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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9 posts found
Jan 24, 2022
acx
12 min 1,551 words 140 comments 86 likes podcast (17 min)
Scott Alexander evaluates his 2021 predictions, analyzing his performance across various confidence levels and comparing his results to other forecasters and prediction markets. Longer summary
Scott Alexander grades his 2021 predictions, made at the beginning of the year. He lists 108 predictions on various topics including politics, economics, technology, COVID-19, community events, personal life, work, and his blog. The post details which predictions came true (in bold) and which didn't (in italics). Scott then analyzes his performance, breaking down the accuracy rates for different confidence levels. He compares his results to a graph of expected vs. actual accuracy, finding he was slightly underconfident overall. The post concludes with a comparison to other forecasters and prediction markets, showing Scott performed well but was outperformed by both Zvi and the markets. Shorter summary
Apr 05, 2021
acx
14 min 1,888 words 165 comments 61 likes podcast (17 min)
Scott Alexander evaluates his 2020 predictions, finding he was generally overconfident, and discusses the implications for his prediction-making process. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews his predictions for 2020, comparing them to actual outcomes. He analyzes his performance in different confidence levels, noting that he was consistently overconfident this year, particularly in the 50% and 95% categories. Scott attributes some of his errors to unexpected events like the prolonged COVID lockdown and the NYT situation. He reflects on whether this overconfidence in an unusually eventful year might balance out his slight underconfidence in more normal years. The post concludes with plans for future prediction exercises and a link to his ongoing prediction log. Shorter summary
Apr 08, 2020
ssc
13 min 1,765 words 91 comments podcast (15 min)
Scott Alexander reviews and analyzes his 2019 predictions, finding he was generally well-calibrated but slightly underconfident across all confidence levels. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews his predictions for 2019, made at the beginning of the year. He lists all the predictions, marking which ones came true, which were false, and which were thrown out. The predictions cover various topics including US politics, economics and technology, world events, personal projects, and his personal life. Scott then analyzes his performance, showing that he was generally well-calibrated but slightly underconfident across all confidence levels. He attributes this underconfidence to trying to leave a cushion for unexpected events, which didn't materialize in 2019. Scott notes that his worst failures were underestimating Bitcoin and overestimating SpaceX's ability to launch their crew on schedule. Shorter summary
Jan 22, 2019
ssc
14 min 1,848 words 123 comments podcast (21 min)
Scott Alexander evaluates his 2018 predictions, analyzing his accuracy and discussing factors that affected his performance. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews his predictions for 2018, made at the beginning of the year. He lists each prediction, marking those that came true, those that were false, and those he couldn't determine. Scott then analyzes his performance, presenting a calibration chart and discussing his accuracy at different confidence levels. He notes that he performed poorly on 50% predictions and 95% predictions. Scott attributes some of his inaccuracies to two unexpected events: the cryptocurrency crash and a personal breakup, which affected multiple correlated predictions. He concludes by mentioning he'll post 2019 predictions soon and invites readers to share their own predictions. Shorter summary
Jan 02, 2018
ssc
15 min 2,076 words 216 comments podcast (21 min)
Scott Alexander evaluates his 2017 predictions, analyzing his accuracy and calibration across different confidence levels. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews his predictions for 2017, made at the beginning of the year. He lists all predictions, marking false ones with strikethrough and uncertain ones in italics. He then analyzes his accuracy, presenting a graph of his calibration. Scott notes he was slightly overconfident at the 70% level, which he tried to correct from last year's underconfidence. He observes a tendency to overestimate how smoothly personal affairs would go and underestimate the US economy. Overall, he's satisfied with his calibration, showing neither global over- nor underconfidence. Shorter summary
Jan 06, 2017
ssc
10 min 1,346 words 421 comments
Scott Alexander presents 105 predictions for 2017 on topics ranging from world events to personal life, each with an assigned probability. Longer summary
Scott Alexander makes 105 predictions for 2017 on various topics including world events, European politics, economics, the Trump administration, online communities, his work, and personal life. The predictions cover a wide range of subjects from geopolitical events to personal milestones, each assigned a probability. The post is structured as a numbered list, with predictions grouped into categories such as 'World Events', 'Europe', 'Economics', 'Trump Administration', 'Communities', 'Work', and 'Personal'. Shorter summary
Jan 25, 2016
ssc
11 min 1,447 words 534 comments
Scott Alexander shares his 100 predictions for 2016, assigning probabilities to each across various global and personal topics. Longer summary
Scott Alexander presents his predictions for 2016, covering a wide range of topics from world events to personal matters. He assigns probabilities to each prediction, indicating his level of confidence. The predictions span various areas including global politics, economics, technology, and personal life events. Scott also mentions other bloggers who are making similar yearly predictions with probabilities. Shorter summary
Jan 02, 2016
ssc
8 min 992 words 173 comments
Scott Alexander evaluates the accuracy of his 2015 predictions, finding overall good calibration and considering it a successful year. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews his predictions for 2015, assessing their accuracy. He lists 35 predictions across world events and personal life, marking successful ones and crossing out failed ones. He then scores them based on confidence levels, presenting the results in a graph. Overall, Scott considers it a successful year for his predictions, with good calibration except at the 50% confidence level. He also comments on Scott Adams' reported prediction success for 2015, suggesting ways to verify the authenticity of such claims and expressing interest in seeing Adams make concrete predictions for 2016. Shorter summary
Jan 28, 2014
ssc
7 min 908 words 50 comments
Scott Alexander lists 60 predictions for 2014 across global events, online communities, and personal life, assigning probabilities to each. Longer summary
Scott Alexander makes a series of predictions for the year 2014, covering global events, online community developments, and personal matters. The predictions are assigned probabilities ranging from 50% to 99%. Global predictions include topics like Obamacare, wars, Bitcoin prices, and election outcomes. Online community predictions focus on various internet forums and organizations like Less Wrong, CFAR, and MIRI. Personal predictions cover Scott's job, relationships, lifestyle choices, and ideological stances. The post is structured as a list of predictions with associated probabilities, demonstrating Scott's interest in forecasting and rationality. Shorter summary