I am going by Scott S Alexander, which is almost but not quite my real name. If you know my real name, please don’t use it on here. After years of trying the opposite policy, I’m switching to acting all clever and not having every detail of my life accessible to anyone who tries to search for me on the Internet.
Elsewhere, especially on Less Wrong, I blog under the nickname “Yvain”. I mention this mainly because of the surprising number of people who read things in both places and never manage to figure out that we are the same person. Don’t be the person who tells me I should talk to that Yvain guy because we seem to have a lot in common.
“Slate Star Codex” is almost an anagram of my name. It’s missing an “n”, because anagramming is hard. I’ve put the “n” in the book in the header image, to restore cosmic balance.
Topics on Slate Star Codex tend to center vaguely around this meta-philosophical idea of how people evaluate arguments for their beliefs, and especially whether this process is spectacularly broken in a way that may or may not doom us all. In between there’s a lot of cognitive science, psychology, history, politics, medicine, religion, statistics, transhumanism, corny puns, and applied eschatology.
I really want to be one of those people with the neat one-subject blogs who can introduce themselves as “the guy with the blog about X”, but the universe is way too interesting for that to remotely work.
If you want to contact me, you can reach me at the reverse of gro.htorerihs@ttocs.
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Okay, so that comment was linked to my pre-existing Gravatar account, even though I used a different name than my Gravatar username. Perhaps that’s because I was logged in.
So what happens if I leave a comment with the same e-mail address, a different name, and I’m logged out of Gravatar (with cookies cleared)?
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And it looks like this site doesn’t detect when I’m logged into my BoingBoing account, which is supposedly a WordPress account, though comments there are powered by Disqus.
By my count, I think this gives me two or three WordPress-compatible identities and at least two distinct Disqus accounts.
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Test reply — edited?
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Hmm. It looks like there’s no kind of password protection with these commenting identities. All it would take to hijack someone’s name would be the knowledge of the e-mail address they’re using for commenting.
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Should this page be visible?
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I remember you years ago saying that a great Facebook app idea would be for people to anonymously “rate” how much they are romantically interested in their friends. If it was mutual, then the app would alert them to the good news.
Voila, here it is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-small-business/post/dc-dating-start-up-hinge-expanding-to-new-york/2013/05/06/311d7fba-b411-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_blog.html
And it’s doing quite well!
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How do you pronounce “Yvain”?
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yuh vay nuh, I think
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Try wikipedia
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A group of my colleagues and I are impressed by your blog! You’re a grad student studying psychology? Seems like I read that somewhere?
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I tried to email you at the address given above, but it bounced….
All I wanted to say was that I just added your Anti-Reactionary FAQ to rbutr, and thought you might be interested in it if you hadn’t already heard about it: http://rbutr.com/rbutr/WebsiteServlet?requestType=showLinksByToPage&toPageId=1301038
The basic idea behind rbutr is to connect critical responses to the webpages they are responding to so that people can easily move from claim to response to counter-response in a natural way (something the internet doesn’t yet easily enable). In this way, we can transform the internet from its current ‘information delivery’ setup, in to a more proactive tool which teaches people to critically reflect on the subject matter that the internet is delivering to them.
I thought you might be interested in it, and might want to add more of your articles to the system, thus getting your responses in front of the people reading the pages you are responding to?
You can install our plugin in Firefox or Chrome, and submit any claim-rebuttal connections you find/write.
http://rbutr.com
Shane
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Scott, you are a hard man to reach. Your email listed here returns a “Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently” error, and I used leetkey to reverse the text to be sure there wasn’t a mistake. My email was going to say:
“Hello there. I am one of the founding members and regular contributors on Trekosophy: the Star Trek Philosophy podcast http://trekosophy.com/ now in our third season. I heard you give a demonstration and play a small game of your “Dungeons & Discourse” game on another podcast once and was thinking that would make a great episode for our podcast if you ever had time to come on, explain it and help us through DMing a session. It would both give us interesting content for our show and promote your game at the same time. We usually meet on Wednesdays at 6 PM CST (GMT -6) and have just switched to using Mumble as our communications software. I’ve been meaning to email you about this for a while, actually. Think you could come on sometime? :)”
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I’ll work on fixing the email. I am flattered by the invitation but I’m freaked out by the idea of being a podcast guest and will probably pass.
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test edit
successfully edited!
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another test
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Yet a third.
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Howdy! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from
an established blog. Is it very difficult to set up your own blog?
I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty
quick. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure where to begin.
Do you have any points or suggestions? Cheers
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Hi there friends, its wonderful piece of writing regarding teachingand fully explained,
keep it up all the time.
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testing comment
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This paragraph will assist the internet visitors for setting up new website or even a weblog from
start to end.
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You should talk to that Yvain guy because he needs a hug!
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Sorry if u already answered that question elsewhere, but I just came here, read “IN FAVOR OF NICENESS, COMMUNITY, AND CIVILIZATION” and wanted to donate something. So is there some kind of “flattr”-button somewhere and I missed it? (I read that u link to amazon for cash and already turned of adblock, but I’m not a heavy consumer :P)
Awesome work btw, it was a delight, tyvm! Have to come here more often 😉
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Thank you for offering. I don’t accept donations, but if you want you can donate to a charity like the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative in my name.
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Scott–
I think you may find this piece interesting.
It discusses the tactical, but also substantive value with engaging with one’s ideological opponents, including and indeed particularly one’s most extreme ones.
http://psandman.com/gst2014.htm#Ebola-social
A teaser:
“I think the CDC and other official and mainstream sources of Ebola information are far wiser to give extremists access to the social media they control (like the CDC’s Facebook page) than to deny them access.
To explain why, let me start by subdividing the people whose comments you call “aggressive, uninformed, rumor-mongering, paranoid, etc.” into two rough categories: those who have something to say that’s worth listening to, and those who don’t. I’m going to argue later that the first category tends to be bigger than we imagine. I think the mainstream has important things to learn from people on the fringes, both generically and with specific reference to Ebola. But let’s put that aside for now and assume that we’re talking about people whose comments are, as the Supreme Court used to say about pornography, of “no redeeming social value.””
-JYS
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Scott–
You may also find this interesting:
The narrow topic discussed here is risk communication in the context of vaccination. (How to communicate risk associated with disease and vaccination to a skeptical or hostile audience in manner that will encourage them to make rational choices.)
In the context of things you’ve posted before, it could be retitled “Why Andrew Card’s Noble Lie is wrong–honest communication with your ideological foes is more effective in the long run” (I’m well aware of who Andrew Card actually is, but in deference to your desire to obfuscate his identity I will do the same.)
“Vaccination Safety Skepticism: Public Health’s Self-Inflicted Wound (Part One)”
http://vimeo.com/19324969
(It isn’t a short video; I apologize that I could not find a transcript.)
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Part 2
http://vimeo.com/19325557
Part 3 (I haven’t finished it yet so I can’t endorse it with a clear conscience, but I suspect it will continue to be terrific)
http://vimeo.com/19326047
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Nice blog =]
Take care,
H.
Xoxo
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This is an example of a certain kind of writing style that packs a tremendous amount of meaning into a few short words that once read enliven one’s essence centers with premature thoughts of self affirming, when in fact, that form of egoism can be avoided indefinitely through close scrutiny of words.
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I’m assuming reply works too, also, as well.
Hello little smiley face below the fold.
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very nice
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simpler test
edit: must have screwed up
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Test comment – I don’t know how this gravatar thing works.
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I read that article yesterday, the “Nerd Entitlement…” article that you write a blog post about and it really triggered all these stupid feelings of self consciousness and feeling ugly and not good enough for men and feeling unlovable, that I felt all the time when I was younger attempting to date as a female nerd. It was bizarre! I thought I was past that but then bam! It hit me like a train. No one will ever love me! So dumb. Grrr, I thought by now I was over that. Like you, I don’t agree with all of the premises of the article, it was just some of the ways she put things really triggered that feeling in me. Bleh, so vulnerable and powerless, that feeling that you are at the mercy of the opposite sex for happiness and self worth and you have no idea what to do to get them to like you, while all around me men were falling over all my cuter, more socially capable friends. And society the entire time is sending me the message that all I need to do is have a vagina and all the men in the world will fall over me, ha ha ha, yeah right!?!
Anyways, I appreciate your article and it helped me understand why some men are so against feminism lately. I’m not involved in any internet feminism and I find it reprehensible that feminists would be so mean spirited, but I do like that I can have rights now and be a female nerd and be somewhat accepted by society for who I am, though I still am clueless about boys. It actually makes me really sad to think maybe there were some nerdy boys afraid to ask me out because of feminism…I’ve always loved nerds. But, on the other hand, without any feminism I probably wouldn’t be able to express myself because I don’t fit the typical female stereotypes in a lot of ways. I do think it’s pretty hard being a female nerd too, and in a lot of ways harder and in a lot of ways easier, I suppose, like anything. Black/white views never accurately reflect reality, especially when people are involved.
In any case I’m just as clueless now as I was then about men. So, will you hook me up with 10 nice nerdy guys in Denver, if you know any? But only if they want children, have a job (made that mistake already and got a moocher living with me and me too pathetic to realize I deserved better) and are in a reasonable age range for me (I’m 34). Actually, I don’t know you but your blog post was awesome so if you’re ever in town look me up and I’ll buy you a beer, ok? I’d love to hear about what your experience training in psychology in a female dominated field is compared to my experience training in physics, a male dominated field. That could be my attempt to hit on you or not, depending on your relationship status 😉
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How do I put it less embarrassingly…I have been a blogger practically over a decade; but I have not met any other real life blogger personally. Thought if it might interest you to meet me during your Bay Area visit (not because I am anybody, but if you do not mind to expend some cycles for someone to help). If you happen to come to Peninsula (Palo Alto and area south of that) and have some free time, I would like to meet you. For what – say guidance and tips.
Thanks and best wishes.
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Test comment – will it even show up?
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Test comment #2 – I still don’t understand what prevents them from going through.
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Test comment #4 – is it email that stops it from working?
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This is the last one.
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I follow David Friedman and he commented favorably on this blog. What do I need to do to subscribe/follow it so that I have access to each new posting and all historical ones?
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** Lights the “Scott-signal” up into the clouds above City Hall **
Scott, I guess your name is often taken in vain around the internets, especially after a well-written post that you might regret. You can’t notice them all, of course, but I think this one that appeared today (15 Feb 15)
http://crookedtimber.org/2015/02/15/male-nerds-and-feminism/
may be worthy of your attention. It looks like just your sort of venue, beyond the fact that you’re minorly slagged in the main post. Interesting variety of comments, but could certainly use an SA injection. Go where you’re needed.
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Hi, My name is Jeffrey Simpson. I am looking for a possible simplest
approach to a rather complicated problem. I had previously abused Adderall
for almost 15yrs, sometimes swallowing up to 14 tablets at a time. I
relapsed in January of 2014, because I was depressed and have no energy. I
am currently on Zoloft for depression, which I don’t believe is helping me
at all, and Serax for anxiety, which keeps the anxiety under control, but
also makes me very tired and just masks the problem. After being off
Adderall for 3-4yrs without any meds I was depressed, had severe anxiety,
a “wired and tired” feeling all the time if you will. I cannot find any
middle ground as the stress is so overwhelming. Could you kindly send me a sample bottle of your nootropic product , I am new to nootropics and am on a very tight budget. I’d really love to try this product?
Jeffrey Simpson
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I read your essay “Meditations on Moloch” and I have never read such a magnum opus to the ego.
It’s brilliantly clever.
However I believe you make the critical error of thinking that things are not already proceeding along the “god-view” outcomes related to game theory and the prisoner’s delimma. The elephant in the room that western philosophy has ignored is the central eastern mystical question of whether or not the universe is a friendly place. Your essay goes on discussing the perils of human nature; however makes no case whether or not that mark of “original sin” actually exists. It could equally be said that human nature is always good at all times; it just took a “god-view” perspective to see it as such. Or at least that’s what 5000 years of eastern philosophy suggests.
There is a book that I highly recommend for you. It is called Tertium Organum by P.D. Ouspensky.
You seem incredibly intelligent and open-minded. Two things that are very rare to find in the same person.
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I’ve recommended your blog to friends as “everything human”.
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just discovered this site but so far I like what I see
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After all those months of wondering where the author of that other blog wandered off to I finally put two and two together.
Actually, I figured it out during the three minutes of googling it took me to figure out your name, but since you didn’t actually want to hide that, just for it to be not immediately searchable, I guess that’s fine.
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I really appreciated the survey you took of the r/nootropics community about a year ago. Could you rerun the same survey again, or maybe even make this an annual event? If you’re interested, I have a small suggestion: I don’t know anything about statistic, but it seems to me that it might be beneficial to normalize each participants ratings by his or her average ratings, could you do that?
If you’re not interested in rerunning the survey, do you still have the google doc you used to make the survey, and could I use it to re-run the survey myself? Thanks a lot.
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I really enjoy the blog post. Great. ckcdedcddcbbeakg
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Your article on HeartMath was very helpful for me in evaluating a recommendation from a holistic therapist. Of course your credibility increased when I caught the Illuminatus references.
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So, “Scott,” I was reading one of your blog posts and I am wondering, who is this guy? So what are your qualifications? Why should I care, basically? Do you have an MD? PhD? Why is there no list of your credentials anywhere on this site?
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