SSC
How Common Are Science Failures?
Scott Alexander estimates the frequency of significant scientific failures to evaluate the plausibility of climate change skepticism.
12 min read 1,707 words
A thread through the archive
behaviorism
Essays tagged “behaviorism”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Essays on behaviorism
7 essaysSSC
Can You Condition Yourself?
Scott Alexander critically examines the concept of self-conditioning, expressing skepticism while considering potential benefits and deciding to experiment with the technique.
15 min read 2,214 words
LW
Secrets of the eliminati
Scott argues that mental states like beliefs and preferences may not exist as unified entities in the brain, but rather emerge from collections of behaviors and contextual responses.
6 min read 829 words
LW
Connectionism: Modeling the mind with neural networks
Scott explains connectionism as a neural network-based theory of mind that evolved from spreading activation models, showing how it resolves philosophical problems and mirrors brain function better than classical computing approaches.
15 min read 2,251 words
LW
Voluntary Behavior, Conscious Thoughts
Scott presents Skinner's definition of voluntary behavior as that which is transparent to reinforcement, then extends this framework to explain the perceived unity of consciousness and the feeling of a core 'self'.
7 min read 1,033 words
LW
Basics of Human Reinforcement
Scott explains how reinforcement learning concepts like secondary reinforcers, generalization, and social learning apply to human behavior, while acknowledging these mechanisms don't fully explain complex decisions like quitting smoking on medical advice.
13 min read 1,986 words
LW
The Blue-Minimizing Robot
Scott uses a thought experiment about a robot that shoots blue things to argue that we mistakenly interpret simple programmed behaviors as goal-directed utility maximization, when really the robot is just executing code, not minimizing blue.
8 min read 1,108 words