Scott Alexander critiques the Social Model of Disability as flawed and proposes the Biopsychosocial Model as a more balanced alternative. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques the Social Model of Disability, which claims that disability is solely caused by societal barriers and not by individual impairments. He argues that this model, while well-intentioned, is flawed and often taken too literally. Scott proposes the Biopsychosocial Model as a more balanced alternative, acknowledging both biological and social factors in disability. He discusses the history of the Social Model, its limitations, and why a more nuanced approach is necessary for understanding and addressing disabilities. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores various COVID-19 topics including lockdown effectiveness, infection rate variations, transmission risks, prediction markets, and ethical considerations of pandemic response. Longer summary

This post covers various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdown effectiveness, heterogeneity in infection rates across countries, transmission risks, prediction markets, and ethical considerations. Scott discusses cell phone data showing limited impact of official lockdowns, explores reasons for varying infection/mortality rates between countries, and highlights the role of speaking/singing in virus transmission. He also examines coronavirus prediction markets, questions the long-term sustainability of lockdowns, and ponders how to quantify the severity of COVID-19 deaths compared to other causes. The post concludes with numerous short updates and links on coronavirus-related topics. Shorter summary

Scott compares ancient and modern descriptions of bipolar disorder, finding significant similarities that suggest the condition is biologically grounded rather than culturally determined. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the concept of culture-bound syndromes and the risk of American mental health norms being imposed globally. He then compares the ancient description of bipolar disorder by Aretaeus of Cappadocia to modern diagnostic criteria. Scott matches symptoms from current questionnaires (Mood Disorder Questionnaire and Patient Health Questionnaire-9) with Aretaeus' descriptions, finding significant overlap. He concludes that the similarities between ancient and modern descriptions of bipolar disorder suggest it is a biologically grounded condition rather than a culture-bound syndrome. Shorter summary