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Nonfiction Writing Advice
Scott Alexander offers ten tips for effective nonfiction writing, emphasizing structure, variety, flow, and persuasion techniques.
42 min read 6,380 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
Links 2/16: N-Acetyl Selink
A collection of interesting links and brief commentary spanning topics from scientific research to cultural phenomena, including updates on various studies challenging previous beliefs.
19 min read 2,865 words
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Before You Get Too Excited About That GitHub Study…
Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming gender bias in GitHub, pointing out methodological flaws and media misrepresentation of its non-peer-reviewed findings.
16 min read 2,394 words
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Testimonials for SSC
Scott Alexander shares a collection of mostly critical and often insulting testimonials about his blog Slate Star Codex, revealing the diverse and polarized reactions to his work.
13 min read 1,919 words
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List Of Passages I Highlighted In My Copy Of “Superforecasting”
Scott Alexander shares and comments on highlights from Philip Tetlock's 'Superforecasting', discussing forecasting, cognitive biases, and organizational effectiveness.
29 min read 4,490 words
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Book Review: Superforecasting
Scott Alexander reviews 'Superforecasting' by Philip Tetlock, discussing the traits of highly accurate predictors and the book's validation of rationalist techniques.
14 min read 2,156 words
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Staying Classy
Scott Alexander examines different models of social class in America, exploring their implications for understanding society and politics.
26 min read 3,922 words
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Links 1/16: Shaolink
Scott shares diverse links ranging from optical illusions and Bitcoin drama to educational research and medical controversies, with commentary on methodology and social implications.
22 min read 3,388 words
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Predictions For 2016
Scott Alexander shares his 100 predictions for 2016, assigning probabilities to each across various global and personal topics.
10 min read 1,447 words
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Side Effects May Include Anything
Scott Alexander criticizes websites that misleadingly suggest drug side effects by scraping FDA data, potentially causing patients to stop taking necessary medications.
7 min read 1,072 words
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Lies, Damned Lies, And The Media (Part 6 of ∞)
Scott Alexander dissects and criticizes Breitbart's misleading use of statistics about illegal immigrant crime, emphasizing the need for better understanding and interpretation of data in political debates.
16 min read 2,391 words
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Links 1/16: Link A Thief In The Night
Scott shares and comments on various interesting links spanning history, science, economics, and current events, with topics ranging from ancient Greek snake warfare to modern AI development.
17 min read 2,516 words
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Schizophrenia: No Smoking Gun
The post explores the complex relationship between smoking and schizophrenia, critiquing conflicting studies and cautioning against hasty conclusions about nicotine's effects on schizophrenia risk.
11 min read 1,679 words
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Guns and States 2: Son of a Gun
Scott Alexander offers follow-up insights on his guns and states analysis, addressing cultural factors, rape correlations, replication issues, and the complexity of gun control debates.
7 min read 1,020 words
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Slow But Steady
The post highlights the effectiveness of bednets in combating malaria in Africa, citing impressive statistics and encouraging donations to continue this progress.
3 min read 444 words
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Guns And States
Scott Alexander examines the relationship between gun ownership and homicide rates, finding a likely causal link but noting it's not the main factor in the US's high murder rate.
32 min read 4,871 words
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2015 Predictions: Calibration Results
Scott Alexander evaluates the accuracy of his 2015 predictions, finding overall good calibration and considering it a successful year.
7 min read 991 words
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Links 12/15: Link-Manuel Miranda
A curated collection of interesting links covering academic debates, cultural issues, economics, and scientific discoveries from around the web.
11 min read 1,597 words
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Things That Are Not Superintelligences
Scott Alexander refutes claims that existing collective entities are superintelligent AIs, emphasizing the fundamental differences between collective intelligence and true superintelligence.
9 min read 1,388 words
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How Bad Are Things?
Scott Alexander explores the hidden prevalence of misery in society, using his psychiatric experience and statistical analysis to argue that suffering is more widespread than commonly perceived.
15 min read 2,279 words
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Links 12/15: Winter Wond-URL-and
Scott shares and comments on various links covering topics like startups, science, academia, social issues and charitable giving, with a focus on rationalist and effective altruist causes.
16 min read 2,477 words
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Should AI Be Open?
Scott Alexander argues that OpenAI's open-source strategy for AI development could be dangerous, potentially risking human extinction if AI progresses rapidly.
28 min read 4,288 words
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List Of Passages I Highlighted In My Copy Of “Hive Mind”
Scott Alexander shares and comments on highlighted passages from Garrett Jones' 'Hive Mind', covering various aspects of IQ research and its societal implications.
20 min read 3,031 words
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Book Review: Hive Mind
Scott Alexander reviews 'Hive Mind' by Garett Jones, which argues that national IQ matters more for economic success than individual IQ, while raising several criticisms of the book's methodology and conclusions.
29 min read 4,487 words
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