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The Unreasonable Human
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Long reads on how we actually think, decide and live.

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Ideas

The memory of the group chat

The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.

By Alina Petrova29 Aug 20269 min read
A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light
Ideas

Envy is a social bet on the future

The mind is built for a different world. It copes remarkably well with this one.

By Alina Petrova16 Jul 202610 min read
Illustration of a bare tree over a faint grid, overlaid with rust-red, pale blue and black-spotted circles
Ideas

Restraint is a expensive argument

It looks like a flaw in the person. Mostly it is a feature of the situation.

By Alina Petrova9 Jun 202611 min read
Illustration of a head in profile facing two overlapping rust-red circles and a cluster of thin vertical lines
Ideas

The case against a good excuse

Most advice assumes a person who never existed.

By Alina Petrova26 Jul 20259 min read
A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light

Ideas worth reading. Every week.

Essays, data and ideas on economics, rationality and why we do what we do.

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