Scott Alexander responds to comments on his post about new telemedicine regulations, addressing various concerns and criticisms raised by readers. Longer summary

Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to various comments on his original post about new telemedicine regulations. He addresses concerns about drug addiction, debates the effectiveness of telemedicine compared to in-person care, discusses the issue of 'pill mills', clarifies his analogy about blind people accessing Braille, responds to criticism of his characterization of Christian doctors, examines which part of the government is responsible for the regulations, and looks at how other countries handle telemedicine prescriptions. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of AI as 'simulators' and its implications for AI alignment and human cognition. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses Janus' concept of AI as 'simulators' rather than agents, genies, or oracles. He explains how language models like GPT don't have goals or intentions, but simply complete text based on patterns. This applies even to ChatGPT, which simulates a helpful assistant character. Scott then explores the implications for AI alignment and draws parallels to human cognition, suggesting humans may also be prediction engines playing characters shaped by reinforcement. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander critiques a misreported study on trigger warnings, highlighting its flaws and limited relevance to the broader debate on their use in colleges. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques a study on trigger warnings that has been misreported in media. He points out several flaws in the study, including weak statistical significance, inappropriate sample demographics, and questionable measurement of harm. Scott emphasizes that the study doesn't actually measure long-term effects or real-world impacts of trigger warnings on college students. He argues that the study's findings are being overinterpreted and misused in public discourse. The post ends with Scott reiterating his own proposal for implementing trigger warnings in a low-key, matter-of-fact manner. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander dissects and criticizes Breitbart's misleading use of statistics about illegal immigrant crime, emphasizing the need for better understanding and interpretation of data in political debates. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques a Breitbart article about illegal immigrant crime statistics, pointing out numerous flaws in their reasoning and use of data. He highlights how the article misinterprets or misrepresents statistics, fails to provide necessary context, and makes illogical conclusions. Scott argues that while there may be legitimate concerns about illegal immigration, the article's approach is misleading and unhelpful. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing flawed arguments on both sides of political debates, rather than assuming one's opponents are simply gullible. Shorter summary

Scott shares and comments on various links covering topics like startups, science, academia, social issues and charitable giving, with a focus on rationalist and effective altruist causes. Longer summary

This is a links post collecting various interesting articles and news from around the internet. Topics include a startup betting on marriage success, privacy/encryption history, climate change policy, scientific studies on aging and obesity, academic criticism, college renaming controversies, drug use surveys, and charitable giving. The post has Scott's typical style of briefly summarizing each link while adding his own commentary and connections between topics. The post ends with several charitable giving opportunities related to rationalist and effective altruist organizations. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander reviews G.K. Chesterton's 'What's Wrong With The World', analyzing its critiques of early 20th century society and its proposed solutions. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews G.K. Chesterton's 1910 book 'What's Wrong With The World', discussing Chesterton's critique of early 20th century society and his proposed solutions. The review highlights Chesterton's unique writing style, his opposition to both conservative and progressive ideologies of his time, and his call for a return to traditional values. Scott also critically examines Chesterton's arguments, pointing out their limitations and the challenges of implementing such ideas in the modern world. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores how controversial ideas spread more effectively than uncontroversial ones, using examples from activism and media to illustrate this 'toxoplasma of rage' effect. Longer summary

This post discusses the concept of 'toxoplasma of rage', where controversial and outrage-inducing ideas spread more effectively than uncontroversial ones. Scott uses examples like PETA's provocative campaigns, viral rape cases, and the Ferguson protests to illustrate how activists and media are incentivized to focus on the most divisive cases, even if it ultimately harms their cause. He compares this to the toxoplasma parasite's life cycle and explores how social media platforms like Tumblr can amplify these effects. The post concludes by suggesting that this phenomenon is part of a larger system of perverse incentives that makes it difficult for society to focus on important but uncontroversial issues. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander analyzes Moloch as a metaphor for destructive societal coordination problems, using various examples to show how competing incentives can lead to negative outcomes. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of Moloch as a metaphor for destructive coordination problems in society, drawing on Allen Ginsberg's poem and various examples to illustrate how competing incentives can lead to negative outcomes for all. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander uses a king-and-viziers analogy to argue that people can be inherently good even when their actions seem selfish, and explores the nature of evil and human goodness. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of human goodness using an analogy of a wise king misled by evil viziers. He argues that people can be inherently good even when their actions seem selfish, much like the king who makes bad decisions based on biased information. Scott suggests that we should identify people with the 'king' of their minds rather than the 'viziers', seeing them as fundamentally good despite their actions. He discusses the nature of evil, defining it as certain habits of mind that make it easy for one's 'viziers' to mislead them. The post ends by relating this concept to Trivers' theory of consciousness. Shorter summary