Announcing the first issue of Asterisk

Are you a fan of engaging, epistemically rigorous longform writing about the world’s most pressing problems? Interested in in-depth interviews with leading scholars? A reader of taste and discernment? Sick of FTXcourse?

Distract yourself with the inaugural issue of Asterisk Magazine, out now!

Asterisk is a new quarterly journal of clear writing and clear thinking about things that matter (and, occasionally, things we just think are interesting). In this issue:

  • Kelsey Piper argues that What We Owe The Future can’t quite support the weight of its own premises.

  • Kevin Esvelt talks about how we can prevent the next pandemic.

  • Jared Leibowich gives us a superforecaster’s approach to modeling monkeypox.

  • Christopher Leslie Brown on the history of abolitionism and the slippery concept of moral progress

  • Stuart Ritchie tries to find out if the replication crisis has really made science better.

  • Dietrich Vollrath explains what economists do and don’t know about why some countries become rich and others don’t.

  • Scott Alexander asks: is wine fake?

  • Karson Elmgren on the history and future of China’s semiconductor industry.

  • Xander Balwit imagines a future where genetic engineering has radically altered the animals we eat.

A huge thank you to everyone in the community who helped us make Asterisk a reality. We hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.