About - More is Different

I believe progress is real and progress is desirable.

I am a techno-optimist. I believe science and technology have improved the human condition and will continue to do so if we develop them smartly (d/acc). I believe scientific progress is tied up with ethical progress.

Therefore, a lot of this blog is focused on how to make progress go faster (progress studies).

A particular interest of mine within progress studies is figuring out how to do science better (metascience).

Within metascience I tend to focus on improving scientific culture and methodology. My nonprofit, the Metascience Observatory, is focused on understanding the scope and various causes of the replication crisis. Ultimatley, I hope my work will inform policy changes as well as cultural changes within science that improve incentives.

Other topics of interest include AI safety, FDA policy, Long COVID, philosophy of mind, and transhumanism.

The name “More is Different” comes from the title of an 1972 article in Science by the condensed matter physicist and Nobel laureate Philip W. Anderson. The article is about emergence and the hierarchical nature of scientific knowledge. Part of my PhD research explored emergent phenomena that occur in the hydrogen bonding dynamics of liquid water. I started blogging in 2013 under the title “More is Different” and the name has stuck.

Paying for a subscription here on Substack doesn’t provide any special perks, but it is greatly appreciated and will motivate me to write more. Some day I would like to make a living doing my contract writing and research, and I would like for Substack income to be part of that.