Astral Codex Ten Podcast
Episodes
Employer Provided Health Care Delenda Est
25 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-health-insurance-delenda-est/ My last post didn't really go to deep into why I dislike the ...
The Amish Health Care System
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/20/the-amish-health-care-system/ I. Amish people spend only a fifth as much as you do on health care, and their...
Depression: The Olfactory Perspective
17 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/17/depression-the-olfactory-perspective/ Depressed people have worse sense of smell, and people with worse sens...
A Failure, but Not of Prediction
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/14/a-failure-but-not-of-prediction/ I. Vox asks What Went Wrong With The Media's Coronavirus Coverage? They c...
Coronalinks 4/10: Second Derivative
12 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/10/coronalinks-4-10-second-derivative/ The second derivative is the rate of growth of the rate of growth. Over the...
2019 Predictions: Calibration Results
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/08/2019-predictions-calibration-results/ At the beginning of every year, I make predictions. At the end of ever...
Never Tell Me the Odds (Ratio)
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/07/never-tell-me-the-odds-ratio/ [Epistemic status: low confidence, someone tell me if the math is off. Title was ...
SSCJC: Real World Depression Measurement
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/06/sscjc-real-world-depression-measurement/ The largest non-pharma antidepressant trial ever conducted just confir...
Book Review: The Precipice
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/01/book-review-the-precipice/ I. It is a well known fact that the gods hate prophets. False prophets they punish...
SSC Journal Club: MacIntyre on Cloth Masks
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/31/ssc-journal-club-macintyre-on-cloth-masks/ Content warning: this is a complicated analysis of something peop...
Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, Because I Just Made Them Up
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/30/legal-systems-very-different-from-ours-because-i-just-made-them-up/ [with apologies to the real Legal Syste...
Coronalinks 3/27/20: We're Number One
28 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/27/coronalinks-3-27-20/ The United States now has more coronavirus cases than any other country, including Chin...
Face Masks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/23/face-masks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ There's been recent controversy about the use of face masks fo...
Coronalinks 3/19/20
21 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/19/coronalinks-3-19-20/ As before, feel free to treat this as an open thread for all coronavirus-related issues....
Book Review: Hoover
21 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/17/book-review-hoover/ You probably remember Herbert Hoover as the guy who bungled the Great Depression. Maybe you ...
For, Then Against, High-Saturated-Fat Diets
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/10/for-then-against-high-saturated-fat-diets/ I. In the 1800s, the average US man weighed about 155 lbs. Today, ...
[Classic] Book Review: Surfing Uncertainty
08 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/05/book-review-surfing-uncertainty/ [Related to: It's Bayes All The Way Up, Why Are Transgender People Immune...
Socratic Grilling
07 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/06/socratic-grilling/ Imagine an kid in school first hearing about germ theory. The conversation might go someth...
Coronavirus: Links, Speculation, Open Thread
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-links-speculation-open-thread/ [Epistemic status: Very weak – I'm still trying to figure all ...
Book Review: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
01 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/27/book-review-the-seven-principles-for-making-marriage-work/ I. John Gottman is a legendary figure, and the le...
Book Review: Just Giving
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/24/book-review-just-giving/ I. Traditional book reviews tend to focus on a single book, such as Just Giving by...
Sleep Support: An Individual Randomized Controlled Trial
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/17/sleep-support-an-individual-randomized-controlled-trial/ I worry my sleep quality isn't great. On weekends, ...
Addendum to "Targeting Meritocracy"
16 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/14/addendum-to-targeting-meritocracy/ I've always been dissatisfied with Targeting Meritocracy and the comme...
Confirmation Bias As Misfire of Normal Bayesian Reasoning
15 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/12/confirmation-bias-as-misfire-of-normal-bayesian-reasoning/ From the subreddit: Humans Are Hardwired To Dism...
Welcome (?), Infowars Readers
15 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/12/welcome-infowars-readers/ Hello to all the new readers I've gotten from, uh, Paul Watson of Infowars. Before any...
Autogenderphilia Is Common and Not Especially Related to Transgender
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/10/autogenderphilia-is-common-and-not-especially-related-to-transgender/ "Autogynephilia" means becoming arouse...
Suicide Hotspots of the World
09 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/05/suicide-hotspots-of-the-world/ [Content warning: suicide, rape, child abuse. Thanks to MC for some help with...
Book Review: Human Compatible
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/30/book-review-human-compatible/ I. Clarke's First Law goes: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states...
Assortative Mating and Autism
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/28/assortative-mating-and-autism/ Introduction Assortative mating is when similar people marry and have childre...
Book Review Review: Little Soldiers
26 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/22/book-review-review-little-soldiers/ Little Soldiers is a book by Lenora Chu about the Chinese education sy...
SSC Survey Results 2020
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/20/ssc-survey-results-2020/ Thanks to the 8,043 people who took the 2020 Slate Star Codex survey. See the quest...
Contra Contra Contra Caplan on Psych
18 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/15/contra-contra-contra-caplan-on-psych/ I. In 2006, Bryan Caplan wrote a critique of psychiatry. In 2015, I ...
2019 Adversarial Collaboration Winners
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/13/2019-adversarial-collaboration-winners/ Thanks to everyone who participated and/or voted in the 2019 Advers...
What Intellectual Progress Did I Make in the 2010s?
11 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/08/what-intellectual-progress-did-i-make-in-the-2010s/ One of the best parts of writing a blog is being a...
A Very Unlikely Chess Game
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/06/a-very-unlikely-chess-game/ Almost 25 years after Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, another seminal man vs. mach...
Hardball Questions for the Next Debate (2020)
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/05/hardball-questions-for-the-next-debate-2020/ [Previously: Hardball Questions (2016), More Hardball Q...
Why Doctors Think They're The Best
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/01/02/why-doctors-think-theyre-the-best/ Ninety percent of drivers think they're above-average drivers, nin...
Please Take the 2020 SSC Survey!
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/30/please-take-the-2020-ssc-survey/ Please take the 2020 Slate Star Codex Survey. The survey helps me le...
Please Vote for ACC Winner
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/26/please-vote-for-acc-winner/ I've now posted all eight adversarial collaborations. In case you missed a...
[ACC Entry] How Much Significance Should We Ascribe to Spiritual Experiences?
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/25/acc-how-much-significance-should-we-ascribe-to-spiritual-experiences/ [This is an entry to the 2019 A...
[ACC Entry] Should You Have a Merry Christmas?
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/24/acc-should-you-have-a-merry-christmas/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration Contes...
[ACC Entry] Will Automation Lead to Economic Crisis?
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/23/acc-will-automation-lead-to-economic-crisis/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration ...
A Maximally Lazy Guide to Giving to Charity in 2019
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/22/a-maximally-lazy-guide-to-giving-to-charity-in-2019/ [Sorry for the interruption; we will return to our r...
[ACC Entry] When During Fetal Development Does Abortion Become Morally Wrong?
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/19/acc-when-during-fetal-development-does-abortion-become-morally-wrong/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adve...
[ACC Entry] Should Gene Editing Technologies Be Used in Humans?
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/18/acc-should-gene-editing-technologies-be-used-in-humans/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Col...
[ACC Entry] Should We Colonize Space to Mitigate X-Risk?
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/17/acc-should-we-colonize-space-to-mitigate-x-risk/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration...
[ACC Entry] Does Calorie Restriction Slow Aging?
14 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/12/acc-does-calorie-restriction-slow-aging/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration Cont...
[ACC Entry] Is Eating Meat a Net Harm?
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/11/acc-is-eating-meat-a-net-harm/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration Contest by Da...
[ACC Entry] What Are the Benefits, Harms, and Ethics of Infant Circumcision?
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/10/acc-is-infant-circumcision-ethical/ [This is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration Contest ...
2019 Adversarial Collaboration Entries
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/09/2019-adversarial-collaboration-entries/ Thanks to everyone who sent in entries for the 2019 adversaria...
Symptom, Condition, Cause
07 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/12/04/symptom-condition-cause/ On my recent post on autism, several people chimed in to say that "autism" was...
SSC Meetups Everywhere Retrospective
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/28/ssc-meetups-everywhere-retrospective/ Slate Star Codex has regular weekly-to-monthly meetups in a bunc...
Mental Mountains
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/26/mental-mountains/ I. Kaj Sotala has an outstanding review of Unlocking The Emotional Brain; I read t...
Book Review: All Therapy Books
24 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/20/book-review-all-therapy-books/ I. All therapy books start with a claim that their form of therapy will...
More Intuition-building on Non-empirical Science: Three Stories
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/18/more-intuition-building-on-non-empirical-science-three-stories/ [Followup to: Building Intuitions On Non-...
Autism and Intelligence: Much More Than You Wanted to Know
17 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/13/autism-and-intelligence-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ [Thanks to Marco DG for proofreading and offer...
Fish – Now by Prescription [Classic]
16 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/15/fish-now-by-prescription/ I. LOVAZA™®© (ask your doctor if LOVAZA™®© is right for you) is an ex...
Sleep – Now by Prescription [Classic]
16 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/09/28/sleep-now-by-prescription/ Ramelteon isn't a bad drug. It's just that its very existence stands as a co...
Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/12/book-review-the-body-keeps-the-score/ I. The Body Keeps The Score is a book about post-traumatic str...
Building Intuitions on Non-empirical Arguments in Science
10 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/06/building-intuitions-on-non-empirical-arguments-in-science/ Aeon: Post-Empirical Science Is An Oxymoro...
Samsara
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/11/04/samsara/ I. The man standing outside my front door was carrying a clipboard and wearing a golden robe....
The Life Cycle of Medical Ideas [Classic]
02 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/09/12/the-life-cycle-of-medical-ideas/ I. About five years ago, an Italian surgeon with the unlikely name of...
New Atheism: The Godlessness That Failed
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/30/new-atheism-the-godlessness-that-failed/ Thucydides predicted that future generations would underest...
Financial Incentives Are Weaker Than Social Incentives but Very Important Anyway
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/28/financial-incentives-are-weaker-than-social-incentives-but-very-important-anyway/ NYT: Economic Incen...
Highlights from the Comments on PNSE
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/24/highlights-from-the-comments-on-pnse/ (original post) Alex M writes: I think one of the main proble...
Indian Economic Reform: Much More Than You Wanted to Know
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/23/indian-economic-reform-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ From a recent Charter Cities Institute rep...
The PNSE Paper
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/21/the-pnse-paper/ I've mentioned this a few times, but it's worth going over in detail. The full title i...
Is Enlightenment Compatible With Sex Scandals?
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/16/is-enlightenment-compatible-with-sex-scandals/ Last year I reviewed The Mind Illuminated, a meditatio...
The Control Group Is Out of Control [Classic]
19 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/04/28/the-control-group-is-out-of-control/ I. Allan Crossman calls parapsychology the control group for sci...
Book Review: Against the Grain
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/14/book-review-against-the-grain/ Someone on SSC Discord summarized James Scott's Against The Grain as ...
Beware Isolated Demands for Rigor [Classic]
05 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands-for-rigor/ I. From Identity, Personal Identity, and the Self by John Perry: ...
Too Much Dark Money in Almonds
22 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/18/too-much-dark-money-in-almonds/ Everyone always talks about how much money there is in politics. This is ...
Against Tulip Subsidies [Classic]
21 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/06/against-tulip-subsidies/ I. Imagine a little kingdom with a quaint custom: when a man likes a woman, he o...
Against Against Pseudoaddiction
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/16/against-against-pseudoaddiction/ I. "Pseudoaddiction" is one of the standard beats every article on the...
SSC Meetups 2019: Times and Places
15 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to everyone who offered to host a meetup. Full list of cities, times, and places is below. If you're reading this, you're invited. Please don't...
Lots of People Going Around With Mild Hallucinations All the Time
15 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/11/lots-of-people-going-around-with-mild-hallucinations-all-the-time/ [Related to: Relaxed Beliefs Under Ps...
SSC Journal Club: Relaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics and the Anarchic Brain
14 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/10/ssc-journal-club-relaxed-beliefs-under-psychedelics-and-the-anarchic-brain/ Thanks to Sarah H. and the pe...
[Partial Retraction] Age Gaps and Birth Order Effects
14 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/09/partial-retraction-age-and-birth-order-effects/ On Less Wrong, Bucky tries to replicate my results o...
Book Review: Seeing Like a State [Classic]
07 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-like-a-state/ I. Seeing Like A State is the book G.K. Chesterton would have written ...
List of Passages I Highlighted in My Copy of Ages of Discord
05 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/04/list-of-passages-i-highlighted-in-my-copy-of-ages-of-discord/ Turchin has some great stories about uni...
Book Review: Ages of Discord
03 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/02/book-review-ages-of-discord/ I. I recently reviewed Secular Cycles, which presents a demographic-stru...
Meetups Everywhere 2019
30 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last autumn we organized meetups in 85 different cities (and one ship!) around the world. Some of the meetup groups stuck around or reported permanent...
Book Review: Reframing Superintelligence
30 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ten years ago, everyone was talking about superintelligence, the singularity, the robot apocalypse. What happened? I think the main answer is: the fie...
A Thrive/Survive Theory of the Political Spectrum
24 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I admitted in my last post on Reaction that I devoted insufficient space to the question of why society does seem to be drifting gradually leftwa...
Don't Fear the Simulators
23 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
From the New York Times: Are We Living In A Computer Simulation? Let's Not Find Out. It lists the standard reasons for thinking we might be in a sim...
Maybe Your Zoloft Stopped Working Because a Liver Fluke Tried to Turn Your Nth-Great-Grandmother Into a Zombie
23 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Or at least this is the theory proposed in Brain Evolution Through The Lens Of Parasite Manipulation by Marco del Giudice. The paper starts with an ...
Attempted Replication: Does Beef Jerky Cause Manic Episodes?
18 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, a study came out showing that beef jerky and other cured meats, could trigger mania in bipolar disorder (paper, popular article). It was a...
Book Review: Secular Cycles
15 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There is a tide in the affairs of men. It cycles with a period of about three hundred years. During its flood, farms and businesses prosper, and great...
All Debates Are Bravery Debates [Classic]
10 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to." — J. R. "Bob" Dobbs I. I read Atlas Shrugged probably about a ...
Against Bravery Debates [Classic]
10 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There's a tradition on Reddit that when somebody repeats some cliche in a tone that makes it sound like she believes she is bringing some brilliant an...
Highlights from the Comments on Billionaire Philanthropy
10 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to everyone who commented on Against Against Billionaire Philanthropy. For whatever reason, the comments there were exceptionally good. In par...
Squareallworthy on UBI Plans
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I want to signal-boost Tumblr user squareallworthy's analysis of various UBI plans: 1. Jensen et al's plan 2. Healy et al's plan 3. Andrew Yang's ...
Against Against Billionaire Philanthropy
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
[Conflict of interest notice: I've volunteered for both private and public charities, but more often private. I received a small amount of money for w...
Who By Very Slow Decay [Classic]
01 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
[Trigger warning: Death, pain, suffering, sadness] I. Some people, having completed the traditional forms of empty speculation – "What do you want t...
The Categories Were Made for Man, Not Man for the Categories [Classic]
27 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I. "Silliest internet atheist argument" is a hotly contested title, but I have a special place in my heart for the people who occasionally try to prov...
Adversarial Collaboration Contest 2019
27 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
[self plagiarism notice: this is mostly copied from last year's contest announcement] 1. Announcing the second annual Adversarial Collaboration Contes...
Book Review: The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test
25 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Kesey, graduating college in Oregon with several wrestling championships and a creative writing degree, made a classic mistake: he moved to the Sa...
Know Your Gabapentinoids
21 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The gabapentinoids are a class of drugs vaguely resembling the neurotransmitter GABA. Although they were developed to imitate GABA's action, later res...
Caution on Bias Arguments
21 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"You say it's important to overcome biases. So isn't it hypocritical that you're not trying to overcome whichever bias prevents you from realizing yo...
Against Lie Inflation
18 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
[Related to: The Whole City Is Center] I. I got into an argument recently with somebody who used the word "lie" to refer to a person honestly repor...