Utopian Dreams

Recycling

Modern landfill regulations have addressed most environmental concerns of trash. Even pricing in externalities, household recycling programs are largely…

Nov 3

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August 2025

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are great, and with a few improved design decisions, have the potential to replace forms, bespoke databases, and many websites.

Aug 11

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July 2025

Empathy

“Empathy” is overloaded, conflating social reasoning, shared feeling, and compassion. Reason and compassion are good. Shared feeling is important, but…

Jul 28

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June 2025

Adjudication (Part 2: Trials)

Speed, accuracy, and court cost are all important factors for justice. Incapacitation of criminals is the main goal. Executions are bad for multiple…

Jun 26

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Adjudication (Part 1: Judges)

Criminal justice is important for protecting norms, and can apply to contract violation. Utopia distinguishes between local and universal crime, and…

Jun 22

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Mate Selection

Old ways of mate selection are being replaced by dating apps, but these apps fail to provide the core ingredients of love. Utopia uses an opt-in signal…

Jun 14

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May 2025

Maps and Addresses

There are much better choices for map projections than Mercator, especially if you allow many interruptions, like the Butterfly or myriahedral. East…

May 21

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Insider Trading

Insider trading can reduce volatility and improve efficiency. Banning it is arbitrary and can foster corruption. Utopian markets are less regulated…

May 15

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Remote Work

Remote work is a huge win, when possible. Infrastructure and at-will employment help, but the big bottleneck is trust, and the resulting feedback loops…

May 9

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April 2025

Smoothness

Embracing the principle that reality is smooth, not discrete, leads to more nuanced thinking and better scientific intuitions.

Apr 19

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Police (Part 3: Reform)

Utopia has highly specialized, unarmed officers who rely on the military for gun threats. Auditing allows for competition and other good incentives…

Apr 10

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Police (Part 2: Roles)

Policing has ancient roots, co-evolving with cities. Increased specialization (e.g. crisis response, detectives, SWAT) can improve police efficiency.

Apr 7

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