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Highlights From The Comments On CBT-i Apps
Scott Alexander summarizes reader comments about CBT-i apps, their effectiveness, pricing challenges, and FDA regulation.
7 min read 1,031 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
2,008 essaysACX
Your Book Review: Addiction By Design
A review of 'Addiction By Design' examines how gambling machines are engineered for addiction and draws parallels to other digital technologies.
36 min read 5,435 words
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Theses On The Current Moment
Scott Alexander analyzes the current cultural climate, comparing it to historical norms of ideological conformity and discussing strategies to maintain intellectual freedom.
17 min read 2,484 words
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Welcome To The Terrible World Of Prescription-Only Apps
Scott Alexander criticizes the emergence of expensive, prescription-only therapy apps, using Somryst (a CBT-i app) as an example, and warns about the normalization of this trend.
17 min read 2,630 words
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The Rise And Fall Of Online Culture Wars
Scott Alexander examines the evolution of online culture wars from atheism to feminism to race, analyzing the dynamics of these shifts and speculating on future trends.
65 min read 10,054 words
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Your Book Review: The Years Of Lyndon Johnson
A review of Robert Caro's 'The Years of Lyndon Johnson' series, exploring LBJ's life, political tactics, and legacy, while praising the author's dedication and writing style.
16 min read 2,430 words
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Your Book Review: Through The Eye Of A Needle
The review examines Peter Brown's book on the transformation of Western Europe and North Africa from pagan to Christian society (350-550 AD), focusing on wealth in churches and societal changes.
36 min read 5,557 words
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Why Is It Hard To Acknowledge Preferences?
Scott Alexander examines why some people struggle to acknowledge others' preferences that deviate from social norms, drawing from personal experiences and psychological theories.
10 min read 1,493 words
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Book Review: A Brief History Of Neoliberalism
Scott Alexander reviews 'A Brief History of Neoliberalism', finding it engaging but flawed in its economic analysis and predictions.
51 min read 7,791 words
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If You Can Be Bad, You Can Also Be Good
Scott Alexander argues against the claim that 'rationality free from ideology doesn't exist', asserting that recognizing irrationality implies the existence of rationality.
7 min read 961 words
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Your Book Review: Double Fold
The review examines Nicholson Baker's 'Double Fold', a critique of libraries replacing original books and newspapers with inferior microfilm copies.
47 min read 7,145 words
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Your Book Review: The Wizard And The Prophet
A review of 'The Wizard and the Prophet' by Charles Mann, exploring contrasting approaches to human-nature relationships through the lives of William Vogt and Norman Borlaug.
41 min read 6,332 words
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Nootropics Survey 2020 Results
Scott Alexander presents results from his 2020 nootropics survey, covering effectiveness ratings, tolerance, and user experiences with various substances.
13 min read 1,949 words
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Verses Written On The Occasion Of Getting The COVID Vaccine
Scott Alexander writes a humorous poem about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, set to a Les Misérables tune, exploring lockdown frustrations and the complexities of returning to normalcy.
3 min read 456 words
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Mantic Monday: Predictions For 2021
Scott Alexander shares his annual predictions for 2021, covering various topics from politics to personal life, with assigned probabilities for each prediction.
8 min read 1,148 words
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Your Book Review: Why Buddhism Is True
The review critically examines and then steelmans Robert Wright's claims about meditation and enlightenment in 'Why Buddhism Is True', concluding with personal reflections on meditation's effects.
31 min read 4,704 words
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Your Book Review: Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?
A review of Frans de Waal's book on animal cognition, discussing its insights into animal intelligence, scientific methodology, and the evolutionary basis of cognition.
36 min read 5,548 words
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Book Review: Global Economic History
Scott Alexander reviews a book on global economic history, discussing various factors and strategies that have influenced national development and industrialization.
20 min read 2,953 words
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No, Really, Why Are So Many Christians In Colombia Converting To Orthodox Judaism?
Scott Alexander examines the unusual trend of Colombian Christians converting to Orthodox Judaism, exploring various sociological and cultural explanations for this phenomenon.
23 min read 3,475 words
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Mantic Monday: Grading My Trump Predictions
Scott Alexander evaluates his predictions about the Trump presidency, finding he performed about average overall with some notable successes and failures.
63 min read 9,658 words
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Your Book Review: Progress And Poverty
Henry George's 'Progress and Poverty' argues that private land ownership and rent cause persistent poverty, and proposes a land value tax as a solution.
136 min read 21,047 words
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[LINK] Unifying Predictive Coding With Backpropagation
Scott Alexander discusses recent research unifying predictive coding in the brain with backpropagation in machine learning, exploring its implications for AI and neuroscience.
4 min read 540 words
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Prospectus On Próspera
Scott Alexander examines Próspera, a new charter city project in Honduras, detailing its plans, governance, and potential impact while addressing criticisms and limitations.
88 min read 13,541 words
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Links For April
Scott Alexander shares 35 diverse links covering scientific studies, historical facts, cultural observations, and technological developments.
18 min read 2,718 words
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Your Book Review: On The Natural Faculties
This review of Galen's 'On the Natural Faculties' challenges common misconceptions about the ancient physician, portraying him as more empirical and scientifically-minded than typically believed.
50 min read 7,731 words
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