Scott Alexander reviews Robin Hanson's 'Age of Em', praising its creativity while critiquing its assumptions and arguing the future may be even stranger. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews Robin Hanson's book 'Age of Em', which predicts a future where human brain emulations ('ems') dominate the economy. The book explores in great detail how an em society might function, with copied minds running at different speeds and bizarre social dynamics. While praising Hanson's creativity and rigor, Scott critiques some of the assumptions and argues the future may be even stranger and potentially more dystopian than Hanson envisions, possibly resembling Nick Land's idea of an 'Ascended Economy' detached from human values. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander compares reactions to coming out as gay versus disliking math, introducing the concept of a 'Things To Be Fascinated About Lottery' to explain diverse interests and talents. Longer summary

In this post, Scott Alexander compares people's reactions to someone coming out as gay versus someone expressing dislike for math. He argues that while people are generally accepting of sexual orientation, they often react negatively and dismissively to someone's lack of interest in math. Scott explores the concept of a 'Things To Be Fascinated About Lottery', suggesting that our interests and talents are largely determined by chance. He reflects on his own struggles with math and how he came to accept that intelligence isn't monolithic, and that people can have different strengths and weaknesses. The post concludes with the idea that while some interests may be more advantageous than others, we shouldn't blame ourselves for our natural inclinations. Shorter summary