Scott Alexander on how advice is usually given by defective people
The current scientific consensus isn't truth. It's a temporary agreement among specialists working within shared assumptions. Scientific dogma that excludes uncomfortable or challenging ideas isn't science at all—it's intellectual cowardice. True scientific inquiry requires us to investigate even those phenomena that challenge our fundamental... See more
One of my heuristics for growth is to seek out the magicians, and find the magic. Often without noticing, your progress in aspects of life or all of it unconsciously becomes linear. You made a certain amount of money last year, so you aim to make some ‘reasonable’ proportion more this year. But you are largely using the same tools to get 2x as you... See more
Wow, what a beautiful framing. Some people feel called to build families, others feel called to build ideas. They're not mutually exclusive, of course, but they're both ways to spread parts of ourselves:
"My religious cousin, who is the same age as I am, she has six kids. And I have six books. Maybe there is no great... See more