Monthly Archives: April 2013

Utility Weight Results

[Warning: The following post contains statistics done at 4 AM and not double-checked.] By far the most interesting result from my utility and QALY survey earlier was the striking last name imbalance in readers of this blog. 93 people took … Continue reading

Yellow Journalism In The War On Science

The Internet has exploded with hatred for a new draft bill making its way through the House – called, in classic Congressional weasel language, “The High Quality Research Act” Pharyngula, showing the subtlety and restraint for which it is famous, … Continue reading

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Utilitarianism for Engineers, Part II

You know how it’s impossible even in principle to compare people’s utilities and so utilitarianism is a pipe dream that can never possibly work? Well, I just learned Tufts has a searchable public database of utilities for various health outcomes. … Continue reading

Links for April

This may be the most adorable article on Wikipedia: bubuti system: “The Bubuti system is the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights. Under the Bubuti System if someone is approached and says ‘I bubuti you for … Continue reading

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In Defense of Psych Treatment for Attempted Suicide

A lot of the comments in my recent post on the implicit association test asked for a defense of why society should be hospitalizing suicidal people in the first place. If people have, after much thought, decided they prefer death … Continue reading

Product Recommendation: FB Purity

I mentioned before the stress and aggravation I get daily from people sharing their horrible politics on Facebook. It’s tempted me to quit the site before, but it would be sad for me to lose touch with all of my … Continue reading

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Implicit Association Tests and Suicidality

While looking up data on the Implicit Association Test for my post two days ago, I came across Nock & Banaji 2007 (Prediction of Suicide Ideation and Attempts Among Adolescents Using a Brief Performance-Based Test), an interesting study which I … Continue reading

Search Terms That Have Led People To This Blog

slatte star codex Sooooo close. scott alexander silver slate codex Gettttting colder. based on your findings which theory about alien thickness seems most valid or most accurate I’m going with this one 2013 issues with virtue ethics Sorry, I only … Continue reading

Social Justice For The Highly-Demanding-Of-Rigor

My last two posts have led to a lot of anti-feminist activists getting linked to my blog, so this would be a more hilarious time than usual to write the next post in my series of arguments against Reactionary politics … Continue reading

I do not understand “rape culture”

Trigger warning: discussion of rape Someone brought up “rape culture” in the comments to my last post. Now I really should stop criticizing feminist ideas, because doing so is both mind-numbing and mind-killing and makes me feel like a bad … Continue reading