The reader’s shortlist
Essays ranked by captured source likes. Essays without a saved count are listed last.
Scott explores the concept of an 'Economists' Paradise' to derive a form of contractualism as a basis for morality, potentially grounding utilitarianism and resolving some of its paradoxes.
Scott Alexander examines the life cycle of medical ideas, discussing how promising treatments often get stuck in a 'grey area' between proven and alternative medicine.
Fiction by Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander compares reactions to coming out as gay versus disliking math, introducing the concept of a 'Things To Be Fascinated About Lottery' to explain diverse interests and talents.
Scott presents a series of short stories, each concluding with a pun-based moral, demonstrating his wit and love for wordplay.
Scott Alexander examines GPT-3's capabilities, improvements over GPT-2, and potential implications for AI development through scaling.
Scott Alexander uses the evolution of genetic science as a metaphor to explore how other fields might benefit from recognizing the polycausal nature of complex phenomena.
Scott Alexander buys the Codex Seraphinianus, a long-desired luxury item, and inadvertently turns his post into an Amazon advertisement.
Scott Alexander examines the concept of innate ability and argues for its acceptance, while cautioning against tying self-worth to intellectual achievement.
Scott analyzes a surprising age-related trend in responses to a parentheses riddle on the SSC survey, exploring possible explanations for why younger respondents were more likely to answer correctly.
Scott examines phatic communication and anti-inductive systems, exploring their roles in social interactions, job-seeking, and psychotherapy, and suggests the value of balancing both approaches.
Scott Alexander examines different theories of weight gain, focusing on the roles of metabolism and appetite/exercise drive, and concludes that individual metabolic differences likely play a significant role in weight management.
Scott explores the fascinating etymology of 'placebo' from medieval funerals to medicine, then discusses the controversial placebo effect in depression treatment.
Scott Alexander reviews a study on 'enlightenment', finding it involves internal changes in self-perception and cognition, often without noticeable external effects.
Scott Alexander argues that ancient Rome's welfare system was similar to modern progressive policies in causes and outcomes, despite different philosophical justifications.
Scott Alexander examines the paradox of economic growth not increasing happiness in developing countries, questioning the moral implications for global development efforts.
The post examines three major issues with generic medications: barriers to market entry, problematic FDA initiatives, and inconsistent pricing across pharmacies.
Scott Alexander examines a pseudoscientific claim about the Great Pyramid of Giza to illustrate how coincidences can appear more significant than they are, relating this to challenges in evaluating scientific studies.
Scott Alexander argues that the right to waive one's rights can be beneficial, using examples from psychiatry and game theory to illustrate his point.
Scott Alexander creates a political quiz to distinguish between object-level and meta-level thinking, based on consistent application of principles across different scenarios.
Scott Alexander argues for a legitimate 'spirit of the First Amendment' that protects the marketplace of ideas, criticizing tactics that silence rather than address arguments.
Scott Alexander reframes the Thanksgiving story as a science fiction narrative to highlight its overlooked complexities and darker aspects.