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The Tails Coming Apart As Metaphor For Life
The post explores how correlated variables can diverge at extreme values, applying this concept to happiness measures and moral systems.
15 min read 2,310 words
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2,008 essaysSSC
The Tax Bill Compared To Other Very Expensive Things
Scott Alexander compares the cost of the GOP tax bill to other expensive projects, reflecting on how society scrutinizes different types of costly proposals.
4 min read 479 words
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The Thin Blue Line That Stays Strangely Horizontal
Scott analyzes DW-NOMINATE data which unexpectedly shows no leftward drift in US politics over 120 years, despite historical evidence suggesting otherwise.
5 min read 674 words
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The Toxoplasma Of Rage
Scott Alexander explores how controversial ideas spread more effectively than uncontroversial ones, using examples from activism and media to illustrate this 'toxoplasma of rage' effect.
43 min read 6,597 words
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The Trend Evaluation Of All Values
The author analyzes results of a prediction contest about American political opinions, revealing participants' inaccuracies and biases in estimating current views and changes over time.
4 min read 552 words
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The View From Ground Level
Scott explores the implications of Sean Carroll's argument against the simulation hypothesis, suggesting that our inability to explain consciousness might indicate we're in a 'ground-level' simulation.
4 min read 603 words
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The Virtue of Silence
Scott Alexander explores the ethical implications of publicly debating medical confidentiality breaches, introducing the concept of the 'Virtue of Silence' as a potential solution.
8 min read 1,227 words
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The Vision Of Vilazodone And Vortioxetine
Scott Alexander examines the development and effectiveness of vilazodone and vortioxetine, two antidepressants designed to work faster and better than SSRIs, but which ultimately failed to live up to expectations.
25 min read 3,750 words
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The What-You’d-Implicitly-Heard-Before Telling Thing
Scott critiques Chesterton's 'truth-telling thing' argument, suggesting that religion's apparent coherence stems from cultural conditioning rather than inherent truth.
8 min read 1,166 words
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The Whole City Is Center
Scott Alexander examines the concept of 'laziness' and value differences, exploring how semantic debates can obscure practical communication and understanding.
36 min read 5,580 words
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The Wisdom of the Ancients
Scott Alexander debunks a study claiming Victorians were smarter than modern people, showing it's based on flawed data comparison and ignores crucial factors like selection bias and demographics.
15 min read 2,281 words
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The Wonderful Thing About Triggers
Scott Alexander defends trigger warnings as tools for informed choice, not censorship, and criticizes arguments against them, especially those based on non-consensual exposure therapy.
15 min read 2,216 words
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The World Is Flat And Intensively Farmed
Scott Alexander describes a trip to the Midwest with his father, highlighting regional charm and his father's practical nature, ending with the purchase of a Subaru in Detroit.
2 min read 250 words
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There Are Rules Here
Scott explores why conservative religious movements thrive while liberal ones decline, suggesting that strict rules and commitments strengthen communities, and considers this in the context of atheist religion-substitutes.
11 min read 1,610 words
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These Are A Few (More) Of My (Least) Favorite Things
Scott Alexander presents a new list of internet annoyances for 2015, ranging from argumentative tactics to web design issues.
18 min read 2,773 words
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Theses On Trump
Scott Alexander analyzes the unexpected success of political outsiders like Trump and Corbyn, attributing it to growing ideological polarization and anti-establishment sentiment.
10 min read 1,436 words
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Thin Air
Scott examines the relationship between altitude and obesity, then explores and ultimately dismisses the theory that increased atmospheric CO2 could be causing the obesity epidemic.
12 min read 1,809 words
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Things I Don’t Understand About Genetics (A Non-Exhaustive List)
Scott Alexander discusses his confusion about polygenic inheritance, mutational load, and the paternal age effect in genetics, seeking explanations from readers.
8 min read 1,097 words
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Things I Learned By Spending Five Thousand Years In An Alternate Universe
Scott Alexander reflects on 13 years of participating in Micras, a complex geopolitical role-playing game, discussing its impact on his life and the lessons learned about leadership and human behavior.
18 min read 2,651 words
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Things Probably Matter
Scott Alexander examines the relationship between economic development, social changes, and happiness, concluding that happiness levels can change over time but are more influenced by intangible factors than by economic growth.
11 min read 1,623 words
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Things That Are Not Superintelligences
Scott Alexander refutes claims that existing collective entities are superintelligent AIs, emphasizing the fundamental differences between collective intelligence and true superintelligence.
9 min read 1,388 words
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Things That Sometimes Help If You Have Depression
Scott Alexander offers a comprehensive guide for treating depression, covering professional help, lifestyle changes, and supplements, emphasizing the importance of persistence in finding effective treatments.
46 min read 7,128 words
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Things That Sometimes Work If You Have Anxiety
Scott Alexander reviews a wide range of treatments for anxiety disorders, from lifestyle changes and therapy to medications and alternative remedies, emphasizing the importance of exploring multiple options.
28 min read 4,251 words
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This Week: Adversarial Collaboration Entries
Scott Alexander introduces four adversarial collaboration contest entries to be published over the week, with a subsequent reader vote to determine the $1000 prize winner.
2 min read 298 words