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Book Review: Elon Musk
Scott reviews Ashlee Vance's 2015 Elon Musk biography, analyzing Musk's personality, work ethic, and business strategies to understand his successes and controversies.
67 min read 10,307 words
The independent Scott Alexander archive
Scott Alexander, collected.
Essays, arguments, and unexpected connections. An independent archive of Slate Star Codex, Astral Codex Ten, and LessWrong.
The collection
2,007 essaysACX
Highlights From The Comments On Last Week's Model Cities Post
The post discusses reader comments on various model city projects, focusing on the Solano County proposal and Prospera, while also addressing other related topics.
35 min read 5,295 words
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Vote In The 2023 Book Review Contest
Scott Alexander opens voting for the 2023 Book Review Contest, detailing the ranked choice voting process and listing the finalists.
3 min read 338 words
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Contra Kirkegaard On Evolutionary Definitions Of Mental Illness
Scott Alexander critiques Emil Kirkegaard's evolutionary definition of mental illness, arguing for separate terms to distinguish between social dysfunction and evolutionary fitness concepts.
15 min read 2,312 words
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My Presidential Platform
Scott Alexander presents a satirical presidential platform with outlandish and humorous policy proposals, critiquing various aspects of American politics and society.
19 min read 2,817 words
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Model City Monday 9/4/23: California Dreamin'
The post examines recent developments in model city projects, including California Forever's plan in Solano County, updates on Praxis and Prospera, and brief mentions of other global initiatives.
24 min read 3,665 words
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Your Book Review: Zuozhuan
The review examines 'Zuozhuan', an ancient Chinese historical text, exploring its content, context, and relevance to understanding societal transformation.
46 min read 6,998 words
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Here's Why Automaticity Is Real Actually
Scott Alexander defends the concept of automaticity in psychology, arguing that core cognitive biases and priming effects are real, while acknowledging some claims have been overstated.
23 min read 3,462 words
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Highlights From The Comments On Fetishes
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.
33 min read 5,053 words
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Mantic Monday 8/28/23
Scott Alexander analyzes recent developments in prediction markets, including the LK-99 superconductor hype, a forecasting tournament, and new prediction market concepts.
18 min read 2,697 words
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Your Book Review: Why Nations Fail
A critical review of 'Why Nations Fail' that examines the authors' academic work and methodology, while questioning the book's quality and practical implications.
37 min read 5,661 words
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Highlights From The Comments On Dating Preferences
Scott Alexander discusses reader comments on his post about dating preferences, covering various perspectives and addressing critiques of 'dating docs'.
40 min read 6,114 words
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More Thoughts On Critical Windows
Scott examines 'critical windows' in human development, comparing them to AI learning processes and discussing their mysterious nature.
5 min read 642 words
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Critical Periods For Language: Much More Than You Wanted To Know
Scott Alexander investigates the claim that children learn languages faster than adults, finding it partially true but more nuanced than commonly believed.
16 min read 2,373 words
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What Can Fetish Research Tell Us About AI?
Scott Alexander suggests that studying human fetishes could provide insights into AI alignment challenges, particularly regarding generalization and interpretability.
18 min read 2,767 words
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Your Book Review: The Mind Of A Bee
The review of 'The Mind of a Bee' examines the cognitive abilities of bees, raising questions about their intelligence and potential consciousness.
38 min read 5,787 words
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Bride Of Bay Area House Party
Scott Alexander satirizes Bay Area culture through a fictional house party featuring absurd startup ideas and social trends.
20 min read 3,066 words
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In Defense Of Describable Dating Preferences
Scott Alexander argues that describable dating preferences are valuable, despite studies suggesting otherwise, by pointing out flaws in research and emphasizing real-world evidence.
32 min read 4,885 words
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Highlights From The Comments On Putin
Commenters provide additional context and debate points from Scott Alexander's review of a Putin biography, covering Putin's rise, the author's objectivity, and comparisons to US politics.
27 min read 4,142 words
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Your Book Review: The Weirdest People in the World
A review of Joe Henrich's 'The Weirdest People in the World', examining its argument that the Western Church's marriage regulations led to WEIRD psychology and modern economic growth.
35 min read 5,420 words
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Links For August 2023
Scott Alexander presents a diverse collection of 38 links and news items, covering topics from book reviews and religious history to AI developments and political trends, with brief summaries and comments on each.
26 min read 3,927 words
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More Memorable Passages From "The Man Without A Face"
Scott Alexander shares memorable anecdotes from Masha Gessen's Putin biography, highlighting Russian politics, culture, and Putin's character.
15 min read 2,202 words
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Your Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
A review of 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' analyzes Hitler's rise to power, identifying key factors to recognize potential authoritarian threats.
65 min read 9,986 words
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Dictator Book Club: Putin
Scott reviews a biography of Vladimir Putin, tracing his rise to power and methods of maintaining control in Russia.
37 min read 5,619 words
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Mantic Monday 7/31/23: Room Temperature Superforecaster
Scott Alexander discusses recent developments in prediction markets, including regulatory issues, new platforms, and current market probabilities on various topics.
22 min read 3,353 words
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