ACX
ACX Grants Results 2024
Scott Alexander announces the winners of ACX Grants 2024, covering a diverse range of projects from medical research to policy advocacy.
29 min read 4,390 words
The reader’s shortlist
Worth a second thought.
Essays ranked by captured source likes. Essays without a saved count are listed last.
Most liked essays
2,008 essaysACX
Against "There Are Two X-Wing Parties"
Scott Alexander critiques the claim that 'America has two X-wing parties' as meaningless or misleading, urging for more precise political comparisons.
5 min read 629 words
ACX
More Antifragile, Diversity Libertarianism, And Corporate Censorship
Scott explores the concept of antifragility in relation to libertarianism, introducing 'diversity libertarianism' to analyze issues like corporate censorship and religious pressure on businesses.
13 min read 2,006 words
LW
Superintelligence FAQ
Scott explains why superintelligent AI poses serious risks, how a 'fast takeoff' could leave insufficient time to solve safety problems, and why even simple-sounding goals could lead to catastrophic outcomes without proper alignment research.
54 min read 8,281 words
ACX
Grading My 2018 Predictions For 2023
Scott Alexander grades his 2018 predictions for 2023 and makes new predictions for 2028, with a strong focus on AI developments.
49 min read 7,468 words
ACX
Your Book Review: The Future Of Fusion Energy
A plasma physicist reviews 'The Future of Fusion Energy', explaining fusion basics and predicting its achievement by 2035-2040 based on recent developments.
43 min read 6,540 words
ACX
X Fact Check: Does Gender Integration Moderate Politics?
Scott Alexander tests a hypothesis about gender integration moderating political views using his survey data, finding no significant effect of sibling gender on political attitudes.
4 min read 487 words
ACX
Your Book Review: Public Citizens
A review of 'Public Citizens' by Paul Sabin, examining how Ralph Nader's public interest movement transformed American governance, with both positive and negative long-term effects.
40 min read 6,127 words
ACX
Biological Anchors: A Trick That Might Or Might Not Work
Scott Alexander reviews competing methodologies for predicting AI timelines, focusing on Ajeya Cotra's biological anchors approach and Eliezer Yudkowsky's critique.
72 min read 11,126 words
ACX
Highlights From The Comments On "Sorry You Feel That Way"
Scott discusses various interpretations and uses of 'sorry' in response to comments on his previous article about the phrase 'I'm sorry you feel that way'.
9 min read 1,378 words
ACX
Nobody Knows How Well Homework Works
Scott Alexander examines the poor quality of research on homework effectiveness, finding only one well-designed study showing positive effects for high school algebra.
6 min read 850 words
ACX
The Extinction Tournament
Scott Alexander analyzes the surprisingly low existential risk estimates from a recent forecasting tournament, particularly for AI risk, and explains why he only partially updates his own higher estimates.
28 min read 4,212 words
LW
Nash Equilibria and Schelling Points
Scott explains Nash equilibria (outcomes where no player regrets their strategy given the other's choice) and Schelling points (focal points that help coordinate between multiple equilibria), using examples ranging from meeting a partner to military strategy to show how these game theory concepts apply to real-world coordination problems.
16 min read 2,391 words
ACX
Book Review: The Alexander Romance
A review of 'The Alexander Romance', comparing its fantastical tales of Alexander the Great to modern superhero comics.
35 min read 5,416 words
ACX
Everything-Except-Book Review Contest 2025
Scott announces a contest for reviews of anything except books, with prizes ranging from $500 to $2,500, due May 12th.
4 min read 587 words
ACX
Richard Nixon Vs. Cool
Scott Alexander explores the dynamics of cool vs. uncool groups, relating it to Richard Nixon's college strategy of uniting outsiders against elites.
5 min read 689 words
ACX
Your Book Review: The Weirdest People in the World
A review of Joe Henrich's 'The Weirdest People in the World', examining its argument that the Western Church's marriage regulations led to WEIRD psychology and modern economic growth.
35 min read 5,420 words
LW
When Truth Isn't Enough
Scott distinguishes between a statement's denotation (factual content) and connotation (emotional implications), showing how technically true statements can mislead through subtext, and proposes ADBOC as a response technique.
7 min read 1,034 words
ACX
Highlights From The Comments On The Media Very Rarely Lying
Scott Alexander addresses reactions to his claim that media rarely lies, exploring different interpretations of 'lying' and examining specific cases of alleged media deception.
48 min read 7,391 words
ACX
Who Predicted 2023?
Scott Alexander analyzes the results of his 2023 forecasting contest, comparing various prediction methods and individual forecasters.
19 min read 2,907 words
ACX
Highlights From The Comments On Nietzsche
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to reader comments on his article about Matt Yglesias and Nietzschean philosophy, exploring various perspectives on master and slave morality.
99 min read 15,205 words
ACX
Shilling For Big Mitochondria
Scott Alexander explores the history and mechanism of DNP, a dangerous but effective weight-loss drug, and discusses recent developments in safer mitochondrial uncoupling agents.
16 min read 2,469 words
ACX
The Buying Things From A Store FAQ
Scott Alexander uses a satirical FAQ about stores to illustrate common objections to new institutions, then explains the purpose and offers heuristics for evaluating such criticisms.
9 min read 1,342 words
ACX
Theses On The Current Moment
Scott Alexander analyzes the current cultural climate, comparing it to historical norms of ideological conformity and discussing strategies to maintain intellectual freedom.
17 min read 2,484 words
ACX
Your Book Review: Silver Age Marvel Comics
This review examines the importance of Silver Age Marvel Comics (1961-1965) as modern mythology, discussing their innovations and impact on comic book history.
82 min read 12,708 words