Scott Alexander examines the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous, finding it and other treatments only marginally better than no treatment, based on flawed and inconclusive studies. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews the evidence on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) effectiveness, finding most studies to be flawed or inconclusive. He notes that AA seems to work about as well as other treatments, but only slightly better than no treatment at all. The post explores various studies, their methodologies, and their limitations, ultimately concluding that while AA and other treatments may help, their effects are small and often indistinguishable from each other or from brief interventions by doctors. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander outlines and criticizes ten fallacious argument styles that misrepresent an opponent's beliefs, demonstrating how they can be used to unfairly attack any position. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques a series of argument styles that misrepresent an opponent's position by exaggerating or distorting their belief. He presents ten variations of this fallacious reasoning, each escalating the misrepresentation in a different way. These range from likening a belief to religious faith, to suggesting that holding a belief implies extreme fanaticism or hatred of opponents. The post concludes with a densely packed example combining all ten argument styles, using the mundane topic of wearing coats in cold weather to demonstrate how absurd these arguments can become when applied to any belief. Scott clarifies that while some of these issues can be real problems, these argument styles are 'fully general' and can be used to attack any position unfairly. Shorter summary

The post provides a comprehensive overview of Reactionary philosophy and its critiques of modern progressive society, attempting to present these controversial ideas fairly for the sake of debate. Longer summary

This post provides a comprehensive overview of Reactionary philosophy, presenting its arguments against modern progressive society and in favor of traditional values and governance structures. The author explains Reactionary critiques of democracy, diversity, feminism, and other progressive ideals, and presents Reactionary arguments for monarchy, cultural unity, and traditional gender roles. The post covers topics like race, colonialism, and immigration from a Reactionary perspective. While not endorsing these views, the author attempts to present them fairly to encourage debate and examination of commonly held progressive assumptions. Shorter summary