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Ley Lines Of The Midwest
The post examines Midwestern geography, debunking the author's initial impression of a grid pattern in town arrangements and humorously exploring potential 'ley lines' between cities.
4 min read 501 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
The Dark Side Of Divorce
The author revisits their belief in genetic determinism, presenting evidence that environmental factors, especially in divorce, have significant non-genetic effects on children's outcomes.
12 min read 1,846 words
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How To Use 23andMe Irresponsibly
Scott Alexander explains how to interpret 23andMe genetic data using SNPedia, listing various SNPs and their alleged effects while emphasizing the unreliability of such interpretations.
13 min read 1,998 words
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Growing Old
Scott reflects on turning thirty, using Byron's poem to explore the transition from youthful intensity and ambition to a more settled adult perspective.
21 min read 3,111 words
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More Links For November 2014
Scott shares a diverse collection of links and brief commentaries on scientific studies, political news, cultural phenomena, and personal observations across various fields.
20 min read 3,094 words
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The Right To Waive Your Rights
Scott Alexander argues that the right to waive one's rights can be beneficial, using examples from psychiatry and game theory to illustrate his point.
11 min read 1,584 words
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Ethnic Tension And Meaningless Arguments
Scott Alexander examines how debates often revolve around vague concepts with positive or negative associations rather than specific claims, leading to logical fallacies and tribal thinking.
46 min read 7,066 words
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All In All, Another Brick In The Motte
Scott Alexander explains the 'motte and bailey doctrine', a rhetorical fallacy, providing examples and comparing it to the 'weak man fallacy'.
10 min read 1,543 words
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Links For November 2014
A collection of interesting links from November 2014 covering science, technology, politics, and culture, with Scott's commentary and analysis on each.
13 min read 1,956 words
LW
2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey
Scott announces the 2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey, encouraging all community members including lurkers to participate in the main survey and optional extra credit questions, with a monetary reward available.
3 min read 420 words
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Alcoholics Anonymous: Much More Than You Wanted To Know
Scott Alexander examines the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous, finding it and other treatments only marginally better than no treatment, based on flawed and inconclusive studies.
38 min read 5,838 words
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Book Review: A Future For Socialism
Scott reviews 'A Future for Socialism', finding its economic proposals underwhelming but valuable for its insights on corporate governance and principal-agent problems.
18 min read 2,666 words
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In The Future, Everyone Will Be Famous To Fifteen People
Scott imagines a future where population growth leads to more historians than historical subjects, resulting in extreme academic specialization and scrutiny of ordinary individuals from our era.
10 min read 1,489 words
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More Links For October 2014
Scott shares a diverse collection of interesting links and brief commentary on topics including linguistics, science, economics, and social issues.
7 min read 1,077 words
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Five Case Studies On Politicization
Scott Alexander examines how issues become politicized along tribal lines, preventing rational discussion and leading to counterproductive behaviors.
38 min read 5,839 words
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Five Planets In Search Of A Sci-Fi Story
Scott Alexander describes five fictional planets, each with a unique societal quirk that explores different sci-fi concepts and social commentary.
8 min read 1,160 words
LW
2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey - Call For Critiques/Questions
Scott is preparing the 2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey and asks for feedback on the draft survey and suggestions for additional questions to include.
2 min read 286 words
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Tumblr on MIRI
The post analyzes a debate about the effectiveness of MIRI, an AI safety organization, focusing on critiques of their academic output and defenses of their outreach efforts.
49 min read 7,446 words
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Links For October 2014
A collection of interesting links from October 2014 with Scott's commentary, covering topics from Russian deforestation to North Korean politics to scientific research.
8 min read 1,193 words
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Prediction Goes To War
Scott Alexander explores how perfect predictions of war outcomes, through oracles or prediction markets, could potentially prevent wars, and extends this concept to conflicts between superintelligent AIs.
9 min read 1,379 words
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Simpler Times
Scott Alexander examines violent children's songs from the past to discuss changing societal norms and the reliability of social science versus conventional wisdom.
8 min read 1,218 words
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The Battle Hymn
The post explores the Battle Hymn of the Republic, its lesser-known verses, history, and evolutionary development as a song.
4 min read 546 words
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I Can Tolerate Anything Except The Outgroup
Scott Alexander examines political tribalism in America, arguing that people often claim tolerance while harboring strong prejudices against their outgroups.
60 min read 9,226 words
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Even More Links For September 2014
Scott shares a diverse collection of interesting links and news items from September 2014, covering topics from music genres to scientific research.
7 min read 1,020 words
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Bottomless Pits Of Suffering
Scott Alexander explores the challenges of utilitarianism when confronted with hidden or distant suffering, using examples like nursing homes and prisons to illustrate the ethical dilemma.
8 min read 1,144 words
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