This review explores how schools are primarily designed to maximize motivation rather than learning, explaining why age-graded classrooms and seemingly inefficient group learning have persisted despite numerous attempts at reform.

Scott Alexander explores the concept of hyperstitious slurs, showing how words and actions become offensive through belief, and discusses when to adopt new language norms.

Scott Alexander reviews Hannah Arendt's 'Eichmann in Jerusalem', exploring key aspects of the Eichmann trial and the Holocaust, and reflecting on their implications.

A person repeatedly wakes up in a Matrix-like pod, being told different versions of reality about the concept of 'family' in a series of nested scenarios, ultimately revealed to be an alien experiment.

Scott questions whether mass hallucinations are real, distinguishing between mass hysteria (false beliefs) and actual shared vivid hallucinations, and asks for evidence of the latter.