Monthly Archives: February 2016

OT44: Open Primary

This is the bi-weekly open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. Sorry about the decreased volume of blogging lately. I’ve been working night shift, plus I discovered Worm. The good news is that now … Continue reading

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Two Attitudes In Psychiatry

Attitude 1 says that patients know what they want but not necessarily how to get it, and psychiatrists are there to advise them. So a patient might say “I want to stop being depressed”, and their psychiatrist might recommend them … Continue reading

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Nonfiction Writing Advice

People have asked me for advice on writing nonfiction online, so here are some tips: 1. Divide things into small chunks Nobody likes walls of text. By this point most people know that you should have short, sweet paragraphs with … Continue reading

Links 2/16: N-Acetyl Selink

Famous books rewritten in the style of Donald Trump: Lord Of The Rings, Atlas Shrugged Confucianism is newly popular in China after bouncing back from its Cultural Revolution-era ban. The government hopes to build up the philosophy as some kind … Continue reading

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OT43: Roses Are Thread…

This is the bi-weekly-ish open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. Also: 1. You might remember my nootropics survey from two years ago. I’m running an updated version this week with some new substances and a … Continue reading

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Before You Get Too Excited About That GitHub Study…

Another day, another study purporting to find that Tech Is Sexist. Since it’s showing up here, you probably already guessed how this is going to end. Most of this analysis is not original to me – Hacker News had figured … Continue reading

Testimonials for SSC

[Content note: various slurs and insults] I. Last post I thanked some of the people who have contributed to this blog. But I forgot some of the most important contributors: the many readers whose give valuable feedback on everything I … Continue reading

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OT42: Thread Anniversary

This is the third anniversary of this blog. I want to take this opportunity to thank people who I otherwise haven’t gotten around to thanking: 1. Website/app design company Trike Apps, especially Matt Fallshaw and Catherine Truscott, for hosting the … Continue reading

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List Of Passages I Highlighted In My Copy Of “Superforecasting”

In year 1, [the Good Judgment Project] beat the official control group by 60%. In year 2, we beat the control group by 78%. GJP also beat its university-affiliated competitors, including the Uniersity of Michigan and MIT, by hefty margins, … Continue reading

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Book Review: Superforecasting

Philip Tetlock, author of Superforecasting, got famous by studying prediction. His first major experiment, the Expert Political Judgment experiment, is frequently cited as saying that top pundits’ predictions are no more accurate than a chimp throwing darts at a list … Continue reading