Scott Alexander defends the practice of looking to idealized traditions for inspiration, arguing it's a common and useful human approach to creativity and innovation. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the concept of tradition and how it's often misunderstood or criticized. He argues that references to the past or tradition are often just 'pointers' to specific aspects people appreciate, not necessarily an endorsement of everything from that era. He challenges the idea that past cultures didn't look back to idealized histories, providing examples from various periods showing how looking to an idealized past has been a common human practice. Scott suggests that using tradition as inspiration can be a psychologically easier way to introduce new ideas or practices than presenting them as entirely original. Shorter summary

Scott examines why fantasy universes share common elements, arguing they're designed to let ordinary people imagine becoming heroes without exceptional skills. Longer summary

Scott Alexander analyzes the psychology behind fantasy universes, arguing that their common elements are optimized to allow ordinary people to imagine themselves as world-saving heroes. He explores how various tropes, such as hidden heirs to the throne, magical abilities tied to bloodlines, and ancient civilizations, serve to empower average protagonists without requiring exceptional skills or agency. The post critiques the lack of originality in many fantasy settings and suggests that the genre's conventions are designed to fulfill specific psychological needs rather than simply being derivative of Tolkien. Shorter summary

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 discusses unintentional plagiarism in his writing, reflecting on how writers blend their influences at various levels of recognition. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reflects on unintentional plagiarism in his writing, sparked by realizing a sentence in his previous post about plagiarism was unconsciously inspired by a Miss Manners quote. He discusses how writers often blend their influences, sometimes resulting in recognizable 'chunks' of others' work appearing in their own. Scott extends this idea to writing style, worldview, and reasoning methods, suggesting they are all 'slurries' of one's influences, with some elements more recognizable than others. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores GPT-2's unexpected capabilities and argues that it demonstrates the potential for AI to develop abilities beyond its explicit programming, challenging skepticism about AGI. Longer summary

This post discusses GPT-2, a language model AI, and its implications for artificial general intelligence (AGI). Scott Alexander argues that while GPT-2 is not AGI, it demonstrates unexpected capabilities that arise from its training in language prediction. He compares GPT-2's learning process to human creativity and understanding, suggesting that both rely on pattern recognition and recombination of existing information. The post explores examples of GPT-2's abilities, such as rudimentary counting, acronym creation, and translation, which were not explicitly programmed. Alexander concludes that while GPT-2 is far from true AGI, it shows that AI can develop unexpected capabilities, challenging the notion that AGI is impossible or unrelated to current AI work. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander argues that creativity comes from mining external sources of 'noise' or 'disruption' rather than just thinking hard. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of creativity as a resource that needs to be mined from external sources of 'noise' or 'disruption'. He argues that creativity isn't just about thinking hard, but about finding ways to break out of our usual thought patterns. The post discusses various sources of this 'noise', including misunderstandings, cross-cultural studies, historical perspectives, and conversations with smart people who hold opposing views. Scott emphasizes the importance of seeking out these sources of disruption to expand our concept space and generate new ideas. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander suggests humans have 'negative creativity' due to cognitive 'ruts', and explores ways to escape these ruts, arguing that AI might have an advantage in creative thinking. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of creativity, suggesting that humans have 'negative creativity' due to their brains being designed to stay in cognitive 'ruts'. He proposes that dreams, drugs, mishearing others, and metaphors are ways to escape these ruts and generate novel ideas. The post discusses examples of scientific discoveries made through dreams or drug use, and explains how adding 'noise' to thought processes might inspire creativity. Scott argues that AI might actually have an advantage in creativity, as they wouldn't have the built-in limitations humans do, and might be able to generate truly random ideas more easily. Shorter summary