Astral Codex Ten Podcast
Episodes
2017 Predictions Calibration Results
03 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
At the beginning of every year, I make predictions. At the end of every year, I score them. Here are 2014, 2015, and 2016. And here are the predict...
Adderall Risks Much More Than You Wanted to Know
29 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I didn't realize how much of a psychiatrist's time was spent gatekeeping Adderall. The human brain wasn't built for accounting or software engineering...
A History of the Silmarils in the Fifth Age
27 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Silmarillion describes the fate of the three Silmarils. Earendil kept one, and traveled with it through the sky, where it became the planet Venu...
Preregistration of the Hypotheses for the SSC Survey
26 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
[This post is about the 2018 SSC Survey. If you've read at least one blog post here before, please take the survey if you haven't already. Please do...
Please Take The 2018 SSC Reader Survey
22 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you're reading this and have previously read at least one Slate Star Codex post, please take the 2018 SSC Survey. This year's survey is in three s...
What to Make of New Positive NSI-189 Results?
08 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I wanted NSI-189 to be real so badly. Pharma companies used to love antidepressants. Millions of people are depressed. Millions of people who aren't d...
Tax Bill 3 Don't Mess With Taxes
08 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to everyone who commented on my last two posts, especially the many people who disagreed with me. Two things I will admit I got mostly wrong: 1...
Response to Comments The Tax Bill is Still Very Bad
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There was some good pushback on yesterday's article on taxes. But sorry, I'm still right. Many people responded with generic low-tax anti-government p...
The Tax Bill Compared to Other Very Expensive Things
05 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Here is the cost of the current GOP tax bill placed in the context of other really expensive things. Although it's not quite enough money to solve w...
Against Overgendering Harassment
05 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
About 30% of the victims of sexual harassment are men. About 20% of the perpetrators of sexual harassment are women. Don't believe me? In a Quinnipia...
Book Review: Inadequate Equilibria
01 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Eliezer Yudkowsky's catchily-titled Inadequate Equilibria is many things. It's a look into whether there is any role for individual reason in a worl...
Contra Robinson on Public Food
22 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, Nathan Robinson of Current Affairs wrote an article against school vouchers. He argued that private schools would be so focused ...
List of Passages I Highlighted in My Copy of Legal Systems Very Different From Ours
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Question I'd never thought to ask before: are we sure it's a good idea to let people know what the laws are? The Chinese legal system originated some...
Book Review Legal Systems Very Different From Ours
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Medieval Icelandic crime victims would sell the right to pursue a perpetrator to the highest bidder. 18th century English justice replaced fines with ...
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Alchemist asked if I wanted a drink. I did, but no amount of staring could make my eyes settle on the color of the liquid in the flask. And the go...
Does Age Bring Wisdom?
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I turn 33 today. I can only hope that age brings wisdom. We've been talking recently about the high-level frames and heuristics that organize other co...
CONCEPT-SHAPED HOLES CAN BE IMPOSSIBLE TO NOTICE
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When I wrote about my experiences doing psychotherapy with people, one commenter wondered if I might be schizoid: There are a lot of schizoid peopl...
NON-EXPERT EXPLANATION
03 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
SSC's review of postmodernism got very mixed reviews. Some of them made a good point: why should I be trying this at all? I'm not a postmodernist, I...
POSTMODERNISM FOR RATIONALISTS (MY ATTEMPT)
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the Seattleites put together a Postmodernism For Rationalists presentation that's been sparking a lot of discussion. It's not quite the way...
AGAINST RAT PARK
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Rat Park is a famous study in which lab rats were kept in a really nice habitat that satisfied their every need. Contrary to the usual results with la...
HOW DID NEW ATHEISM FAIL SO MISERABLY?
25 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Baffler publishes a long article against "idiot" New Atheists. It's interesting only in the context of so many similar articles, and an inabili...
KOLMOGOROV COMPLICITY AND THE PARABLE OF LIGHTNING
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A good scientist, in other words, does not merely ignore conventional wisdom, but makes a special effort to break it. Scientists go looking for troub...
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COMMENTS ON DARK AGES
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to everyone who made interesting comments on yesterday's post about Dark Ages. Several people challenged the matching of the economic/populatio...
WERE THERE DARK AGES?
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Cracked offers Five Ridiculous Myths You Probably Believe About The Dark Ages; number one is "The Dark Ages Were A Real Thing": The Dark Ages were n...
SSC JOURNAL CLUB SEROTONIN RECEPTORS
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pop science likes to dub dopamine "the reward chemical" and serotonin "the happiness chemical". God only knows what norepinephrine is, but I'm sure it...
IN FAVOR OF FUTURISM BEING ABOUT THE FUTURE
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From Boston Review: Know Thy Futurist. It's an attempt to classify and analyze various types of futurism, in much the same way that a Jack Chick tra...
SSC SURVEY RESULTS ON TRUST
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Last post talked about individual differences in whether people found others basically friendly or hostile. The SSC survey included a sort of relat...
DIFFERENT WORLDS
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A few years ago I had lunch with another psychiatrist-in-training and realized we had totally different experiences with psychotherapy. We both got th...