How to avoid getting lost reading Scott Alexander and his 1500+ blog posts? This unaffiliated fan website lets you sort and search through the whole codex. Enjoy!

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Jan 04, 2023
acx

Even More Bay Area House Party

28 min • 3,563 words • 385 comments • 476 likes • podcast
A satirical account of a Bay Area house party featuring absurd conversations on tech, culture, and startups, ending with the protagonist's plan to profit from the information gained. Longer summary
This satirical post describes a fictional Bay Area house party, featuring conversations on various tech and cultural topics. It includes discussions about adapting Buddhism for conservatives, a consultant who helps companies be offensive, a new financial product called 'antistocks', debates between a YIMBY, crypto enthusiast, and youth pastor, AI happiness optimization, and a scheme to distract tech billionaires with conferences. The story ends with the protagonist learning about a startup working on immortality through transmissible tumors, and deciding to use this information for financial gain. Shorter summary
Jun 29, 2022
acx

Highlights From The Comments On San Fransicko

75 min • 9,632 words • 537 comments • 65 likes • podcast
Scott Alexander shares reader comments on his 'San Fransicko' book review, covering homelessness, crime statistics, and urban policy debates. Longer summary
This post is a collection of highlights from reader comments on Scott Alexander's review of the book 'San Fransicko'. It covers various topics related to homelessness, crime, and urban policy in San Francisco and other cities. The comments provide additional context, personal anecdotes, data analysis, and critiques of both the book and Scott's review. Key themes include the complexity of homelessness, issues with crime statistics, debates over housing policy, and differing perspectives on how to address urban problems. Shorter summary
Nov 15, 2021
acx

Mantic Monday 11/15

23 min • 2,944 words • 217 comments • 35 likes • podcast
Scott examines new techniques in forecasting and prediction markets, including reciprocal scoring and iterated markets, while highlighting the accuracy of prediction markets compared to traditional media. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses recent developments in forecasting and prediction markets. He covers a new paper on reciprocal scoring for long-term and counterfactual predictions, the performance of prediction markets vs. traditional media in calling election results, a proposal for iterated prediction markets to handle long-term forecasts, and updates on current prediction market probabilities for various events. He also notes the accuracy of past Metaculus predictions about Starlink availability and shares some short items on futurism and expert forecasting. Shorter summary
Oct 01, 2018
ssc

Steelmanning The NIMBYs

41 min • 5,261 words • 568 comments • podcast
Scott Alexander presents counterarguments to YIMBY housing policies, questioning their effectiveness and considering NIMBY perspectives. Longer summary
Scott Alexander steelmans the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) position against YIMBYism (Yes In My Back Yard) in housing policy debates, particularly focused on San Francisco. He argues that: 1) San Francisco's housing growth rate is not uniquely low, 2) Building more housing may not significantly lower rents, 3) Increased housing supply could potentially increase rents due to agglomeration effects, 4) NIMBYs have valid reasons to oppose development, and 5) Increasing housing supply might trap more people in an undesirable equilibrium. He concludes by acknowledging the lack of clear alternatives but expressing skepticism that simply building more housing will solve the problem. Shorter summary