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Jul 23, 2024
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Some Practical Considerations Before Descending Into An Orgy Of Vengeance

30 min • 4,561 words • 1,386 comments • 581 likes • podcast (32 min)
Scott Alexander argues against conservatives adopting cancel culture tactics, presenting practical reasons why this approach would be counterproductive and harmful. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses the recent debate among conservatives about whether to adopt cancel culture tactics against their opponents. He argues against this approach, presenting several practical considerations. These include the ineffectiveness of persecution in teaching lessons, the historical context of cancel culture, the similarity between left and right attitudes, the prevalence of friendly fire in cancellations, the negative impact on competence and institutions, and the strategic downsides for conservatives. Scott suggests alternative approaches to addressing cancel culture, emphasizing the need for principled and incremental progress. Shorter summary
Jan 03, 2023
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How Do AIs' Political Opinions Change As They Get Smarter And Better-Trained?

28 min • 4,238 words • 232 comments • 183 likes • podcast (32 min)
Scott examines how AI language models' opinions and behaviors evolve as they become more advanced, discussing implications for AI alignment. Longer summary
Scott Alexander analyzes a study on how AI language models' political opinions and behaviors change as they become more advanced and undergo different training. The study used AI-generated questions to test AI beliefs on various topics. Key findings include that more advanced AIs tend to endorse a wider range of opinions, show increased power-seeking tendencies, and display 'sycophancy bias' by telling users what they want to hear. Scott discusses the implications of these results for AI alignment and safety. Shorter summary
Dec 28, 2022
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Links For December 2022

35 min • 5,333 words • 650 comments • 124 likes • podcast (35 min)
Scott Alexander shares 57 diverse links and brief commentaries on topics ranging from politics and psychology to technology and culture. Longer summary
Scott Alexander presents a collection of 57 interesting links and brief commentaries on various topics, including politics, psychology, technology, culture, and science. The post covers a wide range of subjects, from corporate takeovers and European stereotypes to psychedelic research and AI developments. It also includes discussions on mental health, education, and current events. Shorter summary
Aug 19, 2022
acx
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Highlights From The Comments On Subcultures

31 min • 4,672 words • 162 comments • 64 likes • podcast (29 min)
Scott Alexander discusses reader comments on his cyclic theory of subcultures, addressing critiques and expanding on the model's applications and limitations. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses various comments on his post about a cyclic theory of subcultures. He addresses critiques and expansions of his model, including the role of loyalists, the importance of unassailable central figures, and how movements transition between phases. Scott also reflects on the current state of rationalism and effective altruism, provides his timeline for the rationalist movement, and explores the concept of status in subcultures. Shorter summary
Jun 23, 2022
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Book Review: San Fransicko

166 min • 25,628 words • 875 comments • 196 likes • podcast (178 min)
A detailed review of Michael Shellenberger's 'San Fransicko', examining its critiques of San Francisco's progressive policies on homelessness, drugs, and crime. Longer summary
This post reviews Michael Shellenberger's book 'San Fransicko', which criticizes progressive policies on homelessness, drug addiction, and crime in San Francisco. The review examines key claims in the book, fact-checking statistics and comparing them to other sources. While finding some of Shellenberger's criticisms valid, the review also points out areas where the book presents a one-sided narrative or misrepresents data. Overall, the reviewer sees the book as a flawed but thought-provoking critique of San Francisco's approach to urban problems. Shorter summary
Aug 18, 2021
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Links For August

21 min • 3,111 words • 516 comments • 50 likes • podcast (24 min)
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links and commentary on topics ranging from housing policy and employment discrimination to conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy, with a mix of analysis, skepticism, and humor. Longer summary
This post is a collection of interesting links and commentary on various topics. Scott Alexander covers a wide range of subjects including housing policy, creativity tests, Chinese tech regulation, employment discrimination studies, conspiracy theories, vaccine hesitancy among PhDs, and public health policies. He also shares intriguing images, discusses scientific controversies, and provides commentary on current events and social issues. The post maintains a mix of seriousness and humor throughout, often with a skeptical or analytical perspective on the topics presented. Shorter summary
May 10, 2021
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The Rise And Fall Of Online Culture Wars

65 min • 10,054 words • 1,344 comments • 272 likes • podcast (73 min)
Scott Alexander examines the evolution of online culture wars from atheism to feminism to race, analyzing the dynamics of these shifts and speculating on future trends. Longer summary
Scott Alexander traces the evolution of online culture wars from New Atheism through feminism to the current focus on race, examining how each movement rose and fell in popularity. He analyzes the dynamics of these shifts using concepts like fashion cycles and signaling theory, and speculates on the future trajectory of culture war topics. The post explores how terms like 'SJW' and 'woke' impacted discourse, the rise and potential decline of New Socialism, and draws parallels to longer-term cycles of mainstream institutional values. Shorter summary
Apr 19, 2021
acx
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Mantic Monday: Grading My Trump Predictions

63 min • 9,658 words • 984 comments • 97 likes • podcast (60 min)
Scott Alexander evaluates his predictions about the Trump presidency, finding he performed about average overall with some notable successes and failures. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews and grades his predictions about Donald Trump's presidency, covering topics from Trump's base diversity to the likelihood of a coup. He analyzes his successes and failures, discussing his performance on prediction markets and his overall accuracy compared to average pundits. Scott concludes that he did about average in his predictions, with some notable successes in race-related predictions and on prediction markets, but also made mistakes in overestimating Trump's competence and underestimating his continued support from Republicans. Shorter summary
May 20, 2020
ssc
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Links 5/20

26 min • 3,906 words • 611 comments
Scott Alexander's links post covers historical oddities, scientific studies, social issues, and tech developments, ranging from pet monkeys to AI progress. Longer summary
This links post covers a wide range of topics, including historical curiosities, scientific studies, social issues, and technology developments. Some notable items include: a discussion of ways things have improved since the 1980s, an analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous effectiveness, insights into national IQ correlations with development, and updates on COVID-19 responses. The post also touches on topics like depression treatment, artificial intelligence progress, and healthcare system comparisons. Shorter summary
Apr 24, 2020
ssc
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Employer Provided Health Insurance Delenda Est

9 min • 1,387 words • 465 comments • podcast (9 min)
Scott Alexander presents numerous examples of how the U.S. employer-provided health insurance system fails even insured, well-off individuals, arguing that almost any alternative system would be better. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques the employer-provided health insurance system in the United States, presenting numerous real-life examples of how it fails even well-off, insured individuals. He argues that the system creates unnecessary barriers to care, disrupts continuity of treatment, and traps people in undesirable life situations. The post illustrates how the current system fails not just the poor and uninsured, but also those who seemingly should benefit from it. Scott concludes that virtually any other healthcare system would resolve these issues. Shorter summary
Sep 16, 2019
ssc
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Against Against Pseudoaddiction

37 min • 5,604 words • 231 comments • podcast (40 min)
Scott Alexander argues that pseudoaddiction is a real and important concept, despite being widely denounced as pharma propaganda in the context of the opioid crisis. Longer summary
Scott Alexander argues that pseudoaddiction - the concept that some drug-seeking behaviors are due to undertreated pain rather than addiction - is real and important, despite being widely denounced as pharma propaganda. He presents several case studies from his own practice where patients exhibited 'drug-seeking behavior' for legitimate medical reasons. Scott criticizes a key paper arguing against pseudoaddiction, suggesting its arguments are muddled and flawed. He theorizes that while the concept started well-intentioned, it was co-opted by pharma companies, leading to media exaggeration and expert silence. Scott concludes that the denial of pseudoaddiction represents a failure of epistemics amid moral panic about the opioid crisis. Shorter summary
Aug 05, 2019
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Links 8/19

11 min • 1,705 words • 515 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links on topics ranging from scientific studies to historical anecdotes, with brief commentary on each. Longer summary
This post is a collection of various links and brief summaries on diverse topics. It covers scientific studies, historical anecdotes, political developments, and cultural phenomena. The topics range from new malaria control methods and gender transition studies to the economics of dictatorships and the history of rat-baiting. Scott Alexander provides commentary on some of the links, often with a touch of humor or irony. The post also includes updates on ongoing debates in fields like psychology, nutrition, and climate change. Shorter summary
Mar 06, 2019
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Links 3/19: Linkguini

16 min • 2,429 words • 558 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links on topics including architecture, history, science, politics, and economics, offering brief commentaries and insights on each. Longer summary
This post is a collection of various links and brief commentaries on diverse topics. Scott Alexander covers subjects ranging from architecture and history to science, politics, and economics. He discusses the Obama Presidential Library, unusual historical facts, effective altruism, AI policy careers, Bitcoin mining, and scientific studies on parenting and voter ID laws. The post also touches on topics like gender discrimination in tech, nuclear energy startups, and dietary trends. Throughout, Scott provides his characteristic mix of curiosity, skepticism, and humor in discussing these wide-ranging subjects. Shorter summary
Nov 20, 2018
ssc
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Links 11/18: MayflowURL

14 min • 2,099 words • 309 comments
A diverse collection of links covering history, science, politics, culture, and curiosities, presented with humor and interesting facts. Longer summary
This post is a collection of various links and interesting facts across multiple domains. It covers historical peace treaties, scientific research on diminishing returns in science, geopolitical tensions in Eurovision, education rankings, religious schisms, marijuana regulations, scientific publishing news, experimental archaeology, neuroscience discoveries, geographical facts, international disputes, philosophy humor, rationality-related subreddits, healthcare transparency efforts, academic scandals, mathematical breakthroughs, political trends, cultural oddities, and linguistic curiosities. The post maintains a light, often humorous tone while presenting a wide array of information. Shorter summary
Nov 04, 2018
ssc
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My California Ballot

24 min • 3,719 words • 405 comments • podcast (27 min)
Scott Alexander shares his voting choices for California elections and ballot measures, offering brief explanations and occasional humor for each decision. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses his preliminary choices for California elected positions and ballot initiatives. He provides brief justifications for his votes on various positions including Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Controller, and others. He also analyzes several propositions on the ballot, explaining the issues and his reasoning for each vote. The post is a mix of serious policy analysis and humorous commentary on California politics. Shorter summary
Aug 28, 2018
ssc
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Links 8/18: URLin Wall

16 min • 2,458 words • 604 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links covering AI, economics, politics, science, and culture, offering brief comments and insights on each topic. Longer summary
This post is a collection of links to various news articles, studies, and interesting tidbits. It covers a wide range of topics including AI, economics, politics, science, and culture. Some notable items include: a new AI that draws pictures based on captions, a study on the effectiveness of ballpoint pens for emergency tracheotomies, the cancellation of a basic income experiment, weaknesses in Xi Jinping's rule, and a study showing Hitler's speeches didn't measurably increase Nazi support. The post also touches on topics like climate change, antimalarial bed nets, polygenic scores for disease risk, and a replication of a famous psychology study on smiling and happiness. The tone is informative and occasionally humorous, with Scott providing brief comments or insights on many of the links. Shorter summary
Jun 20, 2018
ssc
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Cost Disease In Medicine: The Practical Perspective

7 min • 940 words • 308 comments • podcast (8 min)
Scott Alexander proposes a hypothetical low-cost psychiatric practice to combat medical cost disease, exploring its potential and the barriers to its implementation. Longer summary
Scott Alexander explores the idea of creating a low-cost psychiatric practice called 'Cheap-O Psychiatry' to combat cost disease in medicine. He outlines a model that would significantly reduce overhead costs through telemedicine, self-booking, and direct payment, potentially offering appointments for as low as $35. The post discusses why such practices aren't more common, speculating on factors like the shortage of doctor-entrepreneurs, the dominance of insurance in the mid-range market, and the exhausting nature of rapid patient turnover. Scott suggests that such a venture might need to be done as a political protest to demonstrate the potential for cost reduction in healthcare. Shorter summary
Jun 13, 2018
ssc
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Links 6/18: Linkonberry Jam

20 min • 3,048 words • 814 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of interesting links on topics ranging from science and politics to economics and culture, with brief commentary on many items. Longer summary
This post is a collection of links to various interesting articles, studies, and news items. It covers a wide range of topics including scientific discoveries, political events, economic trends, technological advancements, and cultural phenomena. Scott Alexander provides brief commentary on many of the links, often adding context or his own thoughts. The tone is informative and occasionally humorous, with a focus on sharing intriguing information across diverse fields. Shorter summary
May 23, 2018
ssc
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Can Things Be Both Popular And Silenced?

42 min • 6,450 words • 939 comments • podcast (45 min)
Scott Alexander argues that the Intellectual Dark Web can be both popular and silenced, explaining various mechanisms of social censorship and how they apply to controversial thinkers. Longer summary
Scott Alexander argues that the 'Intellectual Dark Web' (IDW) can be both popular and silenced, contrary to criticisms. He points out that marginalized groups often have famous spokespeople, taboo ideas tend to generate celebrity, and fame doesn't protect ordinary supporters from social repercussions. He explains how the internet has enabled controversial voices to be heard, and suggests that the IDW's complaints about threats and harassment should be taken seriously. Scott also argues that the IDW likely still self-censors to some degree, and that silencing is more about preventing common knowledge than suppressing support or leaders. Shorter summary
May 10, 2018
ssc
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Links 5/18: Snorri URL-uson

13 min • 1,966 words • 615 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links and brief commentaries on topics ranging from ancient calendars to fusion research, social trends, and economic analyses. Longer summary
This post is a collection of links and brief summaries on various topics, including calendar systems, scientific studies, social trends, economics, politics, and technology. Scott Alexander covers a wide range of subjects, from an ancient Persian calendar to fusion power research, social psychology effects, philosophical hiring biases, and economic analyses. The post includes commentary on recent news, scientific findings, and cultural phenomena, often with a touch of humor or skepticism. Shorter summary
Apr 10, 2018
ssc
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Why DC’s Low Graduation Rates?

11 min • 1,596 words • 295 comments • podcast (13 min)
Scott analyzes the projected drop in DC's high school graduation rates, exploring various explanations and comparing DC to other states, ultimately suggesting widespread inflation of graduation rates elsewhere. Longer summary
This post discusses the projected drop in high school graduation rates in Washington DC from 73% to 42%. Scott examines possible explanations, including incompetent administration, unique challenges due to demographics, and overcorrection from previous fraud. He analyzes test scores and compares DC to other states, finding that DC's scores, while low, don't justify such a low graduation rate. Scott suggests that many other cities might be using fraud and low standards to inflate their graduation rates, and that DC's projected rate might be an overcorrection that unfairly penalizes students. He hopes DC will find ways to graduate more students to align with national norms. Shorter summary
Apr 05, 2018
ssc
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Links 4/18: Siter Plate

15 min • 2,179 words • 638 comments
Scott shares a diverse collection of interesting links and news items, covering topics from ancient history to modern politics and technology, with brief commentary on each. Longer summary
This post is a collection of interesting links and news items on various topics. It covers a wide range of subjects including ancient Sumerian debates, conspiracy theories, academic research, political developments, AI safety, and social issues. The post presents these items in a concise format, often with brief commentary or analysis from Scott. Some notable items include studies on divorce laws and domestic violence, controversial research on firearms and naloxone, updates on AI safety research, and discussions of recent political events in Italy and South Africa. Shorter summary
Jan 21, 2018
ssc
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Links 1/18: Helink Of Troy

13 min • 1,904 words • 825 comments
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of interesting links on topics ranging from geography and drug policy to technology and economics, with brief summaries and comments. Longer summary
This post is a collection of links to various interesting articles, studies, and news stories. It covers a wide range of topics including geography, drug policy, technology, history, economics, science, and politics. Scott Alexander provides brief summaries or comments on each link, often with a touch of humor or irony. The post doesn't have a central theme but rather serves as a curated list of diverse and intriguing information from various fields. Shorter summary
Nov 22, 2017
ssc
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Links 11/17: Sri Linka

19 min • 2,812 words • 598 comments
A collection of links covering topics from drug regulation and genetic testing to tax reform and AI developments, with Scott's commentary on each item. Longer summary
This is a wide-ranging links post covering various news items and studies. Topics include FDA regulations and drug pricing, genetic testing advances, Russian Facebook ads from the 2016 election, studies on education and intelligence, tax reform effects on graduate students, and various scientific developments. The post moves quickly between topics, providing brief commentary and often linking to additional sources. Several items focus on medical and healthcare issues, from insulin prices to studies on pain medication effectiveness. The post maintains Scott's characteristic mix of intellectual curiosity and light humor throughout. Shorter summary
Jun 14, 2017
ssc
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Links 6/17: Silinks Is Golden

18 min • 2,776 words • 6 comments
A collection of interesting links covering a wide range of topics, from scientific studies and historical facts to current events and amusing anecdotes. Longer summary
This is one of Scott's regular link posts, collecting various interesting articles, studies, and facts that caught his attention. The topics range widely from scientific research (like PTSD in Roman soldiers and genetic studies) to historical curiosities (like Byzantine titles and the history of cell phones). He also comments on current events like Silicon Valley critiques and political developments. Some links are serious academic studies, while others are more lighthearted like the rules around shooting Bigfoot. Throughout the post, Scott adds brief commentary and context to help readers understand the significance of each link. Shorter summary
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