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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Jun 20, 2024
acx

Fake Tradition Is Traditional

12 min • 1,535 words • 813 comments • 349 likes • podcast
Scott Alexander defends the practice of looking to idealized traditions for inspiration, arguing it's a common and useful human approach to creativity and innovation. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses the concept of tradition and how it's often misunderstood or criticized. He argues that references to the past or tradition are often just 'pointers' to specific aspects people appreciate, not necessarily an endorsement of everything from that era. He challenges the idea that past cultures didn't look back to idealized histories, providing examples from various periods showing how looking to an idealized past has been a common human practice. Scott suggests that using tradition as inspiration can be a psychologically easier way to introduce new ideas or practices than presenting them as entirely original. Shorter summary
May 28, 2021
acx

Your Book Review: Humankind

59 min • 7,635 words • 288 comments • 58 likes • podcast
A critical review of Rutger Bregman's 'Humankind', analyzing its argument that human nature is fundamentally good, while highlighting both flaws and valuable insights in the book. Longer summary
This review critiques Rutger Bregman's book 'Humankind', which argues that human nature is fundamentally good. The reviewer analyzes Bregman's arguments, pointing out logical inconsistencies and cherry-picked data, while also acknowledging some valuable insights. The book covers topics such as human behavior during crises, the nature of empathy and power, and alternative approaches to management and democracy. The review concludes that while Bregman's thesis has flaws, his core message about trusting and respecting others more has merit. Shorter summary
Aug 20, 2015
ssc

On Overconfidence

36 min • 4,625 words • 703 comments • podcast
Scott Alexander discusses the problem of overconfidence in probability estimates, arguing that extreme certainty is rarely justified, especially for complex future predictions. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses the problem of overconfidence in probability estimates, particularly when people claim to be extremely certain about complex future events. He explains how experiments show that people are often vastly overconfident, even when they claim 99.9999% certainty. Scott argues that extreme confidence is rarely justified, especially for predictions about technological progress or societal changes. He suggests that overconfidence contributes to intolerance and close-mindedness, and that studying history can help reduce overconfidence by showing how often confident predictions have been wrong in the past. Shorter summary