Mark Fabian
@markfabian.bsky.social
Ass-Prof of Public Policy at Warwick. Work mostly on wellbeing from an interdisciplinary perspective. Interested in *everything*. Run ePODstemology: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1763534/episodes
Pinned
Mark Fabian
@markfabian.bsky.social
· Feb 26
Beyond Happy: How to rethink happiness and find fulfilment
YouTube video by M. Fabian Education
www.youtube.com
Friends, foes, family:
I have a popular booking coming out on April 10 - Beyond Happy: How to rethink happiness and find fulfilment. It's the book I wish existed when I was 18. I couldn't find it in 20 years of searching, so I went and wrote it.
A video brief:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XPZ...
I have a popular booking coming out on April 10 - Beyond Happy: How to rethink happiness and find fulfilment. It's the book I wish existed when I was 18. I couldn't find it in 20 years of searching, so I went and wrote it.
A video brief:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XPZ...
Whenever I get a little bit of time off I always tell myself to use it napping and I always end up blogging instead:
open.substack.com/pub/profmark...?
open.substack.com/pub/profmark...?
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Whenever I get a little bit of time off I always tell myself to use it napping and I always end up blogging instead:
open.substack.com/pub/profmark...?
open.substack.com/pub/profmark...?
New episode of ePODstemology with Harvard's James Geary on aphorisms!
www.buzzsprout.com/1763534/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/1763534/epis...
T;DR Truth Bombs - The Essence of Aphorisms with James Geary - ePODstemology
In one of his Letters Provinciales, the French philosopher and Theologian Blaise Pascal apologises that “I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had the time to make it shorter”. ...
www.buzzsprout.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
New episode of ePODstemology with Harvard's James Geary on aphorisms!
www.buzzsprout.com/1763534/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/1763534/epis...
In today's episode of AI can't predict shit, my Netflix suggestions:
Did you watch Oscar winning mythologist Miyazaki's solarpunk masterpiece, Castle in the Sky?
Well our algorithm thinks you'll love...K-Pop Demon Hunters 😑. It's all anime, right?
It is so bad at discovering stuff for me.
Did you watch Oscar winning mythologist Miyazaki's solarpunk masterpiece, Castle in the Sky?
Well our algorithm thinks you'll love...K-Pop Demon Hunters 😑. It's all anime, right?
It is so bad at discovering stuff for me.
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 PM
In today's episode of AI can't predict shit, my Netflix suggestions:
Did you watch Oscar winning mythologist Miyazaki's solarpunk masterpiece, Castle in the Sky?
Well our algorithm thinks you'll love...K-Pop Demon Hunters 😑. It's all anime, right?
It is so bad at discovering stuff for me.
Did you watch Oscar winning mythologist Miyazaki's solarpunk masterpiece, Castle in the Sky?
Well our algorithm thinks you'll love...K-Pop Demon Hunters 😑. It's all anime, right?
It is so bad at discovering stuff for me.
Reposted by Mark Fabian
What is the true vow of your life—the one it would kill you to break?
How do we discover what we are here for, what is our unique gift to the world, and how can we bring this to the table in ways that will transform our broken systems?
accidentalgods.life/walking-the-...
#Accidentalgods #podcast
How do we discover what we are here for, what is our unique gift to the world, and how can we bring this to the table in ways that will transform our broken systems?
accidentalgods.life/walking-the-...
#Accidentalgods #podcast
Walking the wild, mythic Edge of Being with visionary elder and soul initiator Bill Plotkin
What is the true vow of your life, the one it would kill you to break? This phrase comes from the poem 'All The True Vows' by David Whyte, but there can be no better introduction to this week's guest,...
accidentalgods.life
November 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
What is the true vow of your life—the one it would kill you to break?
How do we discover what we are here for, what is our unique gift to the world, and how can we bring this to the table in ways that will transform our broken systems?
accidentalgods.life/walking-the-...
#Accidentalgods #podcast
How do we discover what we are here for, what is our unique gift to the world, and how can we bring this to the table in ways that will transform our broken systems?
accidentalgods.life/walking-the-...
#Accidentalgods #podcast
Randomly looking at Milo's wiki & saw these doozies:
"2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, later working with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and rapper Kanye West on [his] short-lived 2024 US presidential campaign."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yi...
"2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, later working with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and rapper Kanye West on [his] short-lived 2024 US presidential campaign."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yi...
Milo Yiannopoulos - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 7, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Randomly looking at Milo's wiki & saw these doozies:
"2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, later working with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and rapper Kanye West on [his] short-lived 2024 US presidential campaign."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yi...
"2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, later working with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and rapper Kanye West on [his] short-lived 2024 US presidential campaign."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yi...
Reposted by Mark Fabian
this has been one of my central arguments the past ten years. the theory underpinning the anti-democratic elements of the american constitutional order is wrong!
The more democratic elements of the American constitutional and economic order are actually throwing up road blocks to Trumpism. Protests and boycotts and low level courts and juries and cetera. Elite actors on the other hand are all too frequently caving. Fascinating study in who actually cares!
BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
November 6, 2025 at 10:38 PM
this has been one of my central arguments the past ten years. the theory underpinning the anti-democratic elements of the american constitutional order is wrong!
This by Geoff Mulgan seems on point as usual:
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/hollowed-o...
"I open the broader question of whether progressive movements can thrive without an idea of progress"
It is very puzzling to me that centre-left parties are not embracing wellbeing economy ideas in this regard.
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/hollowed-o...
"I open the broader question of whether progressive movements can thrive without an idea of progress"
It is very puzzling to me that centre-left parties are not embracing wellbeing economy ideas in this regard.
Hollowed out: can the centre hold?
Can the centre hold and resist the far right?
geoffmulgan.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
This by Geoff Mulgan seems on point as usual:
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/hollowed-o...
"I open the broader question of whether progressive movements can thrive without an idea of progress"
It is very puzzling to me that centre-left parties are not embracing wellbeing economy ideas in this regard.
geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/hollowed-o...
"I open the broader question of whether progressive movements can thrive without an idea of progress"
It is very puzzling to me that centre-left parties are not embracing wellbeing economy ideas in this regard.
Reposted by Mark Fabian
If you can’t articulate the other side’s point of view during an argument or debate, then you haven’t eliminated the possibility that what you have is actually a miscommunication not a conflict.
November 3, 2025 at 4:25 PM
If you can’t articulate the other side’s point of view during an argument or debate, then you haven’t eliminated the possibility that what you have is actually a miscommunication not a conflict.
@economeager.bsky.social I just tag you whenever Freud is vindicated.
for the *second time* i have applied to my own alma mater, with a cover letter that says i am applying for a job at a different university. freud vindicated yet again
November 3, 2025 at 4:08 PM
@economeager.bsky.social I just tag you whenever Freud is vindicated.
Reposted by Mark Fabian
u shaped AND inverse u shaped!!!!! holy regional heterogeneity batman
these charts show the relationship between zip code-level average income and individual probability of voting for democrats in different regions of the country. one of my favorite group fo charts, lots of stories to unearth
November 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
u shaped AND inverse u shaped!!!!! holy regional heterogeneity batman
Reposted by Mark Fabian
We need to hear more young voices in our culture and democracy. And this one on the appeal of the manosphere and why we might be letting young boys down is powerful.
Male body image and its associations is a massive driver of the Tate etc enterprise.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Male body image and its associations is a massive driver of the Tate etc enterprise.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I’m a teenager who was lured into the manosphere. Here’s how to reach young men like me | Josh Sargent
Masculinity is almost always presented as toxic on my feed – but we need constructive alternatives to give hope to those who feel lost, says Josh Sargent
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:03 AM
We need to hear more young voices in our culture and democracy. And this one on the appeal of the manosphere and why we might be letting young boys down is powerful.
Male body image and its associations is a massive driver of the Tate etc enterprise.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Male body image and its associations is a massive driver of the Tate etc enterprise.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I knew this book would depress me but my god it is soooo depressing.
I dont understand what people think happens to their trash. In the bin out of mind I guess. But actually all that plastic is now in your food, water, beaches, brain. All so Shein can thrive.
I dont understand what people think happens to their trash. In the bin out of mind I guess. But actually all that plastic is now in your food, water, beaches, brain. All so Shein can thrive.
November 3, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I knew this book would depress me but my god it is soooo depressing.
I dont understand what people think happens to their trash. In the bin out of mind I guess. But actually all that plastic is now in your food, water, beaches, brain. All so Shein can thrive.
I dont understand what people think happens to their trash. In the bin out of mind I guess. But actually all that plastic is now in your food, water, beaches, brain. All so Shein can thrive.
Reposted by Mark Fabian
It totally makes sense to me that giving prestige to those who demonstrate not only fitness but focus and control could help sustain a society.
If so, AI surrogated skills don't just challenge social cohesion via wages, but also via challenging our capacity to recognise & reward social investment.
If so, AI surrogated skills don't just challenge social cohesion via wages, but also via challenging our capacity to recognise & reward social investment.
November 3, 2025 at 7:19 AM
It totally makes sense to me that giving prestige to those who demonstrate not only fitness but focus and control could help sustain a society.
If so, AI surrogated skills don't just challenge social cohesion via wages, but also via challenging our capacity to recognise & reward social investment.
If so, AI surrogated skills don't just challenge social cohesion via wages, but also via challenging our capacity to recognise & reward social investment.
Reading analytical philosophy for work and I am once again struck by the standard structure of these papers:
1. Here we have a situation with a common sense solution
2. But what if I take this common sense solution to its logical extreme?
3. Hmmm, now we have a puzzle.
Just don't?
1. Here we have a situation with a common sense solution
2. But what if I take this common sense solution to its logical extreme?
3. Hmmm, now we have a puzzle.
Just don't?
November 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reading analytical philosophy for work and I am once again struck by the standard structure of these papers:
1. Here we have a situation with a common sense solution
2. But what if I take this common sense solution to its logical extreme?
3. Hmmm, now we have a puzzle.
Just don't?
1. Here we have a situation with a common sense solution
2. But what if I take this common sense solution to its logical extreme?
3. Hmmm, now we have a puzzle.
Just don't?
Reposted by Mark Fabian
Never take seriously those who ridicule low income people for having a smartphone or laptop.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.
November 2, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Never take seriously those who ridicule low income people for having a smartphone or laptop.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.
Reposted by Mark Fabian
on the one hand it sucks that i cant play as much hades 2 as i would like because i have to do ARC grant application. on the other hand, every time you do a grant application you descend temporarily down into hell so it is at least thematically congruent
November 2, 2025 at 4:24 AM
on the one hand it sucks that i cant play as much hades 2 as i would like because i have to do ARC grant application. on the other hand, every time you do a grant application you descend temporarily down into hell so it is at least thematically congruent
Reposted by Mark Fabian
“National populism works because it offers a story of the nation — coherent, emotional, and rooted in belonging. Most of its opponents don’t. Here’s why that matters 👇”
October 31, 2025 at 9:01 AM
“National populism works because it offers a story of the nation — coherent, emotional, and rooted in belonging. Most of its opponents don’t. Here’s why that matters 👇”
Reposted by Mark Fabian
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Queen who makes money just doing what she loves showing how you can simply give away all the money you don't need to do what you love.
"If you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" Billie Eilish speaking directly to Mark Zuckerberg, as she donates $11.5m to food poverty and climate justice organisations.
'Give your money away,' Billie Eilish tells billionaires
The singer called on the mega wealthy to donate more to charity, during a speech at the WSJ Awards attended by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and George Lucas.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Queen who makes money just doing what she loves showing how you can simply give away all the money you don't need to do what you love.
I went through a lot of therapy over the past few years to uncripple my capacity to properly feel my emotions.
I'm much better for it, and wiser too. But let me just say that child me was onto something because life is brutal often and humanity is relentless in its sinfulness.
I'm much better for it, and wiser too. But let me just say that child me was onto something because life is brutal often and humanity is relentless in its sinfulness.
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 AM
I went through a lot of therapy over the past few years to uncripple my capacity to properly feel my emotions.
I'm much better for it, and wiser too. But let me just say that child me was onto something because life is brutal often and humanity is relentless in its sinfulness.
I'm much better for it, and wiser too. But let me just say that child me was onto something because life is brutal often and humanity is relentless in its sinfulness.
I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books - where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas.
- Langston Hughes, The Big Sea
- Langston Hughes, The Big Sea
October 30, 2025 at 9:55 AM
I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books - where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas.
- Langston Hughes, The Big Sea
- Langston Hughes, The Big Sea
Reposted by Mark Fabian
Last night I watched over 100 pelicans feed just off the coast after sunset. Here's one of them. 17 frames taken from a sequence of 44 over 2.5 seconds. Incredible dinosaurs!!! 🪶
October 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Last night I watched over 100 pelicans feed just off the coast after sunset. Here's one of them. 17 frames taken from a sequence of 44 over 2.5 seconds. Incredible dinosaurs!!! 🪶
Reposted by Mark Fabian
Every major academic debate is just a 50-year exercise in pretending the middle ground doesn’t exist
October 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Every major academic debate is just a 50-year exercise in pretending the middle ground doesn’t exist
Reposted by Mark Fabian
The Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan may sound dry, but it proposes the near complete decarbonisation of the economy inside a decade and is the closest thing the government has to a growth strategy. Surely that’s worth a press conference?
October 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan may sound dry, but it proposes the near complete decarbonisation of the economy inside a decade and is the closest thing the government has to a growth strategy. Surely that’s worth a press conference?
