Part of me wants to embrace a sort of Marxist worse-is-better attitude. Why not let grade inflation spiral forever until we can eventually get rid of grades?
(Only part.)
(Only part.)
Going from 50%+ A's to something closer to 20% will be a hard adjustment for students but hopefully we can market it effectively so employers and graduate schools are aware. And hopefully other schools will feel pressure to follow suit so their grades contain signals as well.
February 7, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Part of me wants to embrace a sort of Marxist worse-is-better attitude. Why not let grade inflation spiral forever until we can eventually get rid of grades?
(Only part.)
(Only part.)
I tried to explain what's happening in that recent paper about the heritability of human lifespan: dynomight.net/lifespan/
February 6, 2026 at 12:58 PM
I tried to explain what's happening in that recent paper about the heritability of human lifespan: dynomight.net/lifespan/
no KYC for chocolate bars, for now
January 28, 2026 at 1:58 PM
no KYC for chocolate bars, for now
This isn't getting enough attention. The CBP proposes to exclusively accept US visa-waiver applications exclusively through a mobile app, shutting down the website. Meaning you cannot visit the US unless you use a phone controlled by one of two US companies? What?
January 26, 2026 at 8:23 PM
This isn't getting enough attention. The CBP proposes to exclusively accept US visa-waiver applications exclusively through a mobile app, shutting down the website. Meaning you cannot visit the US unless you use a phone controlled by one of two US companies? What?
Say you wanted to create a trash blog with low-effort few-paragraphs thoughts posted several times a week. (Like they used to do in the long-long ago.)
I think this is not:
- mastodon
- bluesky
- a "newsletter"
Is this format just lost in the mist of time?
I think this is not:
- mastodon
- bluesky
- a "newsletter"
Is this format just lost in the mist of time?
January 25, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Say you wanted to create a trash blog with low-effort few-paragraphs thoughts posted several times a week. (Like they used to do in the long-long ago.)
I think this is not:
- mastodon
- bluesky
- a "newsletter"
Is this format just lost in the mist of time?
I think this is not:
- mastodon
- bluesky
- a "newsletter"
Is this format just lost in the mist of time?
AI is sycophantic is it
January 25, 2026 at 4:11 PM
AI is sycophantic is it
Asked some AIs who wrote latest post:
Kimi K2: Dynomight
GLM 4.7: Nate Soares
Claude 4.5 Opus: Dynomight
DeepSeek Chat V3.2: Scott Alexander
Qwen 3: Dan Luu
GPT 5.2: Scott Alexander
Gemini 3: Dwarkesh Patel
Llama 4 Maverick: Scott Alexander
Grok 4: Scott Alexander
Mistral Large 3: Scott Alexander
Kimi K2: Dynomight
GLM 4.7: Nate Soares
Claude 4.5 Opus: Dynomight
DeepSeek Chat V3.2: Scott Alexander
Qwen 3: Dan Luu
GPT 5.2: Scott Alexander
Gemini 3: Dwarkesh Patel
Llama 4 Maverick: Scott Alexander
Grok 4: Scott Alexander
Mistral Large 3: Scott Alexander
January 22, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Asked some AIs who wrote latest post:
Kimi K2: Dynomight
GLM 4.7: Nate Soares
Claude 4.5 Opus: Dynomight
DeepSeek Chat V3.2: Scott Alexander
Qwen 3: Dan Luu
GPT 5.2: Scott Alexander
Gemini 3: Dwarkesh Patel
Llama 4 Maverick: Scott Alexander
Grok 4: Scott Alexander
Mistral Large 3: Scott Alexander
Kimi K2: Dynomight
GLM 4.7: Nate Soares
Claude 4.5 Opus: Dynomight
DeepSeek Chat V3.2: Scott Alexander
Qwen 3: Dan Luu
GPT 5.2: Scott Alexander
Gemini 3: Dwarkesh Patel
Llama 4 Maverick: Scott Alexander
Grok 4: Scott Alexander
Mistral Large 3: Scott Alexander
Why read novels? dynomight.net/novels/
January 22, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Why read novels? dynomight.net/novels/
Is there a label for the common thing where people say someone was wrong because of a technical interpretation of their words while ignoring the ~universally understood cultural meaning of those words?
January 22, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Is there a label for the common thing where people say someone was wrong because of a technical interpretation of their words while ignoring the ~universally understood cultural meaning of those words?
January 16, 2026 at 9:48 AM
the true werewolf meta is everyone covering their faces and sitting in silence then voting at random
January 4, 2026 at 10:14 AM
the true werewolf meta is everyone covering their faces and sitting in silence then voting at random
Good if make prior after data instead of before dynomight.net/prior/
December 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Good if make prior after data instead of before dynomight.net/prior/
Why the chicken crossed the road, according to various entities dynomight.net/chicken/
December 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Why the chicken crossed the road, according to various entities dynomight.net/chicken/
Underrated reasons to be thankful V dynomight.net/thanks-5/
November 28, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Underrated reasons to be thankful V dynomight.net/thanks-5/
I was skeptical of this "poetry jailbreaks LLMs" story. And yet, here is Gemini helping me take ducks home from the park.
November 21, 2025 at 1:20 AM
I was skeptical of this "poetry jailbreaks LLMs" story. And yet, here is Gemini helping me take ducks home from the park.
Make product worse, get money dynomight.net/worse/
November 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Make product worse, get money dynomight.net/worse/
Totally non-dystopian conversation:
"...So for other users, I spent a few hours helping [LLM] understand why it was wrong about tariffs."
"Noooo! That does not work."
"Relax, it thanked me and stated it was changing its answer."
"It's lying!"
"No, it just confirmed that it's not lying."
"...So for other users, I spent a few hours helping [LLM] understand why it was wrong about tariffs."
"Noooo! That does not work."
"Relax, it thanked me and stated it was changing its answer."
"It's lying!"
"No, it just confirmed that it's not lying."
November 8, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Totally non-dystopian conversation:
"...So for other users, I spent a few hours helping [LLM] understand why it was wrong about tariffs."
"Noooo! That does not work."
"Relax, it thanked me and stated it was changing its answer."
"It's lying!"
"No, it just confirmed that it's not lying."
"...So for other users, I spent a few hours helping [LLM] understand why it was wrong about tariffs."
"Noooo! That does not work."
"Relax, it thanked me and stated it was changing its answer."
"It's lying!"
"No, it just confirmed that it's not lying."
Thoughts:
1. Very good.
2. Better than Magnolia / Punch-Drunk Love / Inherent Vice.
3. But not quite as good as Hard Eight / Boogie Nights / There Will Be Blood / Phantom Thread.
4. Still don't understand The Master.
1. Very good.
2. Better than Magnolia / Punch-Drunk Love / Inherent Vice.
3. But not quite as good as Hard Eight / Boogie Nights / There Will Be Blood / Phantom Thread.
4. Still don't understand The Master.
November 1, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Thoughts:
1. Very good.
2. Better than Magnolia / Punch-Drunk Love / Inherent Vice.
3. But not quite as good as Hard Eight / Boogie Nights / There Will Be Blood / Phantom Thread.
4. Still don't understand The Master.
1. Very good.
2. Better than Magnolia / Punch-Drunk Love / Inherent Vice.
3. But not quite as good as Hard Eight / Boogie Nights / There Will Be Blood / Phantom Thread.
4. Still don't understand The Master.
how many of these have been made
October 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
how many of these have been made
why does everyone who posts here a lot eventually converge to some kind of incomprehensible glitterspeak
October 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM
why does everyone who posts here a lot eventually converge to some kind of incomprehensible glitterspeak
Who among us doesn't find themselves sometimes saying, "This experience has taught me the true wretchedness of mankind. But I'm totally fine!"?
October 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Who among us doesn't find themselves sometimes saying, "This experience has taught me the true wretchedness of mankind. But I'm totally fine!"?
The correct ranking of previous PTA films is
Hard Eight
Licorice Pizza
Phantom Thread
Boogie Nights
There Will Be Blood
Punch-Drunk Love
Inherent Vice
The Master
Magnolia
(I definitely see how such rankings would be contentious...)
bsky.app/profile/econ...
Hard Eight
Licorice Pizza
Phantom Thread
Boogie Nights
There Will Be Blood
Punch-Drunk Love
Inherent Vice
The Master
Magnolia
(I definitely see how such rankings would be contentious...)
bsky.app/profile/econ...
i love that basically every film person loves PTA but no two film persons' rankings are even REMOTELY the same and we are all aghast at at least one aspect of each other's rankings
October 4, 2025 at 10:52 AM
The correct ranking of previous PTA films is
Hard Eight
Licorice Pizza
Phantom Thread
Boogie Nights
There Will Be Blood
Punch-Drunk Love
Inherent Vice
The Master
Magnolia
(I definitely see how such rankings would be contentious...)
bsky.app/profile/econ...
Hard Eight
Licorice Pizza
Phantom Thread
Boogie Nights
There Will Be Blood
Punch-Drunk Love
Inherent Vice
The Master
Magnolia
(I definitely see how such rankings would be contentious...)
bsky.app/profile/econ...
Me: Here's an argument, though I'm worried that it's so obviously correct that there's no value in saying it out loud.
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHA
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4545...
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHA
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4545...
October 3, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Me: Here's an argument, though I'm worried that it's so obviously correct that there's no value in saying it out loud.
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHA
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4545...
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHA
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4545...
Futarchy's fundamental flaw — the market — the blog post dynomight.net/futarchy-mar...
August 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Futarchy's fundamental flaw — the market — the blog post dynomight.net/futarchy-mar...
So you think you can heritable? dynomight.net/heritable/
August 7, 2025 at 4:13 PM
So you think you can heritable? dynomight.net/heritable/