The reader’s shortlist
Essays ranked by captured source likes. Essays without a saved count are listed last.
Scott Alexander offers a guide for lazy people to donate to effective charities, ranging from easy options like EA Funds to more specific recommendations in various cause areas.
Scott Alexander announces reduced blogging frequency due to starting full-time work, expecting content to focus more on medicine and psychiatry.
Scott Alexander creates a series of jokes imagining how famous philosophers would behave in a coffee shop, playing on their key ideas and quirks.
Scott Alexander responds to an essay about trigger warnings in rationalist spaces, arguing that the community's purpose is dispassionate discussion and that everyone, not just marginalized groups, has triggers.
Scott discusses the challenge of incorporating animal welfare into effective altruism, proposing a balanced approach to expand moral circles while preserving sanity.
Scott Alexander advocates for a political philosophy combining free markets with social welfare, proposing market-based alternatives to current welfare programs and regulations.
Scott Alexander theorizes that ancient religions were inseparable from culture, comparing them to modern American civil religion and explaining how they evolved into distinct belief systems.
Scott Alexander proposes a 'Thrive/Survive Theory' explaining political ideologies as optimizations for different environments, with rightism for survival and leftism for thriving in safety.
Scott Alexander plays chess against GPT-2, an AI language model, and discusses the broader implications of AI's ability to perform diverse tasks without specific training.
Scott Alexander debunks the idea that Trump's supporters are disproportionately white, revealing that Bernie Sanders actually has much whiter support, and uses this to challenge common narratives about race and politics.
Scott Alexander reviews a bizarre historical book claiming Abraham Lincoln had ape-like features and used spiritualism to become president.
The post investigates claims about Abraham Lincoln's involvement in spiritualism, finding evidence for his attendance at seances while debunking more extreme claims.
The post examines whether calorie restriction slows aging, concluding it likely does but may not be worth the drawbacks for most people.
The post examines the compatibility of Islam and liberal democracy by analyzing six Muslim-majority countries, finding a wide spectrum of outcomes and concluding that Islam often acts as an obstacle to liberal democracy.
TracingWoodgrains and Michael Pershan analyze the effectiveness of ability grouping, acceleration, and personalization software in serving advanced students in the education system.
This collaboration examines mandatory vaccination policies and potential vaccine harms, concluding mandates are likely unnecessary and vaccines remain important for public health despite some ongoing safety concerns.
This Adversarial Collaboration Contest entry examines the evidence and debates surrounding transgender children transitioning, covering desistence rates, social transitioning, puberty blockers, and mental health outcomes.
This collaboration examines the empirical evidence and significance of spiritual experiences, arguing they deserve serious consideration as an important aspect of human life.
A vegetarian and meat-eater collaborate to analyze the impacts of eating meat, concluding that reduced consumption is beneficial but not as clear-cut as some might think.
The post examines the medical benefits, risks, and ethical considerations of infant circumcision, presenting a balanced view based on various studies and historical context.
This post examines the pros and cons of using gene editing technologies in humans, discussing scientific, medical, and ethical considerations.
The post compares space colonization and terrestrial lifeboats as X-risk mitigation strategies, concluding that space colonies may offer better long-term survival guarantees despite higher costs.
An adversarial collaboration in verse examines Christmas, concluding that despite historical inaccuracies and economic inefficiencies, its social benefits are worthwhile.