Scott Alexander presents a partial defense of 'therapy culture', comparing its focus on self-discovery to helping people overcome a form of 'preference alexithymia'. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the concept of 'therapy culture' and its focus on finding one's 'true self'. He presents a defense of this approach by comparing it to alexithymia, a condition where people struggle to identify their emotions. Scott extends this idea to preferences, suggesting that some people might have a form of 'preference alexithymia'. In this light, therapy culture's emphasis on self-discovery could be seen as helping people recognize and understand their own preferences, rather than imposing artificial ones. However, he also acknowledges the potential risks of this approach, such as therapists potentially convincing people they have preferences they don't actually have. Shorter summary

Scott examines 'critical windows' in human development, comparing them to AI learning processes and discussing their mysterious nature. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of 'critical windows' in human development, using examples from sexuality and food preferences. He compares these to trapped priors in AI learning, suggesting that children's higher learning rates might explain why early experiences have such lasting impacts. However, he notes that this doesn't fully explain the unpredictable nature of preference-changing events, and concludes that while these events seem more common in childhood, they remain largely mysterious. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines why some people struggle to acknowledge others' preferences that deviate from social norms, drawing from personal experiences and psychological theories. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the difficulty some people have in acknowledging others' preferences, especially when those preferences deviate from social norms. He recounts personal experiences with a B&B couple ignoring his friend's introversion and his grandmother dismissing his girlfriend's dislike of presents. Scott suggests this behavior might be more common among older, very nice people, possibly due to historical social conformity pressures or cognitive inflexibility. He compares this to common cognitive biases and emotional reasoning errors, and proposes that people who 'take ideas seriously' might be better at respecting unusual preferences. Shorter summary