How to explore Scott Alexander's work and his 1500+ blog posts? This unaffiliated fan website lets you sort and search through the whole codex. Enjoy!

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3 posts found
Sep 13, 2022
acx
25 min 3,471 words 236 comments 149 likes podcast (26 min)
Scott examines two types of happiness - one affected by predictability and one that persists - through various examples and neuroscientific concepts. Longer summary
Scott Alexander explores the concept of happiness and reward in relation to neuroscience and prediction error. He discusses how there seem to be two types of happiness: one that is cancelled out by predictability (like the hedonic treadmill) and another that persists even when expected. The post delves into various examples including grief, romantic relationships, and drug tolerance to illustrate this pattern. Scott also touches on AI concepts and how they might relate to human reward systems. He concludes by suggesting that while unpredicted rewards can't be consistently obtained, predicted rewards can still be enjoyable. Shorter summary
Jul 27, 2017
ssc
9 min 1,148 words 27 comments
Scott explores the theory that clozapine's unique effectiveness in treating schizophrenia may be due to its combined action on dopamine and glutamate systems, potentially opening avenues for safer treatments. Longer summary
This post explores why clozapine is considered uniquely effective among antipsychotic drugs for treating schizophrenia. Scott discusses recent research suggesting clozapine's superiority may be due to its action on the glutamate system, specifically as an NMDA receptor agonist, in addition to its dopamine-blocking effects. He explains that adding NMDA modulators to other antipsychotics improves their efficacy, but not when added to clozapine, possibly because clozapine already has this effect. The post speculates that if this theory is correct, it could lead to safer treatments combining standard antipsychotics with NMDA agonists, avoiding clozapine's serious side effects. However, Scott notes that more research is needed to confirm this hypothesis and overcome regulatory hurdles. Shorter summary
Apr 05, 2015
ssc
34 min 4,676 words 248 comments
Scott Alexander defends psychiatry's use of 'chemical imbalance' theory, arguing it was meant to emphasize depression's biological basis rather than claiming a simple serotonin deficiency. Longer summary
Scott Alexander responds to criticisms of psychiatry's use of the 'chemical imbalance' theory of depression. He argues that psychiatrists never claimed depression was simply a serotonin deficiency, but rather a complex interaction of brain chemicals. He explains that the term 'chemical imbalance' was used to emphasize depression's biological basis and help people take it seriously, rather than viewing it as a personal failure. Scott provides evidence that serotonin and other neurotransmitters are indeed involved in depression, while acknowledging the full picture is more complicated. He concludes that framing depression in terms of brain chemistry remains useful, even if 'chemical imbalance' is no longer the best terminology. Shorter summary