Scott Alexander reviews a book about Chinese education, comparing it to criticisms of US schools and examining evidence for discipline-focused vs. creativity-focused approaches to education. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews a book review of 'Little Soldiers', which describes the Chinese education system. The book's author, Lenora Chu, initially resists the strict methods but eventually sees benefits in her son's behavior. Scott compares this to criticisms of the US education system and discusses the debate between discipline-focused and creativity-focused approaches. He examines various pieces of evidence, including twin studies, historical examples, and trends in US education, but finds no conclusive answer. Scott suggests the Polgar method of intense but interest-driven education as a potential compromise. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander analyzes birth order effects in SSC readers, finding strong effects for sibling age gaps of 1-7 years, with a significant drop-off after 7 years. Longer summary

Scott Alexander investigates birth order effects using data from the 2019 Slate Star Codex survey. He finds that firstborns are overrepresented among SSC readers, replicating previous findings. The study focuses on how age gaps between siblings affect this birth order effect. Results show strong effects for age gaps of 1-7 years, with a dramatic decrease for gaps larger than 7 years. Scott discusses possible explanations for these findings, including intra-family competition and parental investment hypotheses. He notes that the results don't seem consistent with some other proposed mechanisms like maternal antibodies or vitamin deficiencies. The post ends with a call for further replication and expansion of these results. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander argues strongly for basic income over basic jobs guarantees, citing numerous advantages of basic income and potential pitfalls of basic jobs programs. Longer summary

Scott Alexander argues strongly against the idea of a basic jobs guarantee, preferring a basic income guarantee instead. He presents 11 main arguments: 1) Basic jobs don't help the disabled, 2) They don't help caretakers, 3) They don't help parents, 4) Jobs are actually a big cause of poverty, 5) Basic jobs may not pay for themselves through useful work, 6) It's hard to deal with bad workers in a basic jobs system, 7) It's hard for workers to escape bad workplaces, 8) Basic income could fix private industry while basic jobs could destroy it, 9) Basic income supports personal development while basic jobs prevent it, 10) Basic income puts everyone on the same side while basic jobs preserve class divisions, and 11) Work itself is often unpleasant and meaningless. He then addresses counterarguments, including concerns about UBI's effects, the need for work to provide meaning, and the potential benefits of public works. Scott concludes that while basic jobs might be better than nothing, they risk hijacking the utopian potential of basic income and perpetuating many problems of the current system. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander analyzes survey results showing high parental satisfaction among his blog readers, comparing the findings to existing research and discussing their implications. Longer summary

Scott Alexander analyzes survey results about parental satisfaction among his blog readers. The survey shows that respondents are overwhelmingly happy with their decision to have children, with a mean satisfaction of 4.43 out of 5. This holds true across genders. When controlling for various factors, the data suggests a trend of increasing life satisfaction with more children. Scott compares these results to existing research, noting similarities and differences. He discusses potential reasons for discrepancies between direct questions about parental happiness and indirect life satisfaction measures. The post also explores correlations between personality traits and parental satisfaction. Scott concludes by reflecting on how these results inform his personal consideration of whether to have children. 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

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

The author revisits their belief in genetic determinism, presenting evidence that environmental factors, especially in divorce, have significant non-genetic effects on children's outcomes. Longer summary

The post discusses the author's initial belief in the genetic determinism thesis from 'The Nurture Assumption', which argues that parenting has little effect on children's outcomes compared to genetics. The author then presents evidence from divorce studies that challenge this view, showing that environmental factors, particularly family conflict, do have significant effects on children. The post reviews several studies that disentangle genetic and environmental effects of divorce, concluding that there are indeed non-genetic negative impacts of divorce on children. The author acknowledges being wrong about shared environment effects being negligible and suggests that short-term environmental impacts can have long-lasting consequences. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander criticizes psychological studies that confuse short-term reactions with long-term effects, using examples from video game violence research, media stereotype studies, and parenting research. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques psychological studies that draw broad conclusions about long-term effects based on short-term reactions. He uses examples from video game violence research, studies on media stereotypes, and child-rearing practices to illustrate the 'streetlight effect' - where researchers focus on easily measurable short-term effects rather than more relevant long-term impacts. He argues that temporary changes in mood or behavior immediately after an intervention don't necessarily translate to lasting personality changes or real-world actions. The post calls for more skepticism in interpreting such studies and emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between immediate situational responses and genuine long-term effects. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander describes his increasing hesitation to have children due to his experiences with rare genetic disorders and difficult patients in psychiatry and medicine. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses his growing reluctance to have children due to his experiences in medicine and psychiatry. He describes rare but severe genetic disorders like Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, and shares his fear of having a child with such conditions. He then talks about antisocial personality disorder patients from seemingly perfect families, illustrating that good parenting doesn't guarantee a well-adjusted child. Finally, he criticizes the idea that gentle parenting can always replace discipline, drawing from his teaching experience to argue that some children simply won't cooperate without strict measures. The post ends with Scott expressing uncertainty about having children despite his desire for them. Shorter summary