Scott Alexander addresses comments on his fetish and AI post, defending his comparison of gender debates to addiction and discussing various theories on fetish formation and their implications for AI. Longer summary

Scott Alexander responds to comments on his post about fetishes and AI, addressing criticisms of his introductory paragraph comparing gender debates to opioid addiction, discussing alternative theories of fetish formation, and highlighting interesting comments on personal fetish experiences and implications for AI development. He defends his stance on the addictive nature of gender debates, argues for the use of puberty blockers, and explores various theories on fetish development and their potential relevance to AI alignment and development. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander suggests that studying human fetishes could provide insights into AI alignment challenges, particularly regarding generalization and interpretability. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the idea that fetish research might help understand AI alignment. He draws parallels between evolution's 'alignment' of humans towards reproduction and our attempts to align AI with human values. The post discusses how fetishes represent failures in evolution's alignment strategy, similar to potential AI alignment failures. Scott suggests that studying how humans develop fetishes could provide insights into how AIs might misgeneralize or misalign from intended goals. He proposes several speculative explanations for common fetishes and discusses how these might relate to AI alignment challenges, particularly in terms of generalization and interpretability problems. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander presents survey data showing autogenderphilia is common in both cisgender and transgender populations, challenging existing theories about its relationship to gender identity. Longer summary

Scott Alexander analyzes data from the SSC survey regarding autogenderphilia, the sexual arousal from imagining oneself as a particular gender. The post challenges the theory that autogenderphilia is primarily associated with transgender individuals, showing it's common among cisgender people as well. Scott presents survey results broken down by gender identity and sexual orientation, revealing that autogenderphilia rates are high in both cis and trans populations. He proposes a simpler hypothesis: people who identify as a gender and are attracted to that gender are more likely to experience autogenderphilia. The post discusses potential limitations of the data and compares findings to existing theories, ultimately suggesting that autogenderphilia may be more widespread and less pathological than previously thought. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander analyzes a study on lactation fetishes and its critical window theory, using his own survey data to suggest an alternative explanation based on birth order effects. Longer summary

Scott Alexander examines a study by Enquist et al on lactation fetishes, which suggests a critical window theory for fetish development based on exposure during childhood. The study found that lactation fetishists had more younger siblings, seemingly supporting this theory. However, Scott compares this to his own survey data, which shows a similar pattern for intellectual curiosity. He then uses data from the SSC 2019 Survey to test both hypotheses, looking at various fetishes and sibling relationships. The results suggest that having older siblings suppresses fetish formation, rather than younger siblings causing it. This casts doubt on the critical window theory and indicates that birth order effects on openness to experience might better explain the original study's findings. Shorter summary