Monthly Archives: January 2018

Powerless Placebos

The most important study on the placebo effect is Hróbjartsson and Gøtzsche’s Is The Placebo Powerless?, updated three years later by a systematic review and seven years later with a Cochrane review. All three looked at studies comparing a real … Continue reading

Open Thread 94.25

This is the twice-weekly hidden open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. You can also talk at the SSC subreddit or the SSC Discord server.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 840 Comments

The Invention Of Moral Narrative

H/T Robin Hanson: Aeon’s The Good Guy / Bad Guy Myth. “Pop culture today is obsessed with the battle between good and evil. Traditional folktales never were. What changed?” The article claims almost every modern epic – superhero movies, Star … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 600 Comments

Highlights From The Comments On Conflict Vs. Mistake

I. Thanks to everyone who commented on the posts about conflict and mistake theory. aciddc writes: I’m a leftist (and I guess a Marxist in the same sense I guess I’m a Darwinist despite knowing evolutionary theory has passed him … Continue reading

OT94: Isotopen Thread

This is the bi-weekly visible open thread (there are also hidden open threads twice a week you can reach through the Open Thread tab on the top of the page). Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. You … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1,073 Comments

SSC Survey Data On Models Of Political Conflict

There were a lot of good comments on yesterday’s conflict vs. mistake post. Some were very appropriate challenges: for example, doesn’t public choice theory itself assume conflict between special interests? And didn’t Marxism start off with a dry incentive-based explanation … Continue reading

Conflict Vs. Mistake

Jacobite – which is apparently still a real magazine and not a one-off gag making fun of Jacobin – summarizes their article Under-Theorizing Government as “You’ll never hear the terms ‘principal-agent problem,’ ‘rent-seeking,’ or ‘aligning incentives’ from socialists. That’s because … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1,022 Comments

Open Thread 93.75

This is the twice-weekly hidden open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. You can also talk at the SSC subreddit or the SSC Discord server.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 763 Comments

Links 1/18: Helink Of Troy

Did you know: the world’s largest Hindu temple is in the city of Robbinsville, New Jersey. Among Antarctica’s few rivers is the Alph, so named because it runs through caverns down to a sunless sea. Norway joins Portugal in decriminalizing … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 825 Comments

Open Thread 93.5

This is the twice-weekly hidden open thread. As the off-weekend thread, this is culture-war-free, so please try try to avoid overly controversial topics. You can also talk at the SSC subreddit or the SSC Discord server.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 551 Comments