The independent Scott Alexander archive
Essays, arguments, and unexpected connections. An independent archive of Slate Star Codex, Astral Codex Ten, and LessWrong.
Scott Alexander argues that misusing terms like 'democratic' and 'accountable' can inadvertently justify totalitarianism, and suggests more careful usage of these terms.
The review analyzes Ernst Jünger's 'On the Marble Cliffs' as a beautifully written allegory of Nazi Germany that offers advice on surviving totalitarianism through appreciation of beauty.
Scott Alexander reviews comments on his critique of the Social Model of Disability, considering defenses, real-world usage, and alternative perspectives.
Scott Alexander argues that intelligence is a useful, non-Platonic concept, and that this understanding supports the coherence of AI risk concerns.
A review of 'The Laws of Trading' by Agustin Lebron, examining trading principles and their broader applications to decision-making and life.
Scott explores the recent British economic decline, examining various statistics and theories about its causes and impact.
Scott Alexander analyzes the surprisingly low existential risk estimates from a recent forecasting tournament, particularly for AI risk, and explains why he only partially updates his own higher estimates.
Scott Alexander critiques Elon Musk's xAI alignment strategy of creating a 'maximally curious' AI, arguing it's both unfeasible and potentially dangerous.
Scott Alexander critiques the Social Model of Disability as flawed and proposes the Biopsychosocial Model as a more balanced alternative.
Kieran Egan's educational theory proposes rebuilding school curricula around five kinds of understanding to create more engaging and effective learning experiences.
Scott Alexander explores various explanations for why top students attend the best colleges, including optimistic views about maximizing potential and cynical views about signaling and 'privilege laundering'.
The review examines arguments for increased government secrecy, suggesting that transparency may lead to negative outcomes and that a return to more opaque legislative processes could be beneficial.
A diverse collection of links and news items from July 2023, covering topics from historical curiosities to current technological and social developments.
Scott Alexander discusses various scenarios of AI takeover based on the Compute-Centric Framework, exploring gradual power shifts and potential conflicts between humans and AI factions.
A review of 'Safe Enough?' by Thomas Wellock, exploring the history and limitations of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in nuclear safety.
Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming an illusion of moral decline, pointing out methodological flaws and suggesting alternative explanations for the perception of declining morality.
Scott Alexander rebuts Bryan Caplan's arguments about mental illness, criticizing the preference/constraint dichotomy and providing counterarguments to Caplan's claims.
Scott Alexander criticizes websites using flashing or changing elements, arguing they significantly worsen user experience despite being widely disliked.
Scott Alexander summarizes the AI-focused issue of Asterisk Magazine, highlighting key articles on AI forecasting, testing, and impacts.
A review of 'Public Citizens' by Paul Sabin, examining how Ralph Nader's public interest movement transformed American governance, with both positive and negative long-term effects.
Scott Alexander reviews Tom Davidson's model predicting AI will progress from automating 20% of jobs to superintelligence in about 4 years, discussing its implications and comparisons to other AI forecasts.
A review of Njal's Saga explores themes of justice and freedom in medieval Iceland's anarcho-capitalist society, comparing it to modern legal systems and other classic works.
Scott Alexander critiques toxic Twitter behavior, explaining its personal and social costs, and warns against imitating confrontational media tactics.
Scott Alexander examines the 'canalization' theory in computational psychiatry and its refinement through deep learning concepts in the Deep CANAL model.
This review analyzes Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning', using it as a framework to explore other narratives of suffering and the search for meaning in various contexts.
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