The independent Scott Alexander archive
Essays, arguments, and unexpected connections. An independent archive of Slate Star Codex, Astral Codex Ten, and LessWrong.
Scott Alexander attempts to replicate a study linking beef jerky consumption to manic episodes in bipolar disorder, finding no significant relationship in his analysis of SSC survey data.
Scott Alexander reviews 'Secular Cycles', which proposes pre-industrial civilizations follow ~300 year cycles of growth and decline, examining the evidence and potential implications.
Scott Alexander responds to comments on billionaire philanthropy, addressing criticisms while ultimately defending its net positive impact and arguing to protect the most effective charitable efforts.
Scott Alexander shares a diverse collection of links on topics ranging from scientific studies to historical anecdotes, with brief commentary on each.
Scott Alexander reviews analyses of various UBI plans, finding most unrealistic, then speculates on alternative approaches to implement UBI successfully.
Scott Alexander announces that the adversarial collaboration contest will proceed, lists the registered teams, and introduces a new rule for proposing topics.
Scott Alexander argues against criticism of billionaire philanthropy, citing its efficiency, positive impact, and ability to support important causes that governments often neglect.
Scott Alexander announces the second Adversarial Collaboration Contest, where people with opposing views collaborate on essays about controversial topics for prizes.
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test', examining Ken Kesey's LSD-fueled counterculture movement and its lasting impact.
Scott Alexander compares three gabapentinoid drugs (gabapentin, pregabalin, and phenibut), exploring their effects, mechanisms, and the mysteries surrounding their differing efficacies despite chemical similarities.
Scott Alexander critiques the use of bias arguments in debates, explaining why they're often counterproductive and suggesting more constructive ways to address bias.
Scott Alexander argues against broadening the definitions of words like 'lie' and 'abuse', as it dilutes their meaning and reduces their usefulness in identifying problematic behavior.
Scott Alexander presents survey results on people's satisfaction with mental health care, showing varied preferences across different types of therapy and conditions.
Scott Alexander analyzes SSC survey data on sexual roles, finding strong gender and orientation influences, but no connection to self-sabotaging behaviors or altruism.
Scott Alexander compares the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade to traditional civic and religious celebrations, arguing that it has evolved into a form of civil religion similar to American patriotism.
Scott Alexander clarifies that his blog Slate Star Codex is not strictly representative of the rationalist community, and addresses common misconceptions about the blog's relationship to rationalism and effective altruism.
Scott Alexander offers a style guide to help writers avoid sounding overly robotic or scientific when discussing everyday topics, providing specific word replacements and usage guidelines.
A diverse collection of links covering recent studies, unusual historical events, technological developments, and various curiosities across multiple fields.
Scott examines studies linking sleeping pills to increased mortality, highlighting a new study that found no link after adjusting for 300 confounders, potentially challenging the validity of less thorough studies.
Scott Alexander humorously describes AI-generated content simulating humans pretending to be robots pretending to be humans on Reddit.
Scott Alexander examines the hypothesis that sexual purity taboos evolved to prevent STI spread, considering historical STI prevalence and cross-cultural taboos.
Scott Alexander examines the ethics of supporting formerly 'evil' companies that transition to more ethical practices, ultimately leaning towards supporting their new ventures.
Scott Alexander follows up on his critique of a book about the Baumol effect, presenting data that challenges the book's claims about rising wages driving cost increases in education and healthcare.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to various comments on his review of 'The Secret of Our Success', covering topics from language evolution to cultural practices and critiques of the book's claims.
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