Science of Science; Progress on Progress

I started writing online in college, but I grew up surrounded by economists and bloggers so debating and discussing ideas has always been a big part of my life. I got interested in progress through two observations. First is what Diedre McCluskey calls “The Great Fact:” The immense growth of humanity since the industrial revolution. Second is “The Great Stagnation:” Poor policy choices have slowed growth, but that means better ones can have a huge compounding impact. Progress is imperative but not inexorable.

I am currently researching meta-science at Dartmouth. Science is at the heart of progress, but our systems for producing and evaluating it are rudimentary. I am planning to write more about the past, present, and future of science.

Married, Minivan, Multi-instrumentalist, Minecraft

I got engaged this May to my high school sweetheart!

I took out all of the back seats from my mom’s old minivan and built a ~queen size bed platform back there that me and my fiancee have used for 3 road trips (so far).

I play the bass guitar, piano, and (very recently) the drums.

I also play lots of video games. My all time favorites are Minecraft and Europa Universalis 4. I think that Minecraft is the best game of all time by many measures, but I predict that it will be the most popular game among any from the past 50 years in 50 years time.