Kevin Simler

@KevinSimler

🙃, 👯🔬, 💻🐒. Exceptionally strong preference for dialectic over debate. Book:

San Francisco, CA
meltingasphalt.com
Joined March 2011
232 Photos and videos Photos and videos

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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Jan 2

    The book officially launches today, and to mark the occasion I give you a listicle: 10 Reasons to Read "The Elephant in the Brain" (cc: )

    9 replies 20 retweets 130 likes
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  2. Retweeted
    Jun 22

    I hate "debate". Debate is how to transform the positive-sum game of collaborative thinking into a zero-sum game.

    71 replies 227 retweets 1,195 likes
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  3. Jun 8

    the weirding intensifies

    1 reply 6 retweets 61 likes
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  4. Retweeted
    May 31

    Meeting internet friends from around the world is always a huge highlight of my life and fills me with a lot of gratitude. Despite the wanton amounts of rampant fuckery on here, there are good, fun, kind, interesting people worth hanging out with

    5 replies 17 retweets 163 likes
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  5. May 30

    This is my favorite answer of what I’ve read so far. Btw, y’all should follow for consistently great meta-level analyses like this.

    1 reply 19 retweets 84 likes
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  6. May 30

    People who publish things online (blogs, videos, papers, articles, etc.): What’s the most important piece you’ve published? “Most important” = in your estimation. Don’t think too hard about it. But please stick to just one.

    69 replies 27 retweets 214 likes
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  7. Retweeted
    May 20

    Incredible chart. Take mortality statistics & subtract infectious disease. You see: (a) in the twentieth century we largely defeated infectious disease in the US (arguably the biggest achievement of 20C); and (b) little else we did in medicine affected mortality. via

    69 replies 983 retweets 1,883 likes
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  8. Retweeted
    May 18

    Dangerous knowledge

    3 replies 14 retweets 135 likes
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  9. May 16

    “Egalitarian libertarianism... a fairly unexplored ideological continent.” So much great stuff in the linked article.

    It's not often I come across a new chart that I need to sit down and think through some more
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    6 replies 10 retweets 46 likes
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  10. Retweeted
    May 3

    Though advertising has serious issues, as points out, I think it's also important to remember the good that advertising has done for us.

    36 replies 115 retweets 423 likes
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  11. May 6

    TIL I’m a “para-academic.” cf. “pseudo-intellectual” ;)

    5 replies 1 retweet 34 likes
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  12. May 6

    How would you describe the rationalist community (to fresh ears)? And (while I have your attention) what are some other examples of fields born on the internet?

    22 replies 1 retweet 21 likes
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  13. May 6

    Last night I tried to describe the rationalist community to a friend who had never heard of it. I struggled, but finally settled on describing it as "A school of philosophy that arose on the internet rather than in the academy."

    6 replies 20 retweets 190 likes
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  14. May 1

    Separately, I really admire that he seems undaunted by the outrage and continues to press the issue (or at least the meta-issue).

    4 replies 45 likes
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  15. May 1

    Robin's mind is untethered to normie reality. He entertains 10 weird ideas every day before breakfast. To collapse all that high-dimensional weirdness down to a single (left–right) axis is to completely miss the point.

    There's a hard tradeoff re thinking about vs presenting unusual ideas. The more you immerse yourself in how others think, so that you can anticipate their reaction and avoid misunderstandings, the less space and time you have to think of and explore unusual ideas.
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    2 replies 9 retweets 109 likes
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  16. Apr 13

    “Congressional testimony is mostly about what is right in front of your eyes: what are people willing to say in public, and how much public support does that attract? As they say, it’s like ‘raising a flag to see who salutes.’ “

    My short piece in The Spectator on Zuckerberg hearings:
    1 reply 2 retweets 41 likes
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  17. Mar 11

    It's in beta so there are some rough edges, but it's polished enough to use as my mail email client (for 2+ months now). Favorite features: — Sorting and Replying are separate activities — Fullscreen, one email at a time — Snooze — "Quick Reply" limited to 140 characters

    1 reply 2 retweets 7 likes
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  18. Mar 11

    I don't often do product recs, but gotta make an exception for this one. Tempo ( for OS X) is the most *humane* email client I've ever used, perfect for people (like me) who find email stressful and overwhelming. If that's you too, please check it out!

    5 replies 2 retweets 28 likes
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  19. Mar 10

    FYI I recently started a new job in biotech, so I've been trying to "learn" molecular biology (by which I mean, "just scratch the surface of"). Holler if you're also into molecular bio, so I know who my new peeps are :). Also please share any good learning resources, esp. videos.

    22 replies 4 retweets 99 likes
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  20. Feb 18

    The whole thread is great, but this tweet in particular has been echoing in my mind for almost a month now.

    increasingly convinced the power of the state to enforce norms evenly across a populace is what creates the neutral space that allows the "individual" to emerge...
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    3 replies 5 retweets 64 likes
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  21. Feb 17

    1. What's a trend you've spotted recently (one where you're ahead-of-the-curve on spotting it)? 2. What kind of evidence are you noticing that makes you think it's a trend?

    27 replies 11 retweets 97 likes
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