psychology
+13
Jan 25, 2026
•
2 min read
You can probably just tell the truth much more often than you think
On white lies, tactful honesty, and why most people’s intuitions here are (understandably) incorrect
writing
+11
Jan 5, 2026
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1 min read
If you're not yet using AI to get feedback on your human writing, you should start
Especially considering a humanities professor at Dartmouth once admitted to me that he and most of his colleagues "honestly just kind of skim [the essays students submit for their courses]".
openAI o3
+20
Dec 22, 2024
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7 min read
Rebutting Sean Carroll on LLMs and AGI
New evidence from the past week (e.g. Anthropic's "alignment faking" paper + OpenAI's new o3 model scoring 87% on ARC-AGI) gave me the courage to speak truth to podcast.
debates
+7
Dec 14, 2024
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4 min read
How (and why) to get MDMA-assisted therapy approved by the FDA
Recommendations for Lykos Therapeutics (formerly MAPS), and arguments for the Food and Drug Administration.
debates
+9
Mar 23, 2024
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6 min read
Critical thinking is not an illusion
A writer recently argued that what we call "critical thinking" is actually just knowing more facts about a topic. I think he is deeply confused about this, and not thinking critically.
honesty
+5
Mar 19, 2024
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7 min read
Stop lying to children about Santa Claus
An argument for instilling honesty and critical thinking during the holidays, rather than deception, conformity, and magical thinking. Also, some AI-written counterarguments and my responses to them.
