Cultural Evolution Works in Not-So-Mysterious Yet Often Misunderstood Ways

It's easy to underrate it, but I'm here to help!

Sep 27 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

36

15

An Adventure in Smoke Detection

Join me in trying to vet one particular extremely niche fact! 🚬

Sep 9 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

35

16

August 2025

The Color of the Future

A history of blue 🦋

Aug 26 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

43

9

Why Did Nobody Tell Me ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Was This Good

And the one major flaw that almost destroys its entire project 🚉

Aug 11 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

19

10

July 2025

Tech Tree Updates and Similar Projects

With credit to other tech macrohistory enthusiasts

Jul 28 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

23

5

Experiment: The Mystery of Blue Raspberry Flavor

Is it fully artificial, or related to the rare black raspberry? 🔵

Jul 16 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

26

14

June 2025

No, we shouldn't return to the climate of the 18th century

Improving the climate is a better goal than trying to fight change.

Published on The Elysian • Jun 16

May 2025

Introducing the Historical Tech Tree

An attempt at reducing the burden of tech complexity ⚙️

May 27 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

82

27

April 2025

Atlas of Links #2

Recent writings by me and related materials; collections of interesting aesthetics

Apr 13 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

29

4

March 2025

Multi-country civilizations are good, actually

A vibe shift in favor of annexation would be counterproductive 🌏

Published on The Elysian • Mar 24

From the vault: King of fruits

Ordinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but centuries of innovation made them commonplace.

Published on The Works in Progress Newsletter • Mar 20

February 2025

Deep Into the Depths

A critique of the latest AI cliché 🦑

Feb 27 • 

Étienne Fortier-Dubois

23

3