Want to dive into Scott Alexander's work and his thousands of blog posts? This fan website lets you sort and do semantic search through the whole codex. Enjoy!

See also Top Posts and All Tags.

Tag: system design

Or pick a range
–
min
Blog
Only
Year
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
Tags
Browse all 5743
No results found
system design (2)
study critique (270)
book review (221)
AI (112)
economics (105)
effective altruism (105)
education (93)
creative writing (91)
debate (89)
forecasting (89)
politics (89)
prediction markets (88)
science (85)
AI safety (79)
media criticism (76)
neuroscience (76)
rationality (76)
psychiatry (73)
psychology (72)
mental health (69)
highlights from the comments (68)
No results found
study critique (270)
book review (221)
AI (112)
economics (105)
effective altruism (105)
education (93)
creative writing (91)
debate (89)
forecasting (89)
politics (89)
prediction markets (88)
science (85)
AI safety (79)
media criticism (76)
neuroscience (76)
rationality (76)
psychiatry (73)
psychology (72)
mental health (69)
highlights from the comments (68)
Links to
 No results found
domain: slatestarcodex.com (1127 posts)
domain: wikipedia.org (896 posts)
domain: astralcodexten.com (560 posts)
domain: lesswrong.com (491 posts)
domain: twitter.com / x.com (445 posts)
domain: nih.gov (333 posts)
domain: reddit.com (321 posts)
domain: amazon.com (276 posts)
domain: substack.com (268 posts)
domain: google.com (235 posts)
domain: nytimes.com (229 posts)
domain: wordpress.com (175 posts)
domain: tumblr.com (159 posts)
domain: vox.com (159 posts)
domain: washingtonpost.com (143 posts)
domain: marginalrevolution.com (140 posts)
domain: sciencedirect.com (131 posts)
domain: theguardian.com (130 posts)
subreddit: slatestarcodex (130 posts)
domain: youtube.com (128 posts)
Remember which posts I've read on this device
2 posts
Date
Length
Likes
Comments
debate (89) highlights from the comments (68) conspiracy theories (34) bureaucracy (17) institutional analysis (5) institutional behavior (4) incentive structures (3) system design (2)

Highlights From The Comments On POSIWID

Scott analyzes comments on his previous post about POSIWID, showing how the phrase's ambiguity leads to multiple contradictory interpretations while promoting conspiracy thinking.

acx
Apr 15, 2025 6,235 words 169 likes 297 comments Listen · 36 min Read Read
social media (43) bad science (32) logical fallacies (11) rhetoric (5) unintended consequences (5) institutional critique (3) system design (2)

Come On, Obviously The Purpose Of A System Is Not What It Does

Scott critiques the phrase 'the purpose of a system is what it does' by showing how it confuses outcomes with intentions and leads to absurd or paranoid conclusions.

acx
Apr 11, 2025 1,021 words 522 likes 705 comments Listen · 9 min Read Read
Per page:
Showing 1 to 2 of 2 results
Get these search results in an EPUB

Your filters match 2 posts.

Posts to include
–
Leave empty to keep the defaults. Range cannot exceed 500 posts.
Download now

Generates an EPUB right now and downloads it to your device.

Send to email

Generates an EPUB in the background and emails you a temporary download link.

Your email is not shared with anyone.

Email address

To send to your Kindle, just use this link.