Even as the U.S. is lashed by hurricanes and tornados, the disaster that most people worry about isn't a super storm. It's economic collapse. How do you prepare for a catastrophe like that? We asked a founder of the American Preppers Network, as well as economist Brad DeLong. Surprisingly, they agreed on an answer.

Our economy is huge, incomprehensible and potentially deadly if you take a wrong step — just like space, in fact. So when it comes to understanding the fundamentals of economics, you need to read some classic and recent science fiction novels. Luckily, Paul Krugman and Noah Smith have provided a reading list.

This is part two of a two-part series on the limits of human economic growth on planet Earth. Part one details some of the environmental and natural resource challenges we’re up against. Here, we look at the ultimate size of the resource pool and solutions to our problems.

The collective effort of two economists and an anthropologist, Goodhart's Law illustrates in real-life economic systems what authors often illustrate in science fiction. You can use measurement to understand a system, but when you try to control it, that measurement becomes meaningless.

To the disappointment of thousands who signed the petition, the Obama administration recently informed us that it has, and will have, no plans to build a Star-Wars-style death star. Now, there may indeed be good reasons to forgo this addition to the nation's defense, but the first one listed — that it would cost 850…

We take economic growth for granted — it's one of the defining characteristics of our economy that it grows, year after year. Any period when the economy doesn't grow is called a recession, and this is a kind of temporary economic emergency.

Bond villains are known for their over-the-top personalities, their unusual choice of body guards, and their often elaborate schemes for power and fortune. But did any of those plots have a chance of being successful if not for the interference of MI6?

I love the idea of Menial, a new anthology from the peeps at Crossed Genres coming in January. We've had plenty of anthologies about space admirals and cosmic heroes — but how about the people who actually get their hands dirty keeping the spaceship flying? The engineers, mechanics, and even sanitation workers?

Bars across the country are implementing a market-based pricing algorithm that automatically adjusts the cost of drinks from minute-to-minute, based on the ordering trends of its patrons. If the bar is selling a lot of cocktail A, the price of that drink increases. If sales on beverage B are down, the cost of the…

Data designer Shing Tat Chung has embarked on a strange project to create a superstitious robot who makes stock market investments. Sponsored in part by Microsoft Research, as well as GDP Capital, the project is intended to reveal what patterns emerge when an entity invests based on astrological and numerological…