A Month's Worth of Rational Posts - Feedback on my Rationality Feed.

post by sapphire (deluks917) · 2017-05-15T14:21:32.995Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 8 comments

Contents

8 comments

For the last two months I have been publishing a feed of rationalist articles. Oriignally the feed was only published on the SSC discord channel SSC Discord (Be charitable, kind and don't treat the place like 4chan). For the last few days I have also been publishing it on my blog deluks917.wordpress.com. I categorize the links and include a brief excerpt, review, and/or teaser. If you would like to see an exampel in practice just check today's post. The average number of links per day, in the last month, has been six. But this number has been higher recently. I have not missed a single day since I started, so I think its likely I will continue doing this. The list of blogs I check is located here: List of Blogs. 

I am looking for some feedback. At the bottom of this post I am  including a month's worth of posts categorized using the current system. Posts are not nescessarily in any particular order since my categorization system has not been constant over time. Lots of posts were moved around by hand. 

1 -  Should I share the feed the results somewhere other than SSC-discord + my blog? Mindlevelup suggested I write up a weekly roundup. I could share such a roundup via some on lesswrong and SSC. I would estimate the expected number of links in such a psot to be around 35. Links would be posted in chronoligcal order within categories. Alternatively I could share such a post every two weeks. Its also possible to have a mailing list but I currently find this less promising. 

2 - Do the categories make a reasonable amount of sense? What tweaks would you make. I have ocnsidered mixing some of the smaller categories (Math and CS, Amusement into "misc"). 

3 - Are there any blogs I should include/drop from the feed. For example I have been considering dropping ribbonfarm. The highest priority is to get the content thats directly about instrumental/epsitemic rationality. The bar is higher for politics and culture_war. I should note I am not going to personally include any blog without an RSS feed. 

4 - Is anyone willing to write a "Best of rationalist tumblr" post. If I write a weekly/bi-weekly round up I could combine it with an equivalent "best of tumblr" post. The tumblr post would not have to be daily, just weekly or every other week. We could take turns posting the resulting combination to lesswrong/SSC and collecting the juicy karma. However its worth noting that SSC-reddit has some controls on culture_war (outside of the CW thread). Since we want to post to r/SSC we need to keep the density of culture_war to reasonable levels. Lesswrong also has some anti-cw norms.

=== Last Month's Rationality Content === 

**Scott**

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/11/silicon-valley-a-reality-check/ - What a person finds in Silicon Valley mirrors the seeker.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/09/links-517-rip-van-linkle/ - Links.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/11/sacred-principles-as-exhaustible-resources/ - Don't deplete the free speech commons.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/12/clarification-to-sacred-principles-as-exhaustible-resources/  - Clarifications and caveats on Scott's last article on free speech and sacred values.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/13/chametz/ - A Jewish Vampire Story

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/17/learning-to-love-scientific-consensus/ - Scott Critiques a list of 10 maverick inventors. He then reconsiders his previous science skepticism.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/21/ssc-journal-club-childhood-trauma-and-cognition/ - A new study challenges the idea that child abuse reduces brain function.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/25/book-review-the-hungry-brain/ - Scott gives a favorable view of the "establishment" view of nutrition.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/26/anorexia-and-metabolic-set-point/ - Short Post (for Scott)

https://slatestarscratchpad.tumblr.com/post/160028275801/slatestarscratchpad-wayward-sidekick-you - Scott discusses engaging with ideas you find harmful. He also discusses his attitude toward making his blog as friendly as possible. [culture_war]

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/01/neutral-vs-conservative-the-eternal-struggle/ - Formally neutral institutions have a liberal bias. Conservatives react by seceding and forming their own institutions. The end result is bad for society. [Culture War]

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/04/getting-high-on-your-own-supply/ - "If you optimize for the epistemic culture that’s best for getting elected, but that culture isn’t also the best for running a party or governing a nation, then the fact that your culture affects your elites as well becomes a really big problem." Short for Scott.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/07/ot75-the-comment-king/ - bi-weekly visible open thread.

http://unsongbook.com/postscript-1-wrap-parties-fan-music/ - Final chapter of Unsong goes up approximately 8pm on Sunday. Unsong will have an epilogue will will go up on Wednesday. Wrap party details. (I will be at the wrap party on sunday).

http://unsongbook.com/book-iv-kings/ - "Somebody had to, no one would / I tried to do the best I could / And now it’s done, and now they can’t ignore us / And even though it all went wrong / I’ll stand against the whole unsong / With nothing on my tongue but HaMephorash"

http://unsongbook.com/chapter-71-but-for-another-gives-its-ease/ - Penultimate chapter of Unsong.

http://unsongbook.com/chapter-70-nor-for-itself-hath-any-care/ - Newest Chapter.

http://unsongbook.com/authors-note-10-hamephorash-hamephorash-party/ - Final Chapter goes up may 14. Bay Area Reading party announced.

http://unsongbook.com/chapter-69-love-seeketh-not-itself-to-please/ - Newest Chapter.

http://unsongbook.com/chapter-68-puts-all-heaven-in-a-rage/ - Newest Chapter.

**Rationalism**

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ozz/gearsness_of_understanding/ - "I want to point at a property of models that isn't about what they're modeling. It interacts with the clarity of what they're modeling, but only in the same way that smudged lines in a roadmap interact with the clarity of the roadmap. This property is how deterministically interconnected the variables of the model are.". The theory is applied to multiple explicit examples.

https://thepdv.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/how-i-use-beeminder/ - Short but gives details. Beeminder is the only productivity system that worked for the author.

https://putanumonit.com/2017/05/09/time-well-spent/ - Akrasia and procrastination. A review of some of the rationalist thinking on the topic. Jacob's personal take and his system for tracking his productivity.

https://putanumonit.com/2017/05/09/time-well-spent/ - Akrasia and procrastination. A review of some of the rationalist thinking on the topic. Jacob's personal take and his system for tracking his productivity.

http://kajsotala.fi/2017/05/cognitive-core-systems-explaining-intuitions-behind-belief-in-souls-free-will-and-creation-myths/ - Description of four core systems human, and other animals, are born with. An explanation of why these systems lead to belief in souls. Short.

https://mindlevelup.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/taking-criticism/ - Reframing criticism so that it makes sense to the author (who is bad at taking criticism). A Q&A between the author and himself.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/oz1/soft_skills_for_running_meetups_for_beginners/ - Concrete advice for running meetups. Not especially focused on beginning organizers. Written by the person who organized Solstice.

http://effective-altruism.com/ea/19t/mental_health_resource_for_ea_community/ - A breakdown of the most useful information about Mania and Psychosis. Extremely practical advice. Julia Wise.

http://bearlamp.com.au/working-with-multiple-problems-at-once - Problems add up and you run out of time. How do you get out? Very practical.

http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2017/05/creativity-taps.html - Practical ideas for exercising creativity.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/oyk/acting_on_your_intended_preferences_what_does/ - What does it look like in practice to pursue your goals. A series of practical questions to ask your. Links to a previous series of blog post are included.

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/why-do-all-the-rationalists-live-in-the-bay-area/ - Benefits of living in the Bay. The Bay is a top place for software engineers even accounting for cost of living, Rationalist institutions are in the Bay, there are social and economic benefits to being around other community members.

https://qualiacomputing.com/2017/05/04/the-most-important-philosophical-question/ - “Is happiness a spiritual trick, or is spirituality a happiness trick?”

http://particularvirtue.blogspot.com/2017/05/how-to-build-community-full-of-lonely.html - Why so many rationalists feel lonely and concrete suggestions for improving social groups. Advice is given to people who are popular, lonely or organizers. Very practical.

https://hivewired.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/announcing-entropycon-12017/ - We beat smallpox, we will beat death, we can try to beat entropy. A humorous mantra against nihilism.

https://mindlevelup.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/there-is-no-akrasia/ - The author argues that akrasia isn't a "thing" its a "sorta-coherent concept". He also argues that "akrasia" is not a useful concept and can be harmful.

http://bearlamp.com.au/experiments-iterations-and-the-scientific-method/ - A Graph of the scientific method in practice. The author works through his quantified self in practice and discusses his experiences.

https://everythingstudies.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/all-the-worlds-a-trading-zone/ - Cultures with different norms and languages can interact successfully.

http://kajsotala.fi/2017/04/relationship-compatibility-as-patterns-of-emotional-association/ - What is relationship "chemistry"?

http://lesswrong.com/lw/oyc/nate_soares_replacing_guilt_series_compiled_in/ - Ebook. 45 blog posts on replacing guilt and shame with a stronger motivation.

http://mindingourway.com/assuming-positive-intent/ - "If you're actively working hard to make the world a better place, then we're on the same team. If you're committed to letting evidence and reason guide your actions, then I consider you friends, comrades in arms, and kin."

http://bearlamp.com.au/quantified-self-tracking-with-a-form/ - Practical advice based on Elo's personal experience.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ovc/background_reading_the_real_hufflepuff_sequence/ - Links and Descriptions of rationalist articles about group norms and dynamics.

https://everythingstudies.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/people-are-different/ - "We need to understand, accept and respect differences, that one size does not fit all, but to (and from) each their own."

http://bearlamp.com.au/yak-shaving-2/ - "A question worth asking is whether you are in your life at present causing a build up of problems, a decrease of problems, or roughly keeping them about the same level."

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/oxk/i_updated_the_list_of_rationalist_blogs_on_the/ - Up to date list of rationalist blogs.

https://aellagirl.com/2017/05/02/internet-communities-otters-vs-possums/ - Possums: people who like a specific culture. Otters are people who like most cultures. What happens when the percentage of otters in a community increases?

https://aellagirl.com/2017/04/24/how-i-lost-my-faith/ - "People sometimes ask the question of why it took so long. Really I’m amazed that it happened at all. Before we even approach the aspect of “good arguments against religion”, you have to understand exactly how much is sacrificed by the loss of religion."

http://particularvirtue.blogspot.com/2017/04/on-social-spaces.html - Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook etc. PV responds to Zvi's articles about facebook. PV defends tumblr and facebook and has some criticisms of twitter. Several examples are given where ratioanalist groups tried to change platforms.

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2017/04/superhumans-live-among-us.html - Some human polymaths really are superhuman. But they don't have the track record to prove it.

https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/against-facebook/ - Sections: 1. A model breaking down how Facebook actually works. 2. An experiment with my News Feed. 3. Living with the Algorithm. 4. See First, Facebook’s most friendly feature. 5. Facebook is an evil monopolistic pariah Moloch. 6. Facebook is bad for you and Facebook is ruining your life. 7. Facebook is destroying discourse and the public record. 8. Facebook is out to get you.

https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/against-facebook-comparison-to-alternatives-and-call-to-action/ - Zvi's advice for managing your information streams and discussion platforms. Facebook can mostly be replaced.

https://rationalconspiracy.com/2017/04/22/moving-to-the-bay-area/ - Downsides of the Bay. Extensively sourced. Cost of living, traffic, public transit, crime, cleanliness.

https://nintil.com/2017/04/18/still-not-a-zombie-replies-to-commenters/ - Thoughts on consciousness and identity.

http://bearlamp.com.au/an-inquiry-into-memory-of-humans/ - The reader is asked to try various interesting memory exercises.

https://www.jefftk.com/p/how-to-make-housing-cheaper - 9 ways to make housing cheaper.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/owb/straw_hufflepuffs_and_lone_heroes/ - Should Harry have joined Hufflepuff in HPMOR? Harry had reasons to be a lone hero, do you?

http://lesswrong.com/lw/owa/lesswrong_analytics_february_2009_to_january_2017/ - Activity graphs of lesswrong over time, which posts had the most views, links to source code and further reading.

https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/help-us-find-your-blog-and-others/ - Zvi will read a post from your blog and consider adding you to his RSS feed.

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/04/11/book-post-for-march/ - Books on parenting.

https://boardgamesandrationality.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/first-blog-post/ - Dealing With Secret Information in boardgames and real life.

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2017/04/mormon-transhumanists.html - The relationship between religious community and technological change. Long for Overcoming Bias.

https://putanumonit.com/2017/04/15/bad-religion/ - "Rationality is a really unsatisfactory religion. But it’s a great life hack."

https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/escalator-action/ - Should we walk on elevator?

https://putanumonit.com/2017/04/21/book-review-too-like-the-lightning/ - The world of Jacob's dreams, thought on AI, a book review.

**EA**

http://effective-altruism.com/ea/19y/understanding_charity_evaluation/ - A detailed breakdown of how charity evaluation works in practice. Openly somewhat speculative.

http://blog.givewell.org/2017/05/11/update-on-our-views-on-cataract-surgery/ - previously Givewell had unsuccessfully tried to find recommendable cataract surgery charities. The biggest issues were “room for funding” and “lack of high quality monitoring data”. However they believe that cataract surgery is a promising intervention and they are doing more analysis.

https://80000hours.org/2017/05/how-much-do-hedge-fund-traders-earn/ - Detailed report on career trajectories and earnings. "We found that junior traders typically earn $300k – $3m per year, and it’s possible to reach these roles in 4 – 8 years."

https://www.givedirectly.org/blog-post?id=7612753271623522521 - 8 News links about GiveDirectly, Basic Income and cash transfer.

https://80000hours.org/2017/05/most-people-report-believing-its-incredibly-cheap-to-save-lives-in-the-developing-world/ - Details of a study on how Much Americans think it costs to save a life. Discussion of why people gave such optimistic answers. "It turns out that most Americans believe a child can be prevented from dying of preventable diseases for very little – less than $100."

https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/Blog/ID/1355/Are-Giving-Games-a-Better-Way-to-Teach-Philanthropy - Literature review on "philanthropy games". Covers both traditional student philanthropy courses and the much shorter "giving game".

https://www.givedirectly.org/blog-post?id=8255610968755843534 - Links to news stories about Effective Altruism

http://benjaminrosshoffman.com/an-openai-board-seat-is-surprisingly-expensive/ - " In exchange for a board seat, the Open Philanthropy Project is aligning itself socially with OpenAI, by taking the position of a material supporter of the project."

https://www.givedirectly.org/blog-post?id=5010525406506746433 - Links to News Articles about Give Directly, Basic Income and Cash Transfer.

https://www.givedirectly.org/blog-post?id=121797500310578692 - Report on a program to give cash to coffee farmers in eastern Uganda.

http://effective-altruism.com/ea/19d/update_on_effective_altruism_funds/ - Details from the first round of funding, community feedback, Mistakes and Updates.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ox4/effective_altruism_is_selfrecommending/ - Open Philanthropy project has a closed validation loop. A detailed timeline of GiveWell/Open-Philanthropy is given and many untested assumptions are pointed out. A conceptual connection is made to confidence games.

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/oxd/the_2017_effective_altruism_survey_please_take/ - Take the survey :)

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2017/04/career-of-professor-alan-fenwick/ - Retrospective on the career of the director of the Schistosomiasis Institute.

http://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/new-report-early-field-growth - The history of attempts to grow new fields of research or advocacy.

https://www.givedirectly.org/blog-post?id=4406309858976986548 - news links about GiveDirectly, Basic Income and Cash Transfers

https://intelligence.org/2017/04/30/2017-updates-and-strategy/ - Outreach, expansion, detailed research plan, state of the AI-risk community.

http://blog.givewell.org/2017/05/04/why-givewell-is-partnering-with-idinsight/ - IDinsight is an international NGO that aims to help its clients develop and use rigorous evidence to improve social impact. Summary, Background, goals, initial plans.

https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/Blog/ID/1354/A-Shift-in-Priorities-at-the-Giving-Game-Project - Finding sustainable funding, Providing measurable outcomes, improving follow ups with participants.

https://80000hours.org/2017/05/most-people-report-believing-its-incredibly-cheap-to-save-lives-in-the-developing-world/ - Details of a study on how Much Americans think it costs to save a life. Discussion of why people gave such optimistic answers. "It turns out that most Americans believe a child can be prevented from dying of preventable diseases for very little – less than $100."

https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/Blog/ID/1355/Are-Giving-Games-a-Better-Way-to-Teach-Philanthropy - Literature review on "philanthropy games". Covers both traditional student philanthropy courses and the much shorter "giving game".

http://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/why-are-us-corporate-cage-free-campaigns-succeeding - The article contains a timeline of cagefree reform. Some background reasons given are: Undercover investigations, College engagement, Corporate engagement, Ballot measures, Gestation crate pledges, European precedent.

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2017/04/a-successor-to-the-giving-what-we-can-trust/ - The Giving What we Can Trust has joined with the "Effective Altruism Funds" (run by the Center for Effective Altruism).

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/oyf/bad_intent_is_a_behavior_not_a_feeling/ - Response to Nate Soares, application to EA. "If you try to control others’ actions, and don’t limit yourself to doing that by honestly informing them, then you’ll end up with a strategy that distorts the truth, whether or not you meant to."

**Ai_risk**

http://effective-altruism.com/ea/19c/intro_to_caring_about_ai_alignment_as_an_ea_cause/ - By Nate Soares. A modified transcript of the talk he gave at Google on the problem of Ai Alignment.

http://lukemuehlhauser.com/monkey-classification-errors/ , http://lukemuehlhauser.com/adversarial-examples-for-pigeons/ - Adversarial examples for monkeys and pigeons respectively.

https://intelligence.org/2017/05/10/may-2017-newsletter/ - Research updates, MIRI hiring, General news links about AI

https://intelligence.org/2017/04/12/ensuring/ - Nate Soares gives a talk at Google about "Ensuring smarter-than-human intelligence has a positive outcome". An outline of the talk is included.

https://intelligence.org/2017/04/07/decisions-are-for-making-bad-outcomes-inconsistent/ - An extended discussion of Soares's latest paper "Cheating Death in Damascus".

**Research**

https://everythingstudies.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/the-eurovision-song-contest-taste-landscape/ - Analysis of Voting patterns in the Eurovision Contest. Alliances and voting Blocs are analyzed in depth.

https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/do-pineal-gland-extracts-promote-longevity-well-maybe/ - Analysis of hormonal systems and their effect on metabolism and longevity.

https://acesounderglass.com/2017/05/11/an-opportunity-to-throw-money-at-the-problem-of-medical-science/ - Help crowdfund a randomized controlled trial. A promising Sepsis treatment needs a RCT but the method is very cheap and unpatentable. So there is no financial incentive for a company to fund the study.

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/towards-a-general-factor-of-consumption/ - Factor Analysis leads to a general factor of consumption. Discussion of the data and analysis of the model. Very thorough.

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/disposable-income-also-explains-us-health-expenditures-quite-well/ - Long Article, lots of graphs. "I argued consumption, specifically Actual Individual Consumption, is an exceptionally strong predictor of national health expenditures (NHE) and largely explains high US health expenditures.  I found AIC to be a much more robust predictor of NHE than GDP... I think it useful to also demonstrate these patterns as it relates to household disposable income"

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/some-useful-data-on-the-dispersion-characteristics-of-us-health-expenditures/ - US Health spending is highly concentrated in a small fraction of the population. Is this true for other countries?

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/on-popular-health-utilization-metrics/ - An extremely graph dense article responding to a widely cited paper claiming that "high utilization cannot explain high US health expenditures."

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/health-consumption-and-household-disposable-income-outside-of-the-oecd/ - Another part in the series on healthcare expenses. Extending the analysis to non-OECD countries. Lots of graphs.

https://randomcriticalanalysis.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/towards-a-general-factor-of-consumption/ - Factor Analysis leads to a general factor of consumption. Discussion of the data and analysis of the model. Very thorough.

https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/parenting-and-heritability-overview/ - Detailed literature review on heritability and what parenting can affect. A significant number of references are included.

https://nintil.com/2017/04/23/links-7/ - Psychology, Economics, Philosophy, AI

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ox8/unstaging_developmental_psychology/ - A mathematical model of stages of psychological development. The linked technical paper is very impressive. Starting from an abstract theory the authors managed to create a psychological theory that was concrete enough to apply in practice.

**Math and CS**

http://andrewgelman.com/2017/05/10/everybody-lies-seth-stevens-davidowitz/ - A fairly positive review of Seth's book on learning from data.

http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2017/adventures-in-jit-compilation-part-4-in-python/ - Writing a JIT compiler in Python. Discusses both using native python code and the PeachPy library. Performance consideration are explicitly not discussed.

http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2017/book-review-essentials-of-programming-languages-by-d-friedman-and-m-wand/ - Short review. "This book is a detailed overview of some fundamental ideas in the design of programming languages. It teaches by presenting toy languages that demonstrate these ideas, with a full interpreter for every language"

http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2017/adventures-in-jit-compilation-part-3-llvm/ - LLVM can dramatically speed up straightforward source code.

http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3221 - Machine Learning, Quantum Mechanics, Google Calendar

**Politics and Economics**

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/ricardo-reis-defends-macro_13.html - Macro is defended from a number of common criticisms. A large number of modern papers are cited (including 8 job market papers). Some addressed criticisms include: Macro relies on representative agents, Macro ignores inequality, Macro ignores finance and Macro ignores data and focuses mainly on theory.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/economic_system.html - What are the fundamental questions an economic system must answer?

http://andrewgelman.com/2017/04/18/reputational-incentives-post-publication-review-two-partial-solutions-misinformation-problem/ - Gelman gives a list of important erroneous analysis in the news and scientific journals. He then considers if negative reputational incentives or post-publication peer review will solve the problem.

https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/how-much-work-is-real/ - What fraction of jobs are genuinely productive?

https://hivewired.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/yes-this-is-a-hill-worth-dying-on/ - The Nazis were human too. Even if a hill is worth dying on its probably not worth killing for. Discussion of good universal norms. [Culture War]

https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/ - Literature Analysis on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Extremely thorough.

https://www.gwern.net/newsletter/2017/04 - A Month's worth of links. Ai, Recent evolution, heritability and other topics.

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/the-cluster-structure-of-genderspace/ - For many traits the bell curves for men and women are quite close. Visualizations of Cohen's D. Discussion of trans specific medical interventions.

https://www.jefftk.com/p/replace-infrastructure-wholesale - Can you just dig up a city and replace all the infrastructure in a week?

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/04/19/deradicalizing-the-romanceless/ - Ozy discusses the problem of (male) involuntarily celibacy.

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-siren-song-of-homogeneity.html - The alt-right is about racial homogeneity. Smith Reviews the data studying whether a homogeneous society increases trust and social capital. Smith discusses the Japanese culture and his time in Japan. Smith considers the arbitrariness of racial categories despite admitting that race has a biological reality. Smith flips around some alt right slogans. [Extreme high quality engagement with opposing ideas. Culture War]

https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/united-we-blame/ - A list of articles about United, Zvi's thoughts on United, general ideas about airlines.

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/why-101-model-doesnt-work-for-labor.html - Noah Smith gives many reasons why the simple supply/demand model can't work for labor economics.

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/concerning-archive-of-our-own/ - Ozy defends the moderation policy of the fanction archive A03. [Culture War]

https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/fantasies-are-okay/ - When are fantasies ok? What about sexual fantasies? [Culture War]

https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/on-drama/ - Ritual, The Psychology of Adolf Hitler, the dangerous emotion of High Drama, The Rite of Spring.

https://qualiacomputing.com/2017/04/26/psychedelic-science-2017-take-aways-impressions-and-whats-next/ - Notes on the 2017 Psychedelic Science conference.

**Amusement**

http://kajsotala.fi/2017/04/fixing-the-4x-end-game-boringness-by-simulating-legibility/ - "4X games (e.g. Civilization, Master of Orion) have a well-known problem where, once you get sufficiently far ahead, you’ve basically already won and the game stops being very interesting."

https://putanumonit.com/2017/05/12/dark-fiction/ - Jacob does some Kabbalahistic Analysis on the Story of Jacob, Unsong Style.

https://protokol2020.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/several-big-numbers-to-sort/ - 12 Amusing definitions of big numbers.

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/183 - The Life of Francis

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/181 - A Presocratic Get Together.

https://protokol2020.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/problem-with-perspective/ - A 3D geometry problem.

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/184 - Wittgenstein in the Great War(edited)

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/182 - Captain Metaphysics and the Postmodern Peril

**Adjacent**

https://medium.com/@freddiedeboer/conservatives-are-wrong-about-everything-except-predicting-their-own-place-in-the-culture-e5c036fdcdc5 - Conservatives correctly predicted the effects of gay acceptance and no fault divorce. They have also been proven correct about liberal bias in academia and the media. [Culture War]

https://medium.com/@freddiedeboer/franchises-that-are-appropriate-for-children-are-inherently-limited-in-scope-8170e76a16e2 - Superhero movies have an intended audience that includes children. This drastically limits what techniques they can use and themes they can explore. Freddie goes into the details.

https://fredrikdeboer.com/2017/05/11/study-of-the-week-rebutting-academically-adrift-with-its-own-mechanism/ - Freddie wrote his dissertation on the College Learning Assessment, the primary source in "Academically Adrift".

https://medium.com/@freddiedeboer/politics-as-politics-12ab43429e64 - Politics as “group affiliation” vs politics as politics. Annoying atheists aren’t as bad as fundamentalist Christians even if more annoying atheists exist in educated leftwing spaces. Freddie’s clash with the identitarian left despite huge agreement on the object level. Freddie is a socialist not a liberal. [Culture War]

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/05/09/priest-guru-nerd-king/ - Facebook, Governance, Doctrine, Strategy, Tactics and Operations. Fairly short post for Ribbonfarm.

https://fredrikdeboer.com/2017/05/09/lets-take-a-deep-dive-into-that-times-article-on-school-choice/ - A critique of the problems in the Time's well cited article on school choice. Points out issues with selection bias, lack of theory and the fact that "not everyone can be average".

https://fredrikdeboer.com/2017/05/09/lets-take-a-deep-dive-into-that-times-article-on-school-choice/ - A critique of the problems in the Time's well cited article on school choice. Points out issues with selection bias, lack of theory and the fact that "not everyone can be average".

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/05/conversation-garry-kasparov.html - "We talked about AI, his new book Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins, why he has become more optimistic, how education will have to adjust to smart software, Russian history and Putin, his favorites in Russian and American literature, Tarkovsky..."

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/iq_with_conscie.html - "My fellow IQ realists are, on average, a scary bunch.  People who vocally defend the power of IQ are vastly more likely than normal people to advocate extreme human rights violations." There are interesting comments here: https://redd.it/6697sh .

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/iq_with_conscie_1.html - Short follow up to the above article.(edited)

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/04/what-would-people-do-if-they-had-superpowers.html - Link to a paper showing 94% of people said they would use superpowers selfishly.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html - Elon Musk Wants to Build a wizard hat for the brain. Lots of details on the science behind Neuralink.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/04/dont-people-care-economic-inequality.html - Most Americans don’t mind inequality nearly as much as pundits and academics suggest.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/04/two-rationality-tests.html - What would you ask to determine if someone is rational? What would Tyler ask?(edited)

http://tim.blog/2017/05/04/exploring-smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss-dr-rhonda-patrick/ - “Avoiding all stress isn’t the answer to fighting aging; it’s about building resiliency to environmental stress.”

http://wakingup.libsyn.com/what-should-we-eat - "Sam Harris speaks with Gary Taubes about his career as a science journalist, the difficulty of studying nutrition and public health scientifically, the growing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the role of hormones in weight gain, the controversies surrounding his work, and other topics."(edited)

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/05/jennifer_pahlka.html - Code for America. Bringing technology into the government sector.

http://heterodoxacademy.org/resources/viewpoint-diversity-experience/ - A six step process to appreciating viewpoint diversity. I am not sure this site will be the most useful to rationalists , on the object level, but its interesting to see what Haidt came up with.

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/04/elizabeth_pape.html - Elizabeth Pape on Manufacturing and Selling Women's Clothing and Elizabeth Suzann(edited)

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/04/25/there-are-no-guarantees/ - Avoid Contracts. Don't work another year "just in case".

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/04/saturday-assorted-links-109.html - Assorted Links on politics, Derrida, Shaolin Monks.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/earth_20.html - Bryan Caplan was a guest on freakanomics Radio. The topic was  "Earth 2.0: Is Income Inequality Inevitable?".

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/04/18/entrepreneurship-is-metaphysical-labor/ - Metaphysics as Intellectual Ergonomics. Entrepreneurship is Applied Metaphysics.

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/04/13/idiots-scaring-themselves-in-the-dark/ - Getting Lost. "The uncanny. This is the emotion of eeriness, spookiness, creepiness"

**Podcast**

http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-182-spencer-greenberg-on-how-online-research-can-be-faste.html - Podcast. Spencer Greenberg on "How online research can be faster, better, and more useful".

https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/patrick-collison-stripe-podcast-tyler-cowen-books-3e43cfe42d10 - Patrick Collison, co founder of Stripe, interviews Tyler.

http://tim.blog/2017/04/11/cory-booker/ - Podcast with US Senator Cory Booker. "Street Fights, 10-Day Hunger Strikes, and Creative Problem-Solving"

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/the_undermotiva_1.html - Two Case studies on libertarians who changed their views for bad reasons.(edited)

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/death-sex-and-moneys-anna-sale-on-bringing-empathy-to-politics-50101701 - Interview with the host of the WNYC podcast Death, Sex, and Money.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/05/econtalk-podcast-russ-roberts-complacent-class.html - "Cowen argues that the United States has become complacent and the result is a loss of dynamism in the economy and in American life, generally. Cowen provides a rich mix of data, speculation, and creativity in support of his claims."

http://tim.blog/2017/04/16/marie-kondo/ - Podcast. "Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and entrepreneur."

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/04/rana_foroohar_o.html - Podcast. Rana Foroohar on the Financial Sector and Makers and Takers

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/cal-newport-on-doing-deep-work-and-escaping-social-media-49878016 - Cal Newport on doing Deep Work and escaping social media.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/forbidden-knowledge - Podcast with Charles Murray. Controversy over The Bell Curve, the validity and significance of IQ as a measure of intelligence, the problem of social stratification, the rise of Trump. [culture war](edited)

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/elizabeth-warren-on-what-barack-obama-got-wrong-49949167 - Ezra Klein Podcast with Elizabeth Warren.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/04/stubborn-attachments-podcast-ft-alphaville.html - Pocast with Tyler Cowen on Stubborn Attachments. "I outline a true and objectively valid case for a free and prosperous society, and consider the importance of economic growth for political philosophy, how and why the political spectrum should be reconfigured, how we should think about existential risk, what is right and wrong in Parfit and Nozick and Singer and effective altruism, how to get around the Arrow Impossibility Theorem, to what extent individual rights can be absolute, how much to discount the future, when redistribution is justified, whether we must be agnostic about the distant future, and most of all why we need to “think big.”"

http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=32435 - Notes on three podcasts. Faster RGDP growth, Monetary Policy, Tyler Cowen's philosophical views.(edited)

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/vc-bill-gurley-on-transforming-health-care-50030526 - A conversation about which healthcare systems are possible in the USA and the future of Obamacare.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/campus-politics-and-the-administrative-mind - The nature of College Bureaucracy. Focuses on protests and Title 9. [Culture war]

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/cory-booker-returns-live-to-talk-trust-trump-and-basic-incomes-50054271 - "Booker and I dig into America’s crisis of trust. Faith in both political figures and political institutions has plummeted in recent decades, and the product is, among other things, Trump’s presidency. So what does Booker think can be done about it?"

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/cal-newport-on-doing-deep-work-and-escaping-social-media-49878016 - Cal Newport on doing Deep Work and escaping social media.

http://tim.blog/2017/04/22/dorian-yates/ - Bodybuilding Champion. High Intensity Training, Injury Prevention, and Building Maximum Muscle.

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