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

Scott shares and comments on various interesting links and articles covering topics like science, economics, language, and culture, with his characteristic mix of insight and humor. Longer summary

This is a links post where Scott shares various interesting articles and findings from around the web. He covers topics ranging from scientific discoveries to economics, including responses to his previous writing on contraception, ancient language quirks, physics theories, morality statements, lost cities, Japanese pop culture, and effective altruism. The post maintains a casual, often humorous tone while sharing these diverse pieces of information. Shorter summary