Scott Alexander introduces an 'Anxiety Sampler Kit' for testing various anxiety supplements, aiming to personalize treatment and gather data through self-experimentation. Longer summary

Scott Alexander introduces an experimental 'Anxiety Sampler Kit' designed to test the effectiveness of various supplements for treating anxiety. The kit contains 21 boxes with six different supplements and placebos, arranged randomly. Users try a box when feeling anxious, rate their response, and after completing all boxes, determine which supplement worked best for them. This approach aims to personalize treatment and gather data for a small placebo-controlled trial. Scott discusses the rationale behind personalized medicine and the challenges in predicting individual treatment responses. He invites Bay Area residents to participate in this self-experimentation project, with the condition that they share their results. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander uses the evolution of genetic science as a metaphor to explore how other fields might benefit from recognizing the polycausal nature of complex phenomena. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the evolution of genetic science, from the search for single genes responsible for complex traits to the current understanding that almost all genes contribute to these traits. He uses this as a metaphor for other sciences, particularly psychiatry, suggesting that many fields may be more polycausal than initially thought. The post explores the implications of this shift, including skepticism about personalized medicine and the potential need for new approaches to scientific research that can handle massive numbers of interacting causes. Scott concludes by imagining a hypothetical alien society where science is centered around polycausal scores, presenting this as a thought experiment for what science could aspire to be. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander announces the launch of MetaMed, a company offering personalized medical research, and describes his positive experiences with their rational approach to medical questions. Longer summary

Scott Alexander announces the official launch of MetaMed, a company offering personalized medical research. He describes his experiences with the company, highlighting their commitment to solving difficult medical questions without taking shortcuts. Scott mentions a recent journal club discussion on antioxidants and multivitamins, and praises the company's rational approach to evaluating alternative medicine. He compares MetaMed to existing medical information aggregators like UpToDate, emedicine, and Wikipedia, suggesting that MetaMed could supplement these sources with rationalist medical analysis and personalized research. Shorter summary