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Product Recommendations 2015
Scott Alexander offers Christmas shopping recommendations for various products, from balsamic vinegar to nootropics, with personal insights on each item.
14 min read 2,129 words
The reader’s shortlist
Worth a second thought.
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2,008 essaysSSC
Promising The Moon
Scott Alexander argues that real technological progress is driven by usefulness and profitability, not the coolness factor often seen in futuristic predictions.
10 min read 1,526 words
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Proposed Biological Explanations For Historical Trends In Crime
Scott Alexander explores biological factors like lead exposure, omega-6 fatty acids, and lithium levels as potential explanations for historical crime rate trends, particularly the possible increase from 1850 to 1980.
10 min read 1,487 words
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Prospiracy Theories
Scott Alexander introduces 'prospiracy theories', positive conspiracy-style memes designed to spread true and beneficial information, in response to the rapid spread of conspiracy theories on social media.
1 min read 127 words
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Proving Too Much
Scott Alexander explores the 'Proving Too Much' fallacy as an efficient tactic to quickly dismantle complex arguments, particularly those using Dark Arts techniques.
5 min read 742 words
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Psychiat-List Now Up
Scott Alexander introduces the 'Psychiat-List', a crowd-sourced list of recommended mental health professionals for the rationalist community.
2 min read 196 words
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Psychotropic Base Rates: The Argument From Antibiotics
Scott explores how antibiotics and antiprotozoal drugs unexpectedly affect mental health, suggesting that random chemicals may frequently influence mental processes.
4 min read 614 words
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Public Awareness Campaigns
Scott Alexander examines the mixed effectiveness of public awareness campaigns, presenting examples of both failures and successes, and analyzing possible explanations for their varying outcomes.
11 min read 1,634 words
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Puritan Spotting
Scott Alexander creates a humorous 'Puritan' checklist to rank historical American figures, lamenting the loss of this eccentric, morally serious archetype in modern American culture.
12 min read 1,792 words
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Pushing And Pulling Goals
Scott Alexander explores the concepts of 'pulling goals' (driven by specific desires) and 'pushing goals' (driven by existing structures), expressing his preference for the former and strategies to deal with the latter.
7 min read 1,046 words
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Race and Justice: Much More Than You Wanted To Know
Scott examines evidence for racial bias in the US criminal justice system, finding some bias in certain areas but not others, and concluding that claims of pervasive racism are overstated.
33 min read 5,093 words
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Radicalizing the Romanceless
Scott Alexander critiques feminist discourse around 'nice guys', arguing it can be unfair and counterproductive, potentially driving lonely men towards anti-feminist ideologies.
49 min read 7,509 words
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Raikoth: Cities, Land
The post details the housing, urban planning, and land use in Raikoth, a fictional country where people live in yurts and cities are designed for cleanliness and tranquility.
10 min read 1,521 words
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Raikoth: Corruption, Priesthood
The post details the Third Eye surveillance system and Priesthood of Truth in the fictional society of Raikoth, exploring how these institutions work to prevent corruption and maintain social order.
9 min read 1,389 words
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Raikoth: Economics, Relationships
The post details the economic and relationship systems of Raikoth, a fictional society designed to optimize for goodness and weirdness.
9 min read 1,304 words
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Raikoth: History, Religion
The post describes the fictional world of Raikoth, its origin story, and its unique religion that combines aspects of Truth and Beauty.
8 min read 1,100 words
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Raikoth: Laws, Language, and Society
Scott Alexander presents Raikoth, his fictional utopian society, which strives for perfection in language, government, and population through unique systems and practices.
20 min read 2,956 words
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Raikoth: Symbolic Beads
Scott Alexander describes a fictional society's use of symbolic bead necklaces to redirect status games towards charitable giving.
9 min read 1,300 words
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Random Noise Is Our Most Valuable Resource
Scott Alexander argues that creativity comes from mining external sources of 'noise' or 'disruption' rather than just thinking hard.
9 min read 1,389 words
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Rational Orthography
The author humorously advocates for the revival of boustrophedon, an ancient Greek writing system, as a more efficient reading method.
4 min read 516 words
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Reactionary Philosophy In An Enormous, Planet-Sized Nutshell
The post provides a comprehensive overview of Reactionary philosophy and its critiques of modern progressive society, attempting to present these controversial ideas fairly for the sake of debate.
108 min read 16,672 words
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Read History Of Philosophy Backwards
Scott argues for the value of studying historical philosophy by 'reading it backwards' to unlearn assumptions and broaden perspective, even when past ideas seem obviously wrong.
6 min read 916 words
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Recommendations vs. Guidelines
Scott Alexander argues for the broader use of guidelines instead of simple recommendations in fields outside medicine, explaining their benefits and why they're underutilized.
10 min read 1,453 words
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Refactoring: Culture As Branch Of Government
Scott Alexander proposes viewing culture as a fourth branch of government to highlight its importance in societal function and governance.
5 min read 759 words
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Reflections From The Halfway Point
Scott reflects on his psychiatry residency experiences, discussing the realities of psychiatric hospitals, patient care challenges, and his transition to outpatient work.
18 min read 2,766 words