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May 20, 2022
acx

Your Book Review: Making Nature

56 min • 7,242 words • 126 comments • 114 likes • podcast
A book review examining the history of Nature journal and how it became one of the most prestigious scientific publications. Longer summary
This book review explores the history of the scientific journal Nature, focusing on how it gained its prestigious status. The review is structured in three parts: Nature's origins in 1869, its first century of building reputation, and the shift towards prestige in the 1970s. The author argues that Nature's success was due to factors like publication speed, network effects, and survival through financial difficulties. The review also discusses the broader context of scientific publishing and the rise of prestige in the 1970s, suggesting that the founding of the journal Cell in 1974 may have been a pivotal moment in this shift. Shorter summary
Scott Alexander critiques a study on fathers' influence on sons' obesity, highlighting statistical flaws and misleading publicity, while exploring the broader challenge of identifying genuine parental effects. Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming fathers have a unique influence on their sons' obesity. He points out statistical flaws, particularly the lack of adjustment for multiple comparisons, and criticizes the university's press release for overstating the findings. The post also discusses the challenge of separating parental effects from genetic or intrauterine factors, and asks for examples of credible studies showing gender-specific parental effects. Shorter summary
Oct 07, 2014
ssc

Tumblr on MIRI

58 min • 7,446 words • 344 comments • podcast
The post analyzes a debate about the effectiveness of MIRI, an AI safety organization, focusing on critiques of their academic output and defenses of their outreach efforts. Longer summary
This post discusses a debate on Tumblr about the effectiveness of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), an organization focused on AI safety. It covers critiques of MIRI's lack of academic publications and citations, as well as defenses of their outreach and strategic research efforts. The post examines arguments about MIRI's team qualifications, research output, and impact on the AI research community. Shorter summary