Download: PDF | EPUB Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a billionaire? Do you need rare genius? Exceptional acumen? Miraculous foresight? An uncompromising work ethic? On all four counts, the answer is no. It turns out that to become a billionaire, what you really need is the right social setting . You need to live in a society that is suitably rich and appropriately unequal.

I’m starting a postdoc in July.

My talk given to the University of Texas Energy Symposium.

Have humans always been egalitarian? The evolutionary evidence suggests not.

I review Carey King’s new book ‘The Economic Superorganism’.

I look at the degrowth that might be achieved by eliminating inequality.

This is the second in a series of two essays written for and supported by the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on an Equitable and Resilient Society. These essays investigate the role that hierarchy plays in driving inequality and unsustainability. Summary Humanity’s most pressing need is to learn how to live within our planet’s boundaries — something that likely means doing without economic growth.

In case you missed them, here are the Top 5 posts of the last year.

As we run out of oil, many people believe that its price will skyrocket. But I think the opposite will happen. Oil prices will plummet … yet oil will grow increasingly unaffordable.

Peak oil was all the rage a decade ago. Now nobody’s talking about it. The funny thing is, it’s still happening.