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The Works in Progress Newsletter

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Degrowth and the monkey's paw Fifteen years ago, when I worked in the “social innovation” field, there was a world-view that was...
a year ago
107
a year ago
Fifteen years ago, when I worked in the “social innovation” field, there was a world-view that was very popular among my colleagues about what was wrong with society and how to fix it. The idea was that people and governments needed to stop seeing economic growth as a good thing,...
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Invisible College applications close on Friday Applications to our new residential seminar close this coming Friday, 31st May
10 months ago
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Issue 15: To change a norm Plus: bland buildings can't be blamed on labor costs, reasons to be sceptical about prediction...
10 months ago
92
10 months ago
Plus: bland buildings can't be blamed on labor costs, reasons to be sceptical about prediction markets, and gentrification policies that actually help.
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To change a norm How the war on drunk driving was won
9 months ago
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Should you infect yourself with Zika? What life is like in a challenge trial
11 months ago
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How to start an advance market commitment A practical guide from the founders of Frontier
10 months ago
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What did Henry George think about cities? Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
10 months ago
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Getting people to donate their organs Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
11 months ago
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How to write for Works in Progress We're looking for new authors and article pitches.
8 months ago
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Issue 11: Nuclear sandboxes Plus: Why Britain can’t seem to fix its housing market, gene-edited super-rice, and one weird trick...
a year ago
80
a year ago
Plus: Why Britain can’t seem to fix its housing market, gene-edited super-rice, and one weird trick to reverse climate change.
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Heat waves Why a hotter world might be a more dangerous, violent, and less productive one
8 months ago
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Britain’s interwar apartment boom A decade of Art Deco densification
a year ago
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The road from serfdom Using opt-ins to reform Russia's backwards tsarist agricultural sector
a year ago
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Does higher density cause lower birth rates? Assessing one recent claim that it does
10 months ago
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Fixing retail with land value capture How to create beautiful shopping streets everywhere
9 months ago
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The duplication crisis: the other replication crisis How bad publishing incentives hinder long-term thinking in computational biology research
6 months ago
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The Power of the Earth On the future of geothermal energy
a year ago
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How Israel turned homeowners into YIMBYs A housing success story
11 months ago
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Growing Forests As countries develop, deforestation drops
a year ago
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Issue 14: A peasant surprise Plus: Giving yourself the Zika virus, cut-and-cover railway tunnels, and more reasons to donate your...
a year ago
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Lost Science When discoveries are forgotten and then found
a year ago
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Communities of Practice: The Soul of Maintaining a New Machine The first section of Ch. 3 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
7 months ago
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Links in Progress: All the single people And how China will lose 51 million people in 10 years
3 months ago
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How pour-over coffee got good While popular with enthusiasts, pour-over coffee frustrated shops because it takes so long to make,...
3 months ago
64
3 months ago
While popular with enthusiasts, pour-over coffee frustrated shops because it takes so long to make, but that's changing.
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Gentrification as a housing problem The root cause of displacement is inflexible supply
8 months ago
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New York’s long road to congestion pricing The decades of work that went into getting the policy very, very close to the finish line
7 months ago
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Issue 16: I dream of genes Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and...
6 months ago
59
6 months ago
Plus: how humans are outdoing nature's shiniest creations; the history of measuring price rises; and how America's favourite type of coffee got really, really good.
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Escape to the country What makes a successful New Town?
7 months ago
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Apply to come to Invisible College Our new residential seminar for 18 to 22-year-olds, during August 2024
11 months ago
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Links in Progress: rising incomes do not always mean fewer births And how having a baby can make you believe in the future
5 months ago
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Cheap ornament and status games Was modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?
5 months ago
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Issue 12: Houston, we have a solution Plus: How Mexico built its state, the causes of the Baby Boom, and the 141-year quest for a malaria...
a year ago
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Links in Progress: What are children for? And how the UN’s birth rate forecasts keep getting it wrong
4 months ago
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Three percent more Monaco: Links in Progress, infrastructure edition Plus: high speed rail in Vietnam, India's first vertical lift sea bridge, and a £100 million bat...
2 months ago
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The San Diego infinite housing glitch How a bonus ADU program allows 'granny towers' in gardens
5 months ago
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Unending World A foretaste of Ch. 11 of Stewart Brand’s Maintenance on Books in Progress
5 months ago
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Links in Progress: Expanding the Mediterranean's busiest port Plus: New tunnels, monorails, canals, small modular reactors, and horseless carriages
4 months ago
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Issue 17: No great stagnation in cruise ships Plus: animals as chemical factories, how progress lost its glamour, and how Madrid built 120 miles...
3 months ago
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The Cocktail Revolution How bad drinks became good, and good drinks became great
a year ago
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Anemia and Malaria In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
5 months ago
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The eye of the tiger What makes tigers different from one another?
a year ago
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The Maintenance Race was just the beginning A new book from Stewart Brand, serialized on Works in Progress
a year ago
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History is in the making It's technology and ideas, not politics, that change our lives the most. History should reflect...
3 months ago
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How Poor Maintenance Loses Wars - 2022, Ukraine Maintains A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Making architecture easy Architecture is inherently public, which means buildings should be agreeable, not unpopular works of...
4 months ago
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The entrepreneurial state How state competition – through war – can drive institutional progress
a year ago
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How America Made Machines Make Machines A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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The concept of sustainment A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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From MANUALS to YOUTUBE A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Where inflation comes from How we calculate inflation has always been contested with small changes leading to large differences...
4 months ago
42
4 months ago
How we calculate inflation has always been contested with small changes leading to large differences in how well-off we think we are.
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Notes on Progress: Agglomeration benefits are here to stay Building more homes in the most productive cities could massively boost productivity
over a year ago
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The asbestos times How asbestos saved cities, before we realized its risks
a year ago
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The ultra-selfish gene Genetically modifying malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly...
4 months ago
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ARIA: Betting on science An inside look at Britain's new DARPA
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: The stats gap Students understand just enough statistics to get by
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: In pursuit of decent coffee No great stagnation in home espresso
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: The world that has never been Introducing Speculative Technologies
over a year ago
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Introducing Gentle Density A new series from Works in Progress
a year ago
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Upzoning New Zealand How a small country started building a lot of homes
a year ago
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Notes on Progress: An Englishman in New York Reflections on the revolution in Manhattan
over a year ago
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How Poor Maintenance Loses Wars: 1973, Israel Maintains A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Two Assault Rifles A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Issue 13: Deep heat Plus: the cocktail revolution, how war improved European states, and the mathematical basis of the...
a year ago
32
a year ago
Plus: the cocktail revolution, how war improved European states, and the mathematical basis of the Industrial Revolution
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The End of Combustion Vehicles The final section of Ch.2 of Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Notes on Progress: Representation and human history Do shrunken heads belong in a museum?
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: Artificial flavoring "Artificial" didn't scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare us now?
a year ago
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Notes on Progress: A winter's tale Melting snow can make the season easier
a year ago
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Special Issue 01: Lost in Stagnation Dude, where is my flying car?
over a year ago
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Whatever happened to the industrial R&D lab? From the Works in Progress archives.
a year ago
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Notes on Progress: An environmentalist gets lunch Why being an effective environmentalist can often feel like being a bad one
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: Thinking like a dog How dog brains could save us from dementia
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: Breakfast with g IQ, lived experience, and my boyfriend’s underpants
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: Selective breeding and chicken welfare We've bred larger and larger chickens. Now can we breed happier ones?
over a year ago
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Issue 10: One word—plastics. Plus: France's baby bust, why we empathise with animals, building infrastructure faster, and more.
over a year ago
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Notes on Progress: A tale of two particles Not all radioactivity is risky or harmful
over a year ago
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Links in Progress: Should we give babies the vote? And births rise in South Korea
a month ago
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Three Maintenance Philosophies Fought for Control of the Auto Industry A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Issue 09: Cheap shots and killer bots Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
Plus: Why scientific writing is so bad, how to stop snakebites from killing 100,000 people every year, and what science can learn from the fight against global poverty.
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Notes on Progress: Doing science backwards Preregistering research as a cure for scientific bias
over a year ago
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Rust never sleeps A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Why housing shortages cause homelessness It's not just about rents - it's also about the rooms friends and family can't afford to share
a month ago
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The value of family Traditional values don't deliver babies
a year ago
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Works in Progress: 2023 Wrapped Our most read work of the year
a year ago
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A writing fellowship on scientific progress Works in Progress and Asimov Press are launching a paid six-month fellowship.
a month ago
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Fermenting revolution The Victorian fight against bad bread and its role in women’s liberation
a year ago
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Links in Progress: We can still build beautifully A tour of interesting developments built in the last two decades
a month ago
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Links in Progress: Snakebites, Pig Hearts, and More A round up of the most important things happening in biotechnology and medicine
a month ago
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The prophet of parking A eulogy for the great Donald Shoup
a month ago
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A review of Charles Piller’s Doctored How fraud and bad research derailed years of Alzheimer's progress
4 weeks ago
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Youtube Rules A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
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Flipping the switch on far-UVC We’ve known about far-UVC’s promise for a decade. Why isn't it everywhere?
2 weeks ago
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Issue 18: Urbanism with Chinese characteristics Plus: Reducing the motherhood penalty by extending fertility, the steam networks of New York City,...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
Plus: Reducing the motherhood penalty by extending fertility, the steam networks of New York City, and the rise and fall of the Hanseatic league.
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The value of technological progress Evidence from the life of Matt Clancy
a week ago
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Links in Progress: Where's my winter robot chauffeur? What we've been reading: science, metascience, tech, housing, fertility and more ...
a week ago
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King of fruits Ordinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but...
a week ago
5
a week ago
Ordinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but centuries of innovation made them commonplace.
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Links in Progress: Good drug news More important things happening in biotechnology and medicine
4 days ago
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How Airbus took off Why you can build a European airliner, but not a European Google
3 days ago
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Apply for Invisible College 2025 Our residential seminar for 18–22 year olds was such a success that we are running it again
2 days ago
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Links in Progress: Legalizing the condo Moving the needle on US homebuilding
10 hours ago