Scott Alexander

Scott Alexander. Effective Altruism Forum account.

ACX launched in early 2021.2021 - its name is a perfect anagram of "Scott Alexander". It is hosted on Substack, an online publishing platform. Although readers can opt for a paid subscription, Alexander notes that "[a]ll important ACX content is and always will be free."^[9]

Scott Alexander (born 1984) is the pseudonym of ana pseudonymous American psychiatrist and blogger. Alexander is the author of the blogs Slate Star Codex (SSC) and its successor Astral Codex Ten (ACX), and a contributor—originally under the user name Yvain—to the community blog LessWrong.

Alexander studied philosophy as an undergraduate, and in 2012 graduated from University College Cork School of Medicine, Ireland. He did his residency at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Michigan, United States. He specializes in treatment-resistant depression and his areas of interest within psychiatry include chronotherapy, behavioral genetics, and the ontology of psychiatric disorders. One of Alexander's blog posts^[1] was subsequently revised and published in the academic journal Pharmacology Research & PerspectivesPerspectives. (Alexander 2015; Siskind et al 2017).^[2]

Before establishing his own practice, Lorien Psychiatry, Alexander worked at LifeStance Health (formerly Pacific Coast Psychiatric Associates) and served as Senior Health Researcher of MetaMed, a medical consulting company (MetaMed 2013; Siskind 2018; WebMD Care 2021).company.^[3][4][5] Since 2021, Alexander has been on the advisor board of the Qualia Research Institute.

SSC was launched in early 2013. Except for a missing letter "n", the name is a perfect anagram of Alexander's name. (The blog's header displayed an image of the missing letter "to restore cosmic balance" (Alexander 2013). ^[6])  SSC was shut down in mid-2020, after a New York Times journalist ignored Alexander's request not to reveal his true identity (Hoonhout 2020).identity.^[7][8]

ACX launched in early 2021. It is hosted on Substack, an online publishing platform. Although readers can opt for a paid subscription, Alexander notes that "[a]ll important ACX content is and always will be free." (Alexander 2021a)^[9]

In November 2021, Alexander announced ACX Grants, an initiative to award a total of $250,000 in small grants to promising projects, with a minimum of paperwork (Alexander 2021c).paperwork.^[10] The budget grew to $1.3 million after a number ofseveral outside funders contributed to the initiative. Alexander announced the results in late December (Alexander 2021d).December. Out of a total 656 submissions, 38 projects werereceived funded; the median grant was $40,000.^[11]

Alexander's writings, particularly his SSC posts and some of his earlier LessWrong posts, have been highly influential within the rationality and effective altruism communities. He has received praise from a number ofmany prominent figures, including Bryan Caplan,^[12] Tyler Cowen,^[13] Steven Pinker,^[14] and others (Caplan 2014; Graham 2017; Cowen 2018; Aaronson 2020; Friedman 2020; Haider 2020; Pinker 2021).others.^{[15][16][17][18]}

BibliographyFurther reading

Aaronson, Scott (2020) Pseudonymity as a trivial concession to genius, Shtetl-Optimized, June 23.

Alexander, Scott (2013) You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you here today, Slate Star Codex, February 12.

Alexander, Scott (2015) Prescriptions, paradoxes, and perversities, Slate Star Codex, April 30.

Alexander, Scott (2021a) What is Astral Codex Ten?, Astral Codex Ten.

Alexander, Scott (2021b) Still alive, Astral Codex Ten, January 21.

Alexander, Scott (2021c) Apply for an ACX Grant, Astral Codex...

In November 2021, Alexander announced ACX Grants, an initiative to award a total of $250,000 in small grants to promising projects, with a minimum of paperwork (Alexander 2021c). The budget grew to $1.3 million after a number of outside funders contributed to the initiative. Alexander announced the results in late December (Alexander 2021d). Out of a total 656 submissions, 38 projects were funded; the median grant was $40,000.

Alexander, Scott (2021d) ACX Grants results, Astral Codex Ten, December 28.

Scott Alexander (born 1984) is the pseudonym of an American psychiatrist and blogger. Alexander is the author of the blogs Slate Star Codex (SSC) and its successor Astral Codex Ten (ACX), and a former contributor—originally under the user name Yvain—to the community blog LessWrong.

SSC was launched in early 2013. Except for a missing letter "n", the name is a perfect anagram of Alexander's name. (The blog's header displayed an image of the missing letter "to restore cosmic balance" (Alexander 2013). )  SSC was shut down in mid-2020, after a New York Times journalist ignored Alexander's request not to reveal his true identity.identity (Hoonhout 2020).

Hoonhout, Tobias (2020) What an NYT reporter’s doxing threat says about the paper’s ‘standards’, National Review, June 23.

SSC was launched in early 2013. Except for a missing letter 'n'"n", the name is a perfect anagram of Alexander's name. (The blog's header displayed an image of the missing letter "to restore cosmic balance" (Alexander 2013). ).)  SSC was shut down in mid-2020, after a New York Times journalist ignored Alexander's request not to reveal his true identity.

Scott Alexander (born 1984) is the pseudonym of an American psychiatrist and blogger. Alexander is the author of the blog blogs Slate Star Codex (SSC) and its successor Astral Codex Ten (ACX), and a former contributor—under the user name Yvain—to the community blog LessWrong.

Blogging career

SSC was launched in early 2013. Except for a missing letter 'n', the name is a perfect anagram of Alexander's name. (The blog's header displayed an image of the missing letter "to restore cosmic balance" (Alexander 2013). ).SSC was shut down in mid-2020, after a New York Times journalist ignored Alexander's request not to reveal his true identity.

ACX launched in early 2021. It is hosted on Substack, an online publishing platform. Although readers can opt for a paid subscription, Alexander notes that "[a]ll important ACX content is and always will be free." (Alexander 2021a)

In November 2021, Alexander announced ACX Grants, an initiative to award a total of $250,000 in small grants to promising projects, with a minimum of paperwork (Alexander 2021c). 

Alexander's writingswritings, particularly his SSC posts and some of his earlier LessWrong posts, have been highly influential within the rationality and effective altruism communities. He has received praise from a number of prominent figures, including Bryan Caplan, Tyler Cowen, David Friedman, Paul Graham, Steven Pinker, and others (Caplan 2014; Graham 2017; Cowen 2018; Aaronson 2020; Friedman 2020; Haider 2020; Pinker 2021).

Alexander, Scott (2013) You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you here today, Slate Star Codex, February 12.

Alexander, Scott (2015) Prescriptions, paradoxes, and perversities, Slate Star Codex, April 30.

Alexander, Scott (2021a) What is Astral Codex Ten?, Astral Codex Ten.

Alexander, Scott (2021b) Still alive, Astral Codex Ten, January 21.

Alexander, Scott (2021c) Apply for an ACX Grant, Astral Codex Ten, November 11.

Bensinger, Rob (2015) The Library of Scott Alexandria, LessWrong, September 13.
A selection of Alexander's writings from SSC, LessWrong, and LiveJournal.

Crawford, Jason (2021) Who is Scott Alexander and what is he about?, Jason Crawford’s Blog, February 13.
 A selection of Alexander's writings from SSC.

Haider, Sarah (2020) Scott Alexander’s Slate Star Codex is the best blog on the internet, Twitter, June 25.

Astral Codex Ten. Alexander's current blog.

Slate Star Codex. Alexander's previous blog.

LiveJournal blog. A complete archive of Alexander's early blog.

Since 20212021, Alexander has been on the advisor board of the Qualia Research Institute.

Alexander's writings have been highly influential within the rationality and effective altruism communities. He has received praise from a number of prominent figures, including Steven Pinker, Bryan Caplan, Tyler Cowen, David Friedman, Paul Graham,Steven Pinker, and others (Caplan 2014; Graham 2017; Cowen 2018; Aaronson 2020; Friedman 2020; Pinker 2021).