A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “misinformation”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott Alexander methodically rebuts Steven Pinker's arguments against AI risk concerns and documents fifteen years of what he considers misrepresentations and bad-faith arguments from Pinker about the AI safety community.
The review analyzes Real Raw News, a popular conspiracy theory website, examining its content, appeal, and implications in the context of modern media consumption and AI technology.
Scott Alexander attempts to replicate a poll claiming high rates of COVID vaccine deaths, finds much lower rates, and concludes such polls are unreliable due to bias.
Scott Alexander analyzes California's AI regulation bill SB1047, finding it reasonably well-designed despite misrepresentations, and ultimately supporting it as a compromise between safety and innovation.
Scott Alexander argues that even seemingly extreme media misinformation usually involves misleading presentation of true facts rather than outright fabrication, examining several reader-provided counterexamples.
Scott Alexander argues that media rarely lies outright but often misleads through lack of context, making censorship of 'misinformation' problematic.
Scott Alexander responds to comments on his AI risk post, discussing AI self-awareness, narrow vs. general AI, catastrophe probabilities, and research priorities.
Scott Alexander criticizes websites that misleadingly suggest drug side effects by scraping FDA data, potentially causing patients to stop taking necessary medications.
Scott debunks viral misinformation about false rape accusation rates and provides more accurate estimates, while criticizing the spread of such inaccuracies in feminist circles.
Scott Alexander analyzes the misrepresentation of the Gilbert/Frago case in media and online discourse, showing how legal complexities were oversimplified.
Scott Alexander debunks a misleading Facebook meme about Google autocomplete suggestions for disabled people, showing that Google's suggestions are universally negative for almost all groups.