The reader’s shortlist
Essays ranked by captured source likes. Essays without a saved count are listed last.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to various criticisms of meritocracy from commenters, arguing that despite its flaws, meritocracy is preferable to alternatives like cronyism.
Scott summarizes diverse perspectives from comments on his school choice article, covering topics like education costs, charter schools, and potential market failures in education.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to reader comments on his previous post comparing basic income to basic job guarantee programs.
Scott Alexander responds to comments on billionaire philanthropy, addressing criticisms while ultimately defending its net positive impact and arguing to protect the most effective charitable efforts.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to reader comments on his article about increasing competition in college admissions, covering various factors and perspectives on the issue.
Scott Alexander addresses feedback on his conflict vs. mistake theory post, acknowledging criticisms while defending the core concept's usefulness as a starting point for understanding different approaches to societal problems.
Scott Alexander summarizes various responses to his post on 'cost disease', presenting diverse explanations for dramatic cost increases in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to various comments on his review of 'The Secret of Our Success', covering topics from language evolution to cultural practices and critiques of the book's claims.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to comments on his Dark Ages post, addressing debates about the timeline, historical continuity, and implications of the concept.
The post discusses comments on DC's low graduation rates, focusing on strict attendance policies, challenging teaching environments, and systemic issues in the school district.
Scott Alexander presents highlights from reader comments on his review of Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions', offering various perspectives and clarifications on Kuhn's ideas about scientific progress.
Scott shares reader responses to his IRB experience, ranging from similar frustrations to defenses of the system, and discusses concerns about increasing bureaucracy in research.
Scott Alexander highlights diverse comments on the NIMBY debate, exploring contrasting views on urban living and various aspects of urban development.
Scott Alexander summarizes and analyzes various critiques of Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century', finding that many of Piketty's key claims don't hold up well under scrutiny.
Scott Alexander examines skeptical and supportive comments on claims of enlightenment, arguing that evidence for such states is comparable to other accepted mental phenomena.
Scott Alexander reviews and responds to comments on his survey about sexual harassment rates in different fields, addressing methodological issues and presenting additional demographic data.
Scott summarizes and responds to comments on his technological unemployment article, covering various debates, critiques, and potential explanations for observed trends.
Scott Alexander reflects on reader comments about his review of Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life', discussing interpretations of Peterson's philosophy and its impacts.
Scott shares a comedic video about people praising a non-existent Pope, using it to humorously critique Catholic tendency to believe in nonexistent father figures.
Scott Alexander contrasts two studies with opposite conclusions about stress, highlighting the inconsistency in how we interpret adversity's effects.
Scott gives a housekeeping update on his blog, covering his work schedule, a fellow blogger's status, comment policies, and medical advice requests.
Scott celebrates the blog's first birthday, announces travel plans, and makes various requests and announcements related to the blog and community.
Scott Alexander explores the hidden prevalence of misery in society, using his psychiatric experience and statistical analysis to argue that suffering is more widespread than commonly perceived.
Scott Alexander estimates the frequency of significant scientific failures to evaluate the plausibility of climate change skepticism.
Scott Alexander examines the puzzling downfall of New Atheism, comparing it to other progressive movements and questioning why it alone faced backlash for repeating accepted ideas in liberal circles.