Scott examines forecasts about a plague death at a Russian lab, finding that top human and AI forecasters all assign very low probabilities (under 1%) to a significant outbreak, demonstrating the value of technical forecasting over mainstream reporting.

A satirical story about a Bay Area house party where men pretend to be connected to right-wing figures to attract journalists, while exploring tech culture and social media dynamics.

Scott Alexander examines Greg Lukianoff's definition of cancel culture and explores its limitations through hypothetical scenarios, arguing for a more nuanced understanding to strengthen anti-cancel-culture coalitions.

Scott Alexander presents a diverse collection of 41 links and news items, covering topics from science and politics to history and technology, with brief commentaries and insights.

Scott Alexander examines how investigative journalism can target unpopular individuals or groups, using recent examples to illustrate the potential chilling effects and biases in media coverage.

Scott Alexander reports on the Manifest prediction market conference, new developments in the field, and recent market activity on current events.

Scott Alexander critiques toxic Twitter behavior, explaining its personal and social costs, and warns against imitating confrontational media tactics.

Scott Alexander addresses reactions to his claim that media rarely lies, exploring different interpretations of 'lying' and examining specific cases of alleged media deception.

Scott Alexander satirizes media coverage of Effective Altruism by applying similar reporting tactics to other causes and movements.

Scott Alexander criticizes the misleading use of 'no evidence' in science communication and suggests more nuanced alternatives.

Scott Alexander responds to comments on his ivermectin article, discussing criticisms, the worms hypothesis, vaccine skepticism, and journalism quality.

Scott Alexander examines Matt Yglesias's public predictions and discusses the implications for evaluating pundits and the future of prediction-based journalism.

Scott explores why journalists struggle to write controversial articles about topics like COVID-19 due to experts' reluctance to be interviewed.

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

Scott Alexander critiques media reporting of scientific studies, showing how the same study can lead to vastly different headlines and interpretations, often misrepresenting the actual findings.

Scott Alexander reviews Malcolm Muggeridge's autobiography, examining his experiences exposing Stalin's regime and the West's willful ignorance of Soviet crimes.

Scott Alexander criticizes misleading media coverage of 'The High Quality Research Act', clarifying its actual content and arguing for a more nuanced debate on NSF funding priorities.