Scott Alexander examines Greg Lukianoff's definition of cancel culture and explores its limitations through hypothetical scenarios, arguing for a more nuanced understanding to strengthen anti-cancel-culture coalitions. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses Greg Lukianoff's definition of cancel culture and explores its limitations through a series of hypothetical scenarios. He argues that while Lukianoff's definition is a good start, it doesn't address many nuanced edge cases. The post presents various examples involving pedophilia, controversial research, and media reactions to offensive content. Scott emphasizes the need for a more robust definition to strengthen anti-cancel-culture coalitions and clarify what actions are acceptable or not. He concludes that while it's difficult to define cancel culture precisely, more work on these questions could help create stronger agreements among those opposing it. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines how investigative journalism can target unpopular individuals or groups, using recent examples to illustrate the potential chilling effects and biases in media coverage. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses how investigative journalism can be used as a weapon against individuals or groups who become unpopular or controversial. He cites three examples: the plagiarism accusations against Claudine Gay, the investigation into Neri Oxman, and the negative coverage of effective altruism after the FTX scandal. Scott argues that journalists tend to dig up old scandals or minor misdeeds when a person or group becomes unpopular, creating a chilling effect. He contrasts this with his ideal of journalism comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Scott also relates this to his personal experience with negative media coverage and concludes by connecting this phenomenon to his previous article on not learning too much from dramatic events. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander reports on the Manifest prediction market conference, new developments in the field, and recent market activity on current events. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the recent Manifest conference for prediction market enthusiasts, highlighting key issues such as regulatory challenges, potential applications in hiring, and the use of prediction markets in journalism. He also covers the launch of Manifold.love, a prediction market-based dating site, and analyzes recent prediction market activity on topics like the Gaza hospital explosion and various political events. The post concludes with updates on prediction market developments and related initiatives. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander critiques toxic Twitter behavior, explaining its personal and social costs, and warns against imitating confrontational media tactics. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the negative impact of certain behaviors on Twitter, particularly insulting or dismissive comments. He explains how these actions lead him to block people and develop lasting negative associations with them. Scott argues that this behavior, while potentially beneficial for media companies, is detrimental for individuals as it alienates potential friends and allies. He warns against imitating journalists' confrontational style on social media, emphasizing that regular people's incentives differ from those of media companies. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander addresses reactions to his claim that media rarely lies, exploring different interpretations of 'lying' and examining specific cases of alleged media deception. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the reactions to his previous posts about media rarely lying, addressing various criticisms and examples provided by commenters. He explores different interpretations of 'lying', examines specific cases of alleged media deception, and reiterates his position that while media often misleads or reasons poorly, it rarely engages in outright fabrication of facts. Scott also reflects on the nature of conspiracy theories and the importance of understanding how people can genuinely believe false things. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander satirizes media coverage of Effective Altruism by applying similar reporting tactics to other causes and movements. Longer summary

Scott Alexander presents a satirical piece mimicking media reporting on Effective Altruism by applying similar rhetorical techniques to other topics and movements. He creates fictional news stories about climate change, political activism, drunk driving prevention, and other causes, using logical fallacies, misrepresentations, and sensationalism to mock how media often portrays Effective Altruism. The post highlights how these reporting tactics can unfairly discredit or misrepresent important causes and movements. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander criticizes the misleading use of 'no evidence' in science communication and suggests more nuanced alternatives. Longer summary

The post critiques the use of the phrase 'no evidence' in science communication, arguing that it's misleading and erodes public trust. Scott Alexander shows how the phrase is used inconsistently to mean both 'plausible but not yet proven' and 'definitively false'. He explains that this stems from a misunderstanding of how real truth-seeking works, which should be Bayesian rather than based on a simplistic null hypothesis model. The post concludes by suggesting better ways for journalists to communicate scientific uncertainty, including being more specific about the state of evidence and engaging with the arguments of those who believe differently. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander responds to comments on his ivermectin article, discussing criticisms, the worms hypothesis, vaccine skepticism, and journalism quality. Longer summary

This post highlights comments on Scott Alexander's previous article about ivermectin as a potential COVID-19 treatment. Scott responds to criticisms from ivmmeta.com, discusses the worms hypothesis with various commenters, addresses concerns about the TOGETHER trial, and shares perspectives on vaccine skepticism and journalism quality. He also reflects on his own writing process compared to traditional journalism. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines Matt Yglesias's public predictions and discusses the implications for evaluating pundits and the future of prediction-based journalism. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses Matt Yglesias's recent foray into making public predictions, a practice uncommon among pundits. He compares Yglesias's predictions to those on Metaculus and reflects on the broader implications for journalism and punditry. Scott explores the challenges of fairly evaluating pundits based on predictions, the artificiality of predetermined prediction sets, and the disconnect between prediction accuracy and valuable commentary. He suggests that pundits should make predictions directly related to their claims and proposes using prediction markets as a benchmark for pundit performance. Shorter summary

Scott explores why journalists struggle to write controversial articles about topics like COVID-19 due to experts' reluctance to be interviewed. Longer summary

Scott discusses the challenges journalists face when writing articles about controversial topics like COVID-19. He explains that experts are often hesitant to give interviews for fear of being misquoted or having their nuanced opinions stripped of context. This leads to a situation where it's easier to produce 'illegible knowledge' (like experts posting opinions on Twitter) than 'legible knowledge' (like well-sourced newspaper articles). Scott suggests this contributes to gaps between 'canonical knowledge' in prestigious news outlets and what one learns from following research closely. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander discusses the problems with paywalled articles and proposes solutions to improve internet users' experience. Longer summary

Scott Alexander criticizes paywalls on articles, arguing that they create artificial curiosity, hinder public discourse, and make information searching frustrating. He explains how paywalls can negatively impact user experience by creating clickbait, limiting access to important discussions, and complicating information searches. Scott proposes several solutions, including search engine options to hide or mark paywalled articles, browser extensions to identify paywalled links, and better practices for bloggers and social media users when sharing links. He commits to implementing some of these practices in his own writing. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander critiques media reporting of scientific studies, showing how the same study can lead to vastly different headlines and interpretations, often misrepresenting the actual findings. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques media reporting of scientific studies, focusing on two examples: a study about parental time spent with children and another about weight discrimination. He shows how different media outlets can present the same study with vastly different, even contradictory headlines. In the weight discrimination study, he points out how the actual findings were much less significant than the media portrayed, with many important measures showing no discrimination. Scott argues that the process from conducting a study to its media reporting allows for too many 'degrees of freedom', resulting in headlines that may not accurately reflect the study's actual findings. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of reading beyond headlines and abstracts to understand scientific studies accurately. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander reviews Malcolm Muggeridge's autobiography, examining his experiences exposing Stalin's regime and the West's willful ignorance of Soviet crimes. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews Malcolm Muggeridge's autobiography 'Chronicles of Wasted Time', focusing on Muggeridge's experiences as a journalist in the Soviet Union during Stalin's regime and his later disillusionment with socialism. The review highlights Muggeridge's cynical worldview, his role in exposing Stalin's atrocities, and the widespread willful ignorance of Western intellectuals towards Soviet crimes. Scott reflects on the importance of contrarianism and rationality in evaluating evidence, while also noting Muggeridge's later questionable stances on other issues. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander criticizes misleading media coverage of 'The High Quality Research Act', clarifying its actual content and arguing for a more nuanced debate on NSF funding priorities. Longer summary

Scott Alexander criticizes the media coverage of a new draft bill called 'The High Quality Research Act'. He points out that many news sources have misrepresented the bill's content, falsely claiming it would ban peer review or destroy the concept of facts. Scott clarifies that the bill actually aims to change the grant funding review process and prevent duplicate funding applications. He acknowledges legitimate concerns about the bill potentially restricting funding to 'practical' research, but argues that the debate should focus on whether the current NSF grant criteria need improvement, rather than on exaggerated claims about the bill's effects. Shorter summary