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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Feb 23, 2024
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Who Does Polygenic Selection Help?

9 min • 1,185 words • 622 comments • 177 likes • podcast (8 min)
Scott Alexander argues that using polygenic screening to select low-risk embryos can be considered as preventing genetic disorders, drawing parallels with other accepted preventive practices. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses the ethical implications of using polygenic screening to select embryos with lower risk of genetic disorders, specifically schizophrenia. He argues that this practice can be considered as prevention of the disorder, despite objections that it's merely replacing a high-risk individual with a low-risk one. To support his argument, Scott presents three analogous situations: preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, selecting embryos in IVF, and preventing child abuse through parenting workshops. He concludes that polygenic selection is ethically comparable to these widely accepted practices and can be fairly described as preventing schizophrenia. Shorter summary
Apr 13, 2022
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Obscure Pregnancy Interventions: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

88 min • 12,274 words • 204 comments • 97 likes • podcast (91 min)
Scott Alexander examines obscure pregnancy interventions that may improve child outcomes, rating them by evidence quality and potential impact. Longer summary
Scott Alexander reviews various obscure pregnancy interventions that could potentially improve child outcomes, particularly IQ. He rates them in tiers based on evidence strength and potential impact, with Tier 1 being most strongly supported. Key interventions discussed include embryo selection, choline supplementation, avoiding stress and certain substances, and optimizing birth timing. He emphasizes these are extreme measures not meant to induce guilt, and that standard pregnancy advice is still most important. Shorter summary
Jul 01, 2021
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Welcome Polygenically Screened Babies

10 min • 1,305 words • 286 comments • 107 likes • podcast (13 min)
Scott Alexander discusses the birth of the first polygenically-screened baby and explores the current and potential future applications of this technology in IVF. Longer summary
Scott Alexander discusses the birth of the first polygenically-screened baby, explaining the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and how polygenic screening works. He describes how this technology can be used to reduce the risk of genetic diseases and potentially select for other traits. The post covers the current capabilities of polygenic screening, its potential future applications, and some ethical considerations. Scott also mentions the first polygenically screened baby, named Aurea, born to a family with a history of breast cancer. Shorter summary