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2018 Predictions: Calibration Results
Scott Alexander evaluates his 2018 predictions, analyzing his accuracy and discussing factors that affected his performance.
12 min read 1,852 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
Highlights From The Comments On Kuhn
Scott Alexander presents highlights from reader comments on his review of Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions', offering various perspectives and clarifications on Kuhn's ideas about scientific progress.
40 min read 6,125 words
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Kernel Of Doubt: Testing Math Preference Vs. Corn-Eating Style
Scott Alexander tests the claim that mathematicians' preference for algebra or analysis predicts their corn-eating style, finding no significant correlation in a survey of over 2,600 respondents.
8 min read 1,212 words
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Too Many People Dare Call It Conspiracy
Scott Alexander explores the overuse of the term 'conspiracy theory' and provides heuristics for evaluating the plausibility of conspiratorial claims.
19 min read 2,801 words
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SSC Survey Results 2019
Scott Alexander announces the results of the 2019 Slate Star Codex survey, providing links to the questions, results, and downloadable public datasets.
2 min read 161 words
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Paradigms All The Way Down
Scott Alexander presents a 'Grand Unified Chart' showing how different domains of knowledge share a similar structure in interpreting the world, arguing this is due to basic brain algorithms and effective epistemology.
5 min read 650 words
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Book Review: The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions
Scott reviews Kuhn's 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions', finding its thesis on paradigm shifts in science intriguing but frustratingly vague, especially beyond physics.
38 min read 5,817 words
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Preregistration Of Investigations For The 2019 SSC Survey
Scott Alexander outlines 18 preregistered investigations for the 2019 SSC survey, covering topics from psychiatric medication effects to birth order influences.
6 min read 924 words
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What Happened To 90s Environmentalism?
Scott Alexander examines the fate of 1990s environmental concerns, finding a mix of solved problems, exaggerated issues, and ongoing challenges that have faded from public attention.
44 min read 6,792 words
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Please Take The 2019 SSC Survey
Scott Alexander asks readers to participate in the 2019 Slate Star Codex Survey, which helps him gather data about his audience and conduct informal research for future blog posts.
5 min read 625 words
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Links 12/18: Boughs Of Hollink
Scott Alexander presents a diverse collection of interesting news items, scientific findings, and cultural observations, covering topics from archaeology to economics to social issues.
20 min read 2,960 words
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Refactoring: Culture As Branch Of Government
Scott Alexander proposes viewing culture as a fourth branch of government to highlight its importance in societal function and governance.
5 min read 759 words
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Fallacies Of Reversed Moderation
Scott Alexander describes 'fallacies of reversed moderation,' where moderate positions are misinterpreted as extreme opposites of the consensus view.
5 min read 775 words
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Trump: A Setback For Trumpism
Scott Alexander examines how Trump's presidency has unexpectedly decreased support for his own policies, analyzing polls and proposing several explanations for this counterintuitive trend.
11 min read 1,600 words
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Diametrical Model Of Autism And Schizophrenia
The post explores the diametrical model of autism and schizophrenia, suggesting they represent opposite ends of a spectrum from mechanistic to mentalistic cognition.
11 min read 1,625 words
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Del Giudice On The Self-Starvation Cycle
Scott Alexander explores anorexia's biological aspects beyond cultural factors, presenting and analyzing del Giudice's 'self-starvation cycle' theory as a more comprehensive explanation of the disorder.
10 min read 1,403 words
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Book Review: Evolutionary Psychopathology
Scott reviews a book applying evolutionary psychology to psychiatry, finding the approach intriguing but hard to verify and potentially open to misuse.
37 min read 5,616 words
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Book Review: The Mind Illuminated
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Mind Illuminated', a Buddhist meditation guide by Culadasa, praising its clarity while questioning some of its optimistic claims about meditation progress and risks.
37 min read 5,608 words
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Is Science Slowing Down?
Scott Alexander analyzes a paper suggesting scientific progress is slowing relative to researcher numbers, arguing this trend is expected and possibly beneficial.
19 min read 2,908 words
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Impending Survey Discussion Thread
Scott announces an upcoming SSC survey and invites reader suggestions, while warning that most won't be implemented.
1 min read 80 words
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Links 11/18: MayflowURL
A diverse collection of links covering history, science, politics, culture, and curiosities, presented with humor and interesting facts.
14 min read 2,099 words
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The Economic Perspective On Moral Standards
Scott Alexander compares setting moral standards to economic price-setting, arguing that more achievable standards might lead to better outcomes than unattainably high ones.
20 min read 3,028 words
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Preschool: Much More Than You Wanted To Know
Scott Alexander critically examines studies on preschool effects, finding mixed and inconsistent evidence for long-term benefits.
35 min read 5,299 words
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Ketamine: An Update
Scott Alexander discusses new research suggesting ketamine's antidepressant effects may be linked to the opioid system, exploring the implications and potential future directions for depression treatment.
6 min read 786 words
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Marijuana: An Update
Scott updates his stance on marijuana legalization based on new data showing increased traffic accidents, but remains uncertain due to the complexity of the issue.
7 min read 952 words
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