Scott Alexander examines how increased rational debate doesn't always lead to truth, using personal and societal examples, and suggests ways to carefully approach traditions and changes.

Scott Alexander reviews 'Inventing The Future', critiquing its communist strategy while acknowledging its utopian vision.

The post examines cultural evolution, arguing that while within-culture evolution is effective, between-cultures evolution is too slow and weak to justify cultural practices like opposition to gay marriage.

Scott Alexander explores how evil evolves to evade societal recognition, drawing parallels with flu viruses and analyzing modern bullying tactics.

Scott reviews 'Red Plenty', a book about Soviet economic planning, discussing its initial promise, challenges, and ultimate failure.

Scott Alexander reviews Singer's book on Marx, finding Marx's ideas deeply flawed, particularly his refusal to plan for communist governance and his belief in infinitely malleable human nature.

Scott Alexander critiques a plan to cure youth unemployment by abolishing minimum wage, arguing that unemployment might be preferable to miserable employment at extremely low wages.

Scott Alexander critiques the Reactionary 'uncanny valley' argument for dictatorship, highlighting its practical flaws and drawing parallels with Communist regimes.

Scott analyzes why some proposed political solutions feel wrong or useless by examining them as counterfactuals, arguing that valid solutions must involve modifying nodes you can actually influence rather than wishfully changing things you have no power over.