Things Worth Paying For
The incentive structure of what you pay for matters. These suggestions align with what this site argues. None of them pays us anything.
Every recommendation on this page is editorially independent — no payment received, no affiliate links, no referral income. If that ever changes it will be stated here first; full financial transparency is on the Donate page.
Quality journalism
Subscribing to investigative journalism creates a financial incentive structure that does not depend on engagement metrics or advertising.
The Guardian (theguardian.com) — Reader-supported, owned by a trust set up to keep it independent, and running a standing corrections column.
De Correspondent (decorrespondent.nl) — Advertisement-free and funded by its members; slow journalism, for Dutch readers.
The investigative non-profits on the Organisations page take memberships too.
Books
When buying books from the reading list, buy from an independent bookshop — your local shop, or, in the US or UK, Bookshop.org, which was created to support independent bookshops. Consistent with what this site argues about incentive structures. We earn nothing from any book link.
Privacy
Proton (proton.me) — Email, calendar, VPN, and cloud storage with end-to-end encryption. Swiss-based, privacy-first, non-advertising business model. Paid plans start at €4/month. Free tier available.
Kagi (kagi.com) — Search engine funded by subscriptions rather than advertising. From $5/month. The incentive structure is aligned with user interests rather than advertiser interests.
Education
The Bad News game (getbadnews.com) is free. The Inoculation Science games and prebunking videos from Cambridge (with Bristol) are free. The books on the reading list are available through libraries — checking them out supports the library system and costs nothing.
Sources
- The Guardian, The Scott Trust: values and history — the ownership structure that funds and protects the paper's independence; its running corrections and clarifications column.
- De Correspondent, Over ons — advertisement-free and financed by membership fees.
- Bookshop.org — the company's own account of why it exists: an online shop that supports independent bookshops.
- Proton, Pricing — the free plan and the paid plans, with the euro prices quoted above. Vendor page; prices move, so check before subscribing.
- Kagi, Pricing — Starter from $5 a month; "no ads, no tracking… fully funded by its users". Vendor page.
- Inoculation Science (Cambridge, with Bristol) — the games and prebunking videos, free to play and to use.
- Bad News — the inoculation game, free in the browser, from the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and DROG.