19
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

In his early blog posts, Scott Alexander talked about how he was not leaping through higher education in a single bound (he went overseas for medical school, and failed to get medical residency on his first try, ending up in a small Midwestern city). So I wonder why he is sure that in a world with fewer university degrees, he would have gotten as far as he did (medical schools in the USA used to limit admissions from people of his ethnicity).

Likewise with immigration restrictions: he knows that they often blocked Jews, many Europeans. and East Asians not just brown people right?

[-] Architeuthis@awful.systems 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

In his early blog posts, Scott Alexander talked about how he was not leaping through higher education in a single bound

He starts his recent article on AI psychosis by mixing up psychosis with schizophrenia (he calls psychosis a biological disease), so that tracks.

Other than that, I think it's ok in principle to be ideologically opposed to something even if you and yours happened to benefit from it. Of course, it immediately becomes iffy if it's a mechanism for social mobility that you don't plan on replacing, since in that case you are basically advocating for pulling up the ladder behind you.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

He starts his recent article on AI psychosis by mixing up psychosis with schizophrenia (he calls psychosis a biological disease), so that tracks.

wait, this man is a psychiatrist? or is that another scott

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yes, Scott Alexander is an unusual rationalist blogger who had a credentialed professional career as a psychiatrist. After Substack became his patron, he opened his own medical practice, but the website has said "not accepting new patients at this time" since 2022. So he seems to live off gifts from fellow travelers with a side hustle in psychiatry.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago

i'll risk a guess that running ritalin-dispenser-as-a-service type business catering to overly confident rationalists might get him a pretty penny

[-] bigfondue@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Reading his adderall article I couldn't help but think that this guy is handing scripts to everyone in the Bay Area

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 5 points 1 day ago

That is very possible although I would guess that was earlier in his career given that he does not advertise as treating ADHD or similar. He has two small children, a writing job, and side projects like writing end-of-the-world stories for AI 2027. His practice has a name drawn from Lord of the Rings like other things in the Thielsphere.

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 5 points 1 day ago

His practice has a name drawn from Lord of the Rings like other things in the Thielsphere.

fuckin lol, I had not spotted this, what a tell

[-] swlabr@awful.systems 3 points 1 day ago

Fatty Lumpkin's Headshrinking and Sundry?

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 3 points 1 day ago

he had a blogpost about how amphetamines risks are overstated and it's fine actually for more people than usually prescribed https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

this post was the starting pistol for rationalists taking as much adderall as they could get down their necks. Scott is not telling you that adderall will make you a financial genius and super effective, you understand. Except Kelsey Piper, who he literally says this about by name.

This is the post that made it a rationalist commonplace that adderall makes anyone a super effective financial genius.

it's what got TPOT losers "microdosing" street meth. Of course the same TPOT confused meth and MDMA.

Somehow, Scott still has a license.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago

ye, who are we to doubt superpredictors like them

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Making general statements about the risks and benefits of medication is different from proscribing them. The George K. Lerner, MD who was FTX's resident pill-pusher seems to be based in San Francisco and wants potential patients to know that inter alia "Dr. Lerner specializes in the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD) in adults. He has extensive experience in treating adults who have been successful in their professional endeavors but have found attention deficit symptoms to be an impediment to achieving their full potential." (nudge nudge)

His website does not mention a connection with the hospital in Michigan which is the only one where I know Alexander worked. I would like to know more about possible connections other than their mutual connections to the FTX gang. I have not done shoe-leather reporting in SoCal and almost all of the things we know about Alexander are things he posted voluntarily under his main handle.

Lerner's site shows what Alexander's site might look like if he were focused on psychiatry rather than writing and peddling racist lies.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago

scott also has an explainer article for stimulants for ADHD where he tells that:

[...] This matches my experience. I’ve worked with a few hundred Adderall patients

so maybe he doesn't have to advertise lot, or at all https://lorienpsych.com/2020/10/30/adderall/

this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
19 points (100.0% liked)

SneerClub

1184 readers
14 users here now

Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.

AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)

This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.

[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]

See our twin at Reddit

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS