Scott argues against the concept of "telescopic altruism" - the claim that liberals care more about distant strangers than nearby people - showing that people who care about faraway causes also care about nearby ones, and that compassion is generally correlated across all distances rather than inversely related.

Scott shares his monthly collection of 56 interesting links and developments from July 2025, covering AI, politics, science, and culture, with brief commentary on each.

Scott explains why AI systems resisting changes to their values is a serious concern for AI alignment, connecting recent evidence to long-standing predictions from alignment researchers.

Scott Alexander responds to comments on his COVID-19 origins debate post, addressing criticisms and maintaining his support for the zoonosis theory.

Scott Alexander discusses reader comments on why modern architecture differs from older styles, exploring economic, cultural, and artistic explanations.

Scott Alexander examines GPT-3's capabilities, improvements over GPT-2, and potential implications for AI development through scaling.

Scott Alexander discusses the problems with paywalled articles and proposes solutions to improve internet users' experience.

Scott Alexander plays chess against GPT-2, an AI language model, and discusses the broader implications of AI's ability to perform diverse tasks without specific training.

Scott Alexander argues against criticism of billionaire philanthropy, citing its efficiency, positive impact, and ability to support important causes that governments often neglect.

A diverse collection of links covering history, science, politics, culture, and curiosities, presented with humor and interesting facts.

Scott Alexander recounts his frustrating attempt to conduct a study on a bipolar disorder screening test, highlighting the excessive bureaucratic hurdles that ultimately led to the study's abandonment.

A collection of interesting links spanning architecture, science, politics and economics, with commentary on studies about lithium, lead exposure, minimum wage, and free speech.

A collection of interesting links from early 2017 covering drugs, education, politics, science and history, with Scott's commentary on each.

Scott Alexander analyzes Trump's likely PR strategy as president, predicting a focus on symbolic 'job-saving' victories that will be effective in shaping public perception despite limited real impact.

Scott argues for the importance of starting AI safety research now, presenting key problems and reasons why early work is crucial.

A collection of interesting links from September 2014 covering scientific research, social issues, and curiosities, with commentary from Scott Alexander.

Scott Alexander examines two cases of online mob justice in feminist circles to argue that movements abandoning civility ultimately self-destruct.

Scott shares emotionally charged thoughts on various topics, including education, relationships, free speech, rape statistics, medical residency, and a humorous Hitler anecdote.