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Overheard in the Box
Two individuals share childhood misconceptions: Davis thought secrets weren't real, and Julia believed stars were just a poetic metaphor.
1 min read 94 words
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2,008 essaysSSC
Overheard In The Box, Part II
Mike humorously recounts grounding morality in IHOP's waffles after a meta-ethics discussion, highlighting the challenges in reaching agreement on such topics.
1 min read 75 words
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[Ozy] A Response to Spandrell
Ozy responds to Spandrell's article on sexual deviancy, refuting claims about homosexuality, female paraphilias, and transgender experiences.
15 min read 2,295 words
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Ozy vs. Scott on Charity Baskets
Ozy argues for diversifying charitable donations, while Scott counters that focusing on the single most efficient charity at any given time is more effective.
14 min read 2,153 words
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Ozy’s Anti Heartiste FAQ
Ozy Frantz provides a detailed critique of common 'manosphere' beliefs, particularly those of blogger Heartiste, using scientific studies and logical arguments to counter claims about human sexuality and dating.
95 min read 14,696 words
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Pain As Active Ingredient In Dating
Scott Alexander explores why users of a simple dating site often fail to indicate interest online but agree to dates in person, suggesting that the difficulty of asking someone out serves as a valuable signal.
4 min read 511 words
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Papal PR
Scott Alexander examines Pope Francis's PR-friendly actions, questioning why previous Popes didn't employ similar strategies and considering how this shift reflects changing public values.
5 min read 709 words
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Paradigms All The Way Down
Scott Alexander presents a 'Grand Unified Chart' showing how different domains of knowledge share a similar structure in interpreting the world, arguing this is due to basic brain algorithms and effective epistemology.
5 min read 650 words
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[Partial Retraction] Age Gaps and Birth Order Effects
Scott Alexander partially retracts and corrects his previous findings on age gaps and birth order effects after errors were identified in his analysis.
5 min read 671 words
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Partial Retraction Of Post On Animal Value And Neural Number
Scott Alexander partially retracts his previous post on animal value and neural number after a commenter's larger survey yielded different results.
2 min read 296 words
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People! It turns out capitalism is actually a thing!
Scott Alexander describes how Amazon Prime has simplified and improved his product selection process, expressing surprise at its effectiveness and reflecting on feeling like an active economic participant.
6 min read 883 words
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Perceptions Of Required Ability Act As A Proxy For Actual Required Ability In Explaining The Gender Gap
Scott Alexander critiques a study on gender gaps in academia, arguing it ignores actual measures of ability which better explain the disparities.
28 min read 4,303 words
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Pharma Virumque
Scott Alexander explores the nuanced ways pharmaceutical companies influence doctors, arguing that their tactics are more subtle and ethically complex than simple bribery.
18 min read 2,668 words
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Please Take The 2018 SSC Reader Survey
Scott Alexander asks Slate Star Codex readers to take the 2018 SSC Reader Survey, which is divided into three sections of varying lengths.
1 min read 105 words
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Please Take The 2019 SSC Survey
Scott Alexander asks readers to participate in the 2019 Slate Star Codex Survey, which helps him gather data about his audience and conduct informal research for future blog posts.
5 min read 625 words
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Please Take The 2020 SSC Survey!
Scott Alexander is requesting readers to participate in the 2020 Slate Star Codex Survey, which helps him gather data for research and community planning.
5 min read 650 words
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Please Vote For ACC Winner
Scott Alexander asks readers to vote for their favorite among eight posted adversarial collaborations, with prizes for the top two.
1 min read 107 words
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Plutocracy Isn’t About Money
The post explores the contradiction between studies suggesting elite influence on policy and those indicating money's limited impact on politics, offering several hypotheses to reconcile these findings.
7 min read 972 words
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Polemical Imbalance
Scott Alexander defends his stance on the 'chemical imbalance' theory of depression, arguing that Mad In America's critique actually supports his view of a more nuanced understanding in psychiatry.
26 min read 3,936 words
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Polyamory Is Boring
Scott Alexander shares his journey from skepticism to acceptance of polyamory, challenging common misconceptions and describing his personal experiences.
15 min read 2,243 words
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Polyamory Is Not Polygyny
Scott Alexander uses survey data to challenge claims that polyamory leads to a few men monopolizing women, showing these criticisms don't match reality in practice.
7 min read 968 words
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Poor Folks Do Smile…For Now
Scott Alexander discusses Robin Hanson's vision of a future with emulated humans, debating the preservation of human values and the nature of future societal coordination.
16 min read 2,355 words
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Pope and Change: An Atheist’s Guide To Vatican Decision 2013
Scott Alexander humorously profiles potential papal candidates from an atheist's perspective, focusing on their quirky aspects rather than theological positions.
15 min read 2,223 words
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Post-Partisanship Is Hyper-Partisanship
Scott Alexander discusses how political groups can shift from outgroups to 'fargroups', leading to less hostility and more exoticization, and predicts this pattern may increase political in-fighting while reducing inter-party conflict.
18 min read 2,639 words