tldr:
A computation is a sequence of simple, well-defined steps that lead to the solution of a problem. The problem itself must be defined exactly and unambiguously, and each step in the computation that solves the problem must be described in very specific terms. (Conery, 2010)
Pretty interesting platform. Really digging it so far. It would nice to have a button that scrolls to the top of each thread though. I found myself scrolling and scrolling and scrolling until I got to the top.
Someone wrote a nice intro to Scott Alexanders Blogs with links to some recommended articles.
My personal favorite read from the past months is definitely the article on ivermectin. Its a hell of a ride and he was able to create a very well working (at least for me) metaphor that allowed me to imagine how the covid-denial people came to their conclusions.
Same guy (Scott Siskin) wrote slatestarcodex.com, which covers over a hundred writeups of a similar quality, going back to 2013. Lots of great stuff. I recommend checkimg the top posts on that blog, its the best content on the internet imo. I've read almost all of it.
He changed to Astralcodexten after the New York Times threatened to Doxx him (for "policy" reasons), which basically upended his entire life, since he had (and now still has, in a slighly altered form), a successful psychiatry practice. Brilliant guy.
I didn't know his name until you wrote it here (I specifically abstained from looking it up), so to me you're the part of that NYT doxxing crowd who "upended his entire life".
While he is still uses the pseudonym Scott Alexander, he has told his real name in Astral Codex Ten so I don't believe it's supposed to be a secret anymore.
Really like the aggregator blog! It would be pretty handy to also have a newsletter that will go into my inbox and reading app (Matter is an amazing reading app btw if anyone is searching for one)
