Slate Star Codex

Last updated

Slate Star Codex
SlateStarCodex screenshot - June 22, 2020.png
Screenshot of the Slate Star Codex home page prior to deletion
Type of site
Blog
Available inEnglish
Successor(s)Astral Codex Ten
Created byScott Alexander
URL www.slatestarcodex.com [formerly]
astralcodexten.substack.com [currently]
LaunchedFebruary 12, 2013;11 years ago (2013-02-12)
Current statusActive (as Astral Codex Ten, Slate Star Codex is online but inactive)

Astral Codex Ten (ACX), formerly Slate Star Codex (SSC), is a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog is written by Scott Alexander Siskind, [1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist, [2] under the pen name Scott Alexander.

Contents

Slate Star Codex was launched in 2013 and was discontinued on June 23, 2020. As of July 22,2020, the blog is partially back online, with the content restored but commenting disabled. The successor blog, Astral Codex Ten, [2] was launched on Substack on January 21, 2021.

Alexander also blogged at the rationalist community blog LessWrong , [3] and wrote a fiction book in blog format named Unsong. [4] A revised version of Unsong was published on May 24, 2024. [5] [6]

Notable posts

The New Yorker states that the volume of content Alexander has written on Slate Star Codex makes the blog difficult to summarize, with an e-book of all posts running over nine thousand pages in PDF form. [3] Many posts are book reviews (typically of books in the fields of social sciences or medicine) or reviews of a topic in the scientific literature. For example, the March 2020 blog post "Face Masks: Much More Than You Wanted To Know" analyzes available medical literature and comes to a conclusion that contrary to early guidance by the CDC, masks are likely an effective protection measure against COVID-19 for the general public under certain conditions. [3] [7] Some posts are prefaced with a note on their "epistemic status," an assessment of Alexander's confidence in the material to follow. [3]

Effective altruism

In 2017, Slate Star Codex ranked fourth on a survey conducted by Rethink Charity of how effective altruists first heard about effective altruism, after "personal contact", " LessWrong ", and "other books, articles and blog posts", and just above " 80,000 Hours ." [8] The blog discusses moral questions and dilemmas relevant to effective altruism, such as moral offsets (the proposition that good acts can cancel out bad acts), ethical treatment of animals, and trade-offs of pursuing systemic change for charities. [9]

Artificial intelligence

Alexander regularly wrote about advances in artificial intelligence and emphasized the importance of AI safety research. [10]

In the long essay "Meditations On Moloch", he analyzes game-theoretic scenarios of cooperation failure like the prisoner's dilemma and the tragedy of the commons that underlie many of humanity's problems and argues that AI risks should be considered in this context. [11]

Controversies and memes

In "The Toxoplasma of Rage", Alexander discusses how controversies spread in media and social networks. According to Alexander, memes that generate a lot of disagreement spread further, in part because they present an opportunity to members of different groups to send a strong signal of commitment to their cause. For example, he argues that PETA, with its controversial campaigns, is better known than other animal rights organizations such as Vegan Outreach because of this dynamic. [12] Another example of this cited by Alexander is the Rolling Stone article "A Rape on Campus". [13]

Shiri's scissor

In the short story "Sort By Controversial", Alexander introduces the term "Shiri's scissor" or "scissor statement" to describe a statement that has great destructive power because it generates wildly divergent interpretations that fuel conflict and tear people apart. The term has been used to describe controversial topics widely discussed in social media. [14]

Anti-reactionary FAQ

The 2013 post "The Anti-Reactionary FAQ" critiques the work and worldview of the neoreactionary movement, arguing against the work of Curtis Yarvin (whose views include a belief in natural racial hierarchies and a desire to restore feudalism). Alexander allowed neo-reactionaries to comment on posts and in "culture war" threads on the forum because he wanted to promote an open marketplace of ideas; Alexander engaged in extended dialogues with these users, including his thirty-thousand-word FAQ. [3] Alexander's essays on neoreaction have been cited by David Auerbach and Dylan Matthews as explanations of the movement. [15] [16]

Lizardman's Constant

In the 2013 post "Lizardman's Constant is 4%," Alexander coined the term "Lizardman's Constant," referring to the approximate percentage of responses to a poll, survey, or quiz that are not sincere. [17] The post was responding to a Public Policy Polling statement that "four percent of Americans believe lizardmen are running the Earth", which Alexander attributed to people giving a polling company an answer they did not really believe to be true, out of carelessness, politeness, anger, or amusement. [17]

Alexander suggested that polls should include a question with an absurd answer as one of the options, so anyone choosing that option could be weeded out as a troll. [18] [19]

Reception

The site was a primary venue of the rationalist community and also attracted wider audiences. [3] The New Statesman characterizes it as "a nexus for the rationalist community and others who seek to apply reason to debates about situations, ideas, and moral quandaries." [20] The New Yorker describes Alexander's fiction as "delightfully weird" and his arguments "often counterintuitive and brilliant". [3] Economist Tyler Cowen calls Scott Alexander "a thinker who is influential among other writers". [21]

The New York Times controversy

Alexander used his first and middle name alone for safety and privacy reasons, although he had previously published Slate Star Codex content academically under his real name. [2] In June 2020, he deleted all entries on Slate Star Codex, stating that a New York Times technology reporter intended to publish an article about the blog using his full name. Alexander said that the reporter told him that it was newspaper policy to use real names, [22] and he referred to it as doxing. [3] The New York Times responded: "We do not comment on what we may or may not publish in the future. But when we report on newsworthy or influential figures, our goal is always to give readers all the accurate and relevant information we can." [23] The Verge cited a source saying that at the time when Alexander deleted the blog, "not a word" of a story about SSC had been written. [24] The Poynter Institute's David Cohn interpreted this event as part of an ongoing clash between the tech and media industries, reflecting a shift from primarily economic conflicts to fundamental disagreements over values, ethics, and cultural norms. [25]

Prior to the article's publication, several commentators argued that the Times should not publish Alexander's name without good reason. Writing in National Review , Tobias Hoonhout said that the newspaper had applied its anonymity policy inconsistently. [22] The New Statesman 's Jasper Jackson wrote that it was "difficult to see how Scott Alexander's full name is so integral to the NYT's story that it justifies the damage it might do to him", but cautioned that such criticism was based solely on Alexander's own statements and that "before we make that call, it might be a good idea to have more than his word to go on." [20] As reported by The Daily Beast , the criticism by Alexander and his supporters that the paper was doxing him caused internal debate among Times' staff. [26]

Supporters of the site organized a petition against release of the author's name. The petition collected over six thousand signatures in its first few days, including psychologist Steven Pinker, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, economist Scott Sumner, computer scientist and blogger Scott Aaronson, and philosopher Peter Singer. [3]

According to New Statesman columnist Louise Perry, Scott Alexander wrote that he quit his job and took measures that made him comfortable with revealing his real name, [27] which he published on Astral Codex Ten. [1]

The New York Times published an article about the blog in February 2021, three weeks after Alexander had publicly revealed his name. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altruism</span> Principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others

Altruism is the principle and practice of concern for the well-being and/or happiness of other humans or animals largely independent of that person's opinion of or reaction to oneself. While objects of altruistic concern vary, it is an important moral value in many cultures and religions. It may be considered a synonym of selflessness, the opposite of self-centeredness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kara Swisher</span> American technology business journalist

Kara Anne Swisher is an American journalist. She has covered the business of the internet since 1994. As of 2023, Swisher was a contributing editor at New York Magazine, the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher, and the co-host of the podcast Pivot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charity Navigator</span> Charity assessment organization that evaluates charitable organizations in the U.S.

Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit's financial stability, adherence to best practices for both accountability and transparency, and results reporting. It is the largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities in the United States. It does not accept any advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dustin Moskovitz</span> American billionaire internet entrepreneur (born 1984)

Dustin Aaron Moskovitz is an American billionaire internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left Facebook to co-found Asana with Justin Rosenstein. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, on the basis of his then 2.34% share in Facebook. As of June 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$23 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Business Insider is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in Business Insider's parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the international publishing house Axel Springer. It operates several international editions, including one in the United Kingdom.

<i>LessWrong</i> Rationality-focused community blog

LessWrong is a community blog and forum focused on discussion of cognitive biases, philosophy, psychology, economics, rationality, and artificial intelligence, among other topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holden Karnofsky</span> American nonprofit executive

Holden Karnofsky is an American nonprofit executive. He is a co-founder and Director of AI Strategy of the research and grantmaking organization Open Philanthropy. Karnofsky co-founded the charity evaluator GiveWell with Elie Hassenfeld in 2007 and is vice chair of its board of directors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toby Ord</span> Australian philosopher (born 1979)

Toby David Godfrey Ord is an Australian philosopher. In 2009 he founded Giving What We Can, an international society whose members pledge to donate at least 10% of their income to effective charities, and is a key figure in the effective altruism movement, which promotes using reason and evidence to help the lives of others as much as possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doxing</span> Publication of the private details of individuals, often on the Internet

Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent. Historically, the term has been used to refer to both the aggregation of this information from public databases and social media websites, and the publication of previously private information obtained through criminal or otherwise fraudulent means.

Good Ventures is a private foundation and philanthropic organization in San Francisco, and the fifth largest foundation in Silicon Valley. It was co-founded by Cari Tuna, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and her husband Dustin Moskovitz, one of the co-founders of Facebook. Good Ventures adheres to principles of effective altruism and aims to spend most or all of its money before Moskovitz and Tuna die. Good Ventures does not have any full-time staff, and instead distributes grants according to recommendations from Open Philanthropy.

Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, who are sometimes called effective altruists, follow a variety of approaches proposed by the movement, such as donating to selected charities and choosing careers with the aim of maximizing positive impact. The movement has achieved significant popularity outside of academia, spurring the creation of university-based institutes, research centers, advisory organizations and charities, which, collectively, have donated several hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Biblical term Moloch has traditionally been understood as a Canaanite god to whom child sacrifice was offered. In post-classical rabbinical tradition, this supposed deity was associated with Greco-Roman reports of Carthaginian child sacrifice to the god Baal Hammon. In later Christian tradition, Moloch was often described as a demon. Moloch is depicted in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost as one of the greatest warriors of the rebel angels, vengeful and militant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">80,000 Hours</span> Non-profit organisation that conducts research on which jobs have most positive social impact

80,000 Hours is a London-based nonprofit organisation that conducts research on which careers have the largest positive social impact and provides career advice based on that research. It provides this advice on their website, YouTube channel and podcast, and through one-on-one advice sessions. The organisation is part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, affiliated with the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. The organisation's name refers to the typical amount of time someone spends working over a lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William MacAskill</span> Scottish philosopher and ethicist (born 1987)

William David MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and author, as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. He was a Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford, co-founded Giving What We Can, the Centre for Effective Altruism and 80,000 Hours, and is the author of Doing Good Better (2015) and What We Owe the Future (2022), and the co-author of Moral Uncertainty (2020).

<i>The Most Good You Can Do</i> 2015 book by Peter Singer

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically is a 2015 Yale University Press book by moral philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer describing and arguing for the ideas of effective altruism. As a follow-up to The Life You Can Save, which makes the moral argument for donating money to improve the lives of people in extreme poverty, the new book focuses on the broader question of how to do the most good.

Open Philanthropy is a research and grantmaking foundation that makes grants based on the principles of effective altruism. It was founded as a partnership between GiveWell and Good Ventures. Its current chief executive officer is Alexander Berger, and its main funders are Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz. Moskovitz says that their wealth, worth $16 billion, "belongs to the world. We intend not to have much when we die."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cari Tuna</span> American nonprofit businessperson

Cari Tuna is an American nonprofit businessperson. Formerly a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she co-founded and works for the organizations Open Philanthropy and Good Ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelsey Piper</span> American journalist and effective altruist

Kelsey Piper is an American journalist who is a staff writer at Vox, where she writes for the column Future Perfect, which covers a variety of topics from an effective altruism perspective. While attending Stanford University, she founded and ran the Stanford Effective Altruism student organization. Piper blogs at The Unit of Caring.

Unsong or variation, may refer to:

Scott Alexander may refer to:

References

  1. 1 2 Lyons, Kim (February 13, 2021). "Go read this New York Times report on SlateStarCodex and Silicon Valley tech leaders". The Verge . Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Metz, Cade (February 13, 2021). "Silicon Valley's Safe Space". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (July 9, 2020). "Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley's War Against the Media". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. Yudelson, Larry; Palmer, Joanne; Adler, Leah (January 3, 2017). "The great American kabbalistic novel?". Jewish Standard . Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  5. Alexander, Scott. "Unsong Available In Paperback". Astral Codex Ten. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  6. https://www.amazon.com/Unsong-Scott-Alexander/dp/B0D57BYS3Y
  7. Alexander, Scott (March 23, 2020). "Face Masks: Much More Than You Wanted To Know". Slate Star Codex. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020.
  8. Mulcahy, Anna; Barnett, Tee; Hurford, Peter (November 17, 2017). "EA Survey 2017 Series Part 8: How do People Get Into EA?". Rethink Charity. Archived from the original on April 29, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  9. Miller, James D. (2017). "Reflections on the Singularity Journey". In Callaghan, Victor; Miller, James; Yampolskiy, Roman; Armstrong, Stuart (eds.). The Technological Singularity. The Frontiers Collection. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 223–228. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-54033-6_13. ISBN   978-3-662-54031-2. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020.
  10. Steve Omohundro (January 16, 2018). "Costly Signaling". This idea is brilliant: lost, overlooked, and underappreciated scientific concepts everyone should know. Brockman, John, 1941- (First ed.). New York. ISBN   9780062698216. OCLC   1019711625.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. Lewis, Helen (November 26, 2015). "If activists want real change they must ditch the dying cat". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020.
  12. Auerbach, David (June 10, 2015). "When All It Takes to Be Booted From a Tech Conference Is Being a "Distraction," We Have a Problem". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020. If you're curious, the tireless Scott Alexander of Slate Star Codex has written extensive rebuttals of neoreactionary theory, which go to prove Brandolini's Law
  13. Matthews, Dylan (April 18, 2016). "The alt-right is more than warmed-over white supremacy. It's that, but way way weirder". Vox. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2020. Note that these empirical claims are, well, not true. Scott Alexander explains well here; his devil's advocate account of reactionary beliefs is also well worth your time.
  14. 1 2 Alexander, Scott (April 12, 2013). "Lizardman's Constant is 4%". Slate Star Codex. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021.
  15. Elledge, Jonn (June 7, 2021). "More people think the world is run by lizards than that the PM negotiated a very good Brexit deal". New Statesman. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  16. Hartman, Rachel (April 20, 2021). "Did 4% of Americans Really Drink Bleach Last Year?". Harvard Business Review. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
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  18. Cowen, Tyler (May 4, 2018). "Tyler Cowen: Holding up a mirror to intellectuals of the left". Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
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  20. Athey, Amber (June 23, 2020). "The death of the private citizen". Spectator USA . Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
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  24. Perry, Louise (February 24, 2021). "The Slate Star Codex saga proves a new blasphemy code is emerging among liberals". New Statesman . Archived from the original on February 24, 2021.