Tim Harford
@TimHarford
Author How To Make The World Add Up (UK) / The Data Detective (US). Cautionary Tales podcast. Undercover Economist at the FT. BBC More or Less. Views my own.
Oo, first glimpses inside The Truth Detective, which is out next week! Ollie Mann has done a wonderful job bringing my ideas to life. For those asking, the book is aimed at 9-13 year olds, although I keep having to confiscate my copy from the grown-ups...
How a well-timed kind word can change everything: on.ft.com/41bG8PM
Cautionary Tales - "Captain Kirk forgot to put the machine on stun" timharford.com/2025/07/cautio…
More convictions connected with corrupt racist cop Derek Ridgewell have been overturned, half a century after the fact. ccrc.gov.uk/news/thirteen-… The incredible, outrageous story gave us one of our most haunting Cautionary Tales... timharford.com/2025/01/cautio…
“It is said that the reader of an American magazine was so disturbed by an article on the subject of smoking and cancer that he decided to give up reading.” timharford.com/2025/07/notes-…
How to make AI work for you - a lesson from Jimi Hendrix: on.ft.com/4eUfkJq
The law of unintended consequences strikes again: on.ft.com/4nHyDtG
Taco - the trade that ate itself: timharford.com/2025/07/taco-t…
Cautionary Tales - "I always get in trouble when I say things like this". Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried: timharford.com/2025/07/cautio…
We all know about the hallucination problem but it's quite extraordinary to see it invent such a detailed, plausible fabrication. I'm in the privileged position of being able to saunter into the Bodleian Library and check - most people could be forgiven for believing the machine.
I asked GPT3o to help me confirm and find a half-remembered anecdote from philosopher Jonathan Glover, probably his brilliant book "Humanity". GPT found it, gave me page refs in 2 editions, and listed other sources. Impressive! Only problem: the story is not in the book.
I asked GPT3o to help me confirm and find a half-remembered anecdote from philosopher Jonathan Glover, probably his brilliant book "Humanity". GPT found it, gave me page refs in 2 editions, and listed other sources. Impressive! Only problem: the story is not in the book.
Cautionary Tales: The Angels, the Stones, and the Dead: timharford.com/2025/07/cautio…
The latest #CautionaryTalesPod - Grand Theft Automated: How To Save A Trillion Lives timharford.com/2025/07/cautio…
