ACX
Mistakes
Scott Alexander maintains a list of significant mistakes in his blog posts, providing corrections and updates in reverse chronological order.
42 min read 6,476 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 essaysSSC
Update On My Situation
Scott Alexander updates readers on his situation post-blog deletion, discussing job transitions, potential move to Substack, and future plans while maintaining anonymity.
7 min read 931 words
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NYT Is Threatening My Safety By Revealing My Real Name, So I Am Deleting The Blog
Scott Alexander deletes his blog Slate Star Codex to prevent the New York Times from revealing his real name, citing professional and safety concerns.
10 min read 1,408 words
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Slightly Skew Systems Of Government
Scott Alexander describes three fictional and slightly absurd systems of government: an acausal democracy, a constitutional mobocracy, and a meta-republic with representatives from various governing philosophies.
9 min read 1,369 words
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The Vision Of Vilazodone And Vortioxetine
Scott Alexander examines the development and effectiveness of vilazodone and vortioxetine, two antidepressants designed to work faster and better than SSRIs, but which ultimately failed to live up to expectations.
25 min read 3,750 words
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Wordy Wernicke’s
Scott Alexander explores the similarities between Wernicke's aphasia and GPT-3's language use, while noting that GPT-3's capabilities likely surpass this neurological comparison.
2 min read 294 words
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The Obligatory GPT-3 Post
Scott Alexander examines GPT-3's capabilities, improvements over GPT-2, and potential implications for AI development through scaling.
24 min read 3,643 words
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Take The New Nootropics Survey
Scott Alexander announces a new survey on nootropics experiences, inviting readers to participate in the 2020 SSC Nootropics Survey.
1 min read 64 words
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Problems With Paywalls
Scott Alexander discusses the problems with paywalled articles and proposes solutions to improve internet users' experience.
14 min read 2,155 words
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Book Review: Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind
Scott reviews Julian Jaynes' controversial theory that ancient people lacked consciousness and instead heard hallucinated voices of gods, critiquing some aspects while finding value in the idea of theory of mind as culturally constructed.
43 min read 6,641 words
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Bush Did North Dakota
Scott Alexander introduces the 'North Dakota Constant' to explain why about 33% of people tend to believe in conspiracy theories in surveys, regardless of evidence.
9 min read 1,316 words
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Creationism, Unchallenged
Scott Alexander examines the impact of media coverage on fringe beliefs like creationism, suggesting that reduced coverage doesn't necessarily lead to their spread.
6 min read 920 words
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“My Immortal” As Alchemical Allegory
Scott Alexander humorously analyzes 'My Immortal' as an alchemical allegory, combining medieval alchemy, Rosicrucian writings, and Goethe's Faust.
48 min read 7,411 words
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Links 5/20
Scott Alexander's links post covers historical oddities, scientific studies, social issues, and tech developments, ranging from pet monkeys to AI progress.
26 min read 3,906 words
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Coronalinks 5/18/20: When All You Have Is A Hammer, Everything Starts Looking Like A Dance
Scott Alexander explores various COVID-19 topics including lockdown effectiveness, infection rate variations, transmission risks, prediction markets, and ethical considerations of pandemic response.
38 min read 5,870 words
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Studies On Slack
Scott Alexander examines the role of slack in evolutionary systems, arguing that a balance between competition and cooperation often leads to optimal outcomes in various domains.
50 min read 7,597 words
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Classified Thread 8
Scott introduces a recurring classified thread for advertisements, personals, success stories, and financial support requests, emphasizing respectful engagement.
1 min read 53 words
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Book Review Contest: Call For Entries
Scott Alexander announces a book review contest for Slate Star Codex, outlining submission guidelines and prizes for the winners.
5 min read 698 words
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Predictions For 2020
Scott Alexander shares his 100 predictions for 2020, covering topics from coronavirus to personal goals, each with an assigned probability.
8 min read 1,086 words
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Give Yourself Gout For Fame And Profit
Scott Alexander examines the historical link between gout and achievement, ultimately finding the evidence unconvincing despite some intriguing connections.
16 min read 2,330 words
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Employer Provided Health Insurance Delenda Est
Scott Alexander presents numerous examples of how the U.S. employer-provided health insurance system fails even insured, well-off individuals, arguing that almost any alternative system would be better.
9 min read 1,387 words
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The Amish Health Care System
Scott Alexander examines the Amish health care system, which costs much less than the American system while maintaining good health outcomes, and considers its implications for broader healthcare policy.
28 min read 4,269 words
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Depression: The Olfactory Perspective
Scott examines the bidirectional relationship between depression and sense of smell, exploring potential mechanisms and treatment implications.
11 min read 1,671 words
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A Failure, But Not Of Prediction
Scott Alexander argues that the media's failure in coronavirus coverage was not about prediction, but about poor probabilistic reasoning and decision-making under uncertainty.
28 min read 4,215 words
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Coronalinks 4/10: Second Derivative
Scott Alexander provides updates on coronavirus trends, discusses various pandemic-related topics, and analyzes different countries' responses and policy proposals.
25 min read 3,781 words
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