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Cost Disease In Medicine: The Practical Perspective
Scott Alexander proposes a hypothetical low-cost psychiatric practice to combat medical cost disease, exploring its potential and the barriers to its implementation.
7 min read 940 words
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Court-ing Disaster
The post critiques the medical malpractice legal system through a neurologist's account of a lawsuit, highlighting flaws in court procedures and expert testimony.
11 min read 1,571 words
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Creationism, Unchallenged
Scott Alexander examines the impact of media coverage on fringe beliefs like creationism, suggesting that reduced coverage doesn't necessarily lead to their spread.
6 min read 920 words
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Cuddle Culture
Scott examines the benefits of cuddle culture, particularly for asexual people in polyamorous relationships, and speculates on the factors that allow such a culture to thrive in certain communities.
9 min read 1,337 words
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Cultural Evolution 2: Thanks For The Meme-Rise
Scott examines five potential mechanisms of cultural evolution, discussing their strengths and limitations, and concludes that they don't strongly justify preserving specific cultural features.
5 min read 737 words
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Current Affairs’ “Some Puzzles For Libertarians”, Treated As Writing Prompts For Short Stories
Scott Alexander uses satirical short stories to critique and deconstruct thought experiments challenging libertarian principles, highlighting their flaws and misrepresentations.
35 min read 5,376 words
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Cyber Monday Product Recommendations
Scott Alexander shares his Cyber Monday product recommendations, focusing on items that have improved his daily life and work experience.
10 min read 1,448 words
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Debunked And Well-Refuted
Scott criticizes the misuse of terms like 'debunked' in academic and political discourse, arguing for more nuanced examination of studies and their critiques.
14 min read 2,081 words
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Depression Is Not A Proxy For Social Dysfunction
Scott Alexander argues that depression and suicide rates are not reliable indicators of societal well-being, critiquing simplistic interpretations of mental health statistics in social comparisons.
15 min read 2,324 words
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Depression: The Olfactory Perspective
Scott examines the bidirectional relationship between depression and sense of smell, exploring potential mechanisms and treatment implications.
11 min read 1,671 words
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Dermatology Pop Quiz
Scott presents a dermatology pop quiz with three statements, asking readers to identify and explain the two true ones.
1 min read 120 words
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Dermatology Quiz: Answers
Scott provides answers to a dermatology quiz, discussing skin cancer risks, a quiz correction, and the surprising effectiveness of Botox in treating depression.
4 min read 503 words
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Determining Consent
Scott Alexander explores the complex ethical and legal issues surrounding sexual consent for institutionalized and intellectually disabled individuals, arguing for a nuanced approach that balances protection and autonomy.
19 min read 2,866 words
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Devoodooifying Psychology
Scott examines psychological phenomena attributed to the unconscious mind, noting many have failed to replicate, and suggests a shift away from the power of the unconscious in psychological research.
14 min read 2,098 words
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Diametrical Model Of Autism And Schizophrenia
The post explores the diametrical model of autism and schizophrenia, suggesting they represent opposite ends of a spectrum from mechanistic to mentalistic cognition.
11 min read 1,625 words
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Did A Melatonin Patent Inspire Current Dose Confusion?
Scott Alexander examines and expresses skepticism about a theory that attributes high-dose melatonin supplements to patent avoidance, while reflecting on the challenges of evaluating such claims.
6 min read 846 words
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Did Falling Testosterone Affect Falling Crime?
Scott Alexander explores the potential link between falling testosterone levels and declining crime rates, finding the hypothesis intriguing but ultimately insufficient to explain observed crime trends.
10 min read 1,529 words
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Different Worlds
Scott Alexander explores how people can have vastly different experiences of the world and others, even in similar circumstances, due to social bubbles, varying interpretations of social cues, and unconscious influences.
30 min read 4,509 words
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Djoser Joseph Osiris
Scott Alexander investigates claims linking Pharaoh Djoser to Osiris and Joseph, finding little evidence for the Osiris connection but a small possibility of a link to the Joseph story.
13 min read 1,925 words
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Do Life Hacks Ever Reach Fixation?
Scott Alexander examines why life hacks don't seem to reach universal adoption in society, despite potential competitive advantages.
8 min read 1,171 words
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Do Neural Nets Dream Of Electric Hobbits?
Scott Alexander draws parallels between OpenAI's GPT-2 language model and human dreaming, exploring their similarities in process and output quality.
17 min read 2,532 words
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Do People Like Their Mental Health Care?
Scott Alexander presents survey results on people's satisfaction with mental health care, showing varied preferences across different types of therapy and conditions.
5 min read 675 words
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Do You Believe Me, Doc?
Scott Alexander critiques standard psychiatric responses to psychotic patients and proposes more honest, nuanced alternatives based on individual patient circumstances.
9 min read 1,272 words
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Does Age Bring Wisdom?
Scott Alexander reflects on turning 33 and questions whether the changes in his thinking represent true wisdom or are the result of socialization, trauma, or neurological changes.
9 min read 1,284 words
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Does Class Warfare Have A Free-Rider Problem?
Scott examines why the rich appear to influence politics despite theoretical barriers, proposing that moral philosophies may emerge to solve wealthy coordination problems.
8 min read 1,197 words