appointments are extortionate (thousands of pounds) for little more than scanning documents (often done by other immigrants).
Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 10mo agoAnother report on how our high visa costs deter top R&D talent on.ft.com/4oyDMnB
Japan finally has a woman as prime minister: Sanae Takaichi. But Japan's proportion of women in parliament (16%) is still extremely low relative to other developed democracies.
Can you imagine if Keir Starmer got private companies that he had direct power over and rich donors who wanted deregulation to pay £250 million in donations to knock down part of Big Ben to make his own little special tower? Because that's what Trump is doing to the White House literally right now.
"Sometimes you have to ask yourself: How did I get here—sitting in Saudi Arabia, listening to Louis C.K. do jokes about Barely Legal magazine?" I went to Riyadh to see the transformation of a country with the world's biggest cultural chequebook. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
How Many Comedians Does It Take to Change a Country?
What it’s like to watch Louis C.K. do stand-up in Saudi Arabia
theatlantic.com
The Democrats need to get a hell of a lot of cameras on the White House and plaster the photos everywhere. It's not just the brazen symbol of a megalomaniac destroying national heritage; it's happening during a government shutdown when ordinary people aren't getting paid. Make every American see it.
Looking forward to hosting @arvd.bsky.social on Thursday evening at UCL for a discussion of what The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the wisdom of Douglas Adams can teach us about modern politics. Tickets are free, but you need to book. Hope to see you there. Here's the link:
Douglas Adams: People are the Problem
Arvind Ethan David in conversation with UCL Professor Brian Klaas.
ucl.ac.uk
“…early social media fostered rather than replaced real-world connections.” I often feel like this is the white dragon we’ve all been chasing for 20+ years. Excellent article.
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 10mo agoI wrote about how and why social media has largely become boring and why it's a bad idea to eat your own brain: www.forkingpaths.co/p/is-social-...
This is brilliant, particularly this line about early social media: ‘If you got exposed to insane opinions, that was only because your real-world friends were insane’
Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · 10mo agoI wrote about how and why social media has largely become boring and why it's a bad idea to eat your own brain: www.forkingpaths.co/p/is-social-...
I wrote about how and why social media has largely become boring and why it's a bad idea to eat your own brain: www.forkingpaths.co/p/is-social-...
Is social media just...boring now?
Social media is destroying democracy and accelerating idiocracy. But it's also just...really, really boring.
forkingpaths.co
