Discussion

• @noahpinion Noah Smith on x

  A New York Times article about Slate Star Codex advanced the stereotype that Silicon Valley is full of fascists. That stereotype is wrong. Almost everyone out here is just a standard liberal nerd. https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...

• @nickconfessore Nick Confessore on x

  Deep cut here from @mattyglesias https://www.slowboring.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @hdxacademy @hdxacademy on x

  “...journalism...has tilted too far...with too much room-reading and groupthink, and not enough appreciation of the value of annoying people with inconvenient observations.” @mattyglesias https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @noahpinion Noah Smith on x

  Scott Siskind and I often don't see eye to eye. But the narrative that his blog was converting Silicon Valley to fascism is a fantasy. https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...

• @hdxacademy @hdxacademy on x

  “the way you learn things and get smarter is to read strong writers and try to understand what they're saying. Not try to pick it apart for clout or find ways to caricature and snark about it.” @mattyglesias https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @robertwiblin Robert Wiblin on x

  The notion that the Bay Area or tech industry are full of conservatives, let alone neoreactionaries, is, as a purely factual matter, abject nonsense: https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...

• @michelleinbklyn Michelle Goldberg on x

  @nickconfessore @mattyglesias An irony is how many of the Silicon Valley types who built this machine have also built a whole subculture devoted to decrying the resulting intellectual trends

• @avyfain Avy Faingezicht on x

  Read @Noahpinion instead. There might be rabbits “...the narrative of a pipeline of fascist ideas from Rationalist blogs to the minds of the powerful people building the future is certainly a juicy one, but it just doesn't have much evidence to back it up” https://noahpinion.subs…

• @jestei Jennifer Steinhauer on x

  What's interesting about all the analysis of dunk avoidance is that I never see the antidote “unfollow all but those who post good Bolognese recipes.” Seriously. https://twitter.com/...

• @brianfagioli Brian Fagioli on x

  Is the NYT the most important paper in the world? Yes. Is any paper better? No. Is there a trend of weirdness and poor decision coming from it lately? Absolutely. Not sure what's going on over there. They need to tighten things up ASAP. https://twitter.com/...

• @boazbaraktcs Boaz Barak on x

  Probably the best take on the long awaited NYT article on @slatestarcodex. Turns out that sometimes good things don't come to those who wait. https://twitter.com/...

• @anderssandberg Anders Sandberg on x

  The NYT article on @slatestarcodex seemed to have real trouble with the idea of broad intellectual discourse and interests, and that a wide range of people with different views could actually care. I think @mattyglesias got it roughly right in https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @tqbf Thomas H. Ptacek on x

  I think this is directionally wrong, though not very wrong, but does a MUCH better job of engaging with the controversy than Yglesias did. I recommend reading this. https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...

• @martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x

  I have to say, that other than the final sentence being a reading test for people claiming the NYT doxed the blog's author, I struggled to find any kind of strong ‘point’ to that NYT article. https://twitter.com/...

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  I thought the NYT article threaded the needle fine on who it thought the article reflected on. besides that Noah makes fair points. But isn't it well understood by everyone that Silicon Valley is mostly Democrats. Media wrote stories of masses of Bernie donors https://twitter.com…

• @delong @delong on x

  @karaswisher @nbashaw @CadeMetz Since the _New York Times_ does not have an ombudsman to ask about this, I am going to go with my friend Noah Smith's judgment on @CadeMetz: strongly negative: **Noah Smith**: _Silicon Valley Isn't Full of Fascists_ <https://noahpinion.substack.com…

• @rezendi Jon Evans on x

  “There's a small, lonely-looking lump of conservatives over on the right. That undoubtedly includes Peter Thiel and a few other prominent conservatives. But they are iconoclasts within an industry that leans very strongly to the left.” https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...

• @noahpinion @noahpinion on x

  My response to the Times article about Slate Star Codex: 1. There's no evidence it was very popular or influential in the tech world 2. Techies (including founders) are OVERWHELMINGLY liberals 3. Rationalists care mostly about esoterica, not politics https://noahpinion.substack.c…

• @niubi Bill Bishop on x

  ""But tech journalism is overwhelmingly negative!" I hear a self-described empiricist whining somewhere on Twitter. No it is not, my friends. You just don't notice it when it isn't." https://twitter.com/...

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  Here's Slate Star Codex's response to the NYT https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @nytimesbusiness @nytimesbusiness on x

  “It is the one place I know of online where you can have civil conversations among people with a wide range of views.” For a while, it vanished. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @espiers Elizabeth Spiers on x

  I agree with some of what he writes in the post, but here, Matt might be projecting a bit. https://twitter.com/...

• @juliagalef Julia Galef on x

  This is a great discussion of @slatestarcodex, the rationalist community, and norms of discourse I don't agree with 100% of it, but it's a lot more well-informed & perceptive than average, and even the criticisms of the rationalists are pretty fair IMO https://www.slowboring.com/…

• @carloslozadawp Carlos Lozada on x

  “I think contemporary society is willing itself into a state of incredible stupidity by people wanting to evaluating the worthwhileness of reading something purely on the basis of whether or not it's correct.” https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @jonrog1 John Rogers on x

  First rule: As soon as you think you're rational as a general state of being rather than as a rare temporary condition, you are not, in fact, being rational. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @blakehounshell @blakehounshell on x

  Am I the only one who finds this guy Scott Alexander's blog really boring and desperately in need of editing, setting aside the controversy over this article and his views? https://twitter.com/...

• @amandaaskell Amanda Askell on x

  I decided to go for a walk to the beach rather than engage in the New York Times kerfuffle this time around. Matt Yglesias has a pretty nice piece on it though. https://twitter.com/...

• @zackbeauchamp Zack Beauchamp on x

  I absolutely loved this new @mattyglesias piece. The part about how the internet is warping the way we read opposing arguments is especially choice https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  Some thoughts on the NYT @slatestarcodex article, but more broadly on the need for antidotes to conformism and mediocrity enforced via Twitter dunk. https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  Don't normally post articles at 11:15 PM on a Saturday night, but I figure most of the people interested in this topic are west coast nerds so.... https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @gmbutts Gerald Butts on x

  I often disagree with ⁦@mattyglesias⁩, but this is a strong piece. Worth your time. In defense of interesting writing on controversial topics - Slow Boring https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @jonathanchait Jonathan Chait on x

  The important takeaway from @mattyglesias is that there's too much pressure for ideological conformity and not enough value on learning from writers with whom we disagree https://www.slowboring.com/...

• @jacobgrier Jacob Grier on x

  It's debatable whether I qualify as a west coast nerd, and I'm not particular immersed in rationalist discourse or SCC, but this is a good post (especially the last section, which gets at how Twitter encourages users to unproductively engage with writers they disagree with). http…

• @whitstillman Whit Stillman on x

  I always prefer to read the subject victim's Statement on the New York Times Article than the article itself because that way you get the actual thinking. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @richard_florida Richard Florida on x

  Until yesterday I had no idea who these people were. I find the whole thing so very interesting ... https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @pmatzko Paul Matzko on x

  The New York Times article about SlateStarCodex is finally out and it is...bad. There's a lot I could parse, but let me just walk you through one paragraph that is so misleading as to be deceptive. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  The entire framing of “tech vs media” comes from tech, not media, and the core of it is online harassment that is utterly transparent to anyone who's ever been through it

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  Luv to talk about doxing “vulnerable” people in emails with all my friends. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x

  This is an unremarkable level of dishonesty from the NYT and must be expected from their other articles too. This article was a Big Deal, and it represents the best work the NYT can put forth when their remaining editors are paying lots of attention. https://twitter.com/...

• @planefag @planefag on x

  New York Times is embarrassed and forced to back off when they move to doxx a blogger. Blogger receives warning (later acted upon) that the NYT will later put a smear piece out on him as revenge for embarrassing them. If you still defend the New York Times... Why? https://twitter…

• @s8mb Sam Bowman on x

  Here's Scott's response, which highlights a few examples of distortions the piece makes to make him sound like a racist and misogynist. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @jeyylowe Josh Lowe on x

  I'm not especially sympathetic to the “rationalists” and I find slate star codex a bit annoying but that NYT article makes me want to support it to the hilt

• @ranjanxroy Ranjan on x

  That crazy email aside, had never known the origin story of DeepMind https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @carolinefourest Caroline Fourest on x

  Journalism is power. When journalists abuse their power, it has to be said. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @molson_hart Molson Hart on x

  It apparently has become fashionable to criticize and discredit big media (NY Times, WSJ, etc.). I'm not a journalism expert, but in my experience it makes more sense to criticize particular journalists than their employers. There are good and bad journalists at every paper. http…

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  So important to remember that these bad faith attacks by Balaji etc are intentional. Their goal is to ruin your life w/ doxxing, online abuse and harassment, these men know what they're doing https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @williamturton William Turton on x

  Yeeeeesh https://twitter.com/...

• @tomchivers Tom Chivers on x

  Given that 1) the @nytimes has published its long-awaited story about @slatestarcodex and the rationalist community, and 2) it's kind of weak and uninformative and mean-spirited, perhaps now is the time to read my book on the subject! https://twitter.com/...

• @clairlemon Claire Lehmann on x

  SlateStarCodex's response to @CadeMetz and the @nytimes https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @erratarob @erratarob on x

  This hit piece by the NYTimes against the “Slate Star Codex” is strangely self-unaware, exactly the demonstration why people don't trust mainstream media outlets like the NYTimes. https://twitter.com/...

• @pegobry Peg on x

  “I have 1,557 other posts worth of material he could have used, and the sentence he chose to go with was the one that was crossed out and included a plea for people to stop taking it out of context.” https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @jbouie B-Boy Bouiebaisse on x

  every generation a new group of elites and self-styled “rational men” discovers the same old, trash ideas about the natural inferiority of their social lessers. it's a cliche https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x

  Ok, this post is a more effective and measured response than relying on the old sic-dark-enlightenment-on-vulnerable- reporter-and-dox move: https://twitter.com/...

• @johndurant John Durant on x

  The hit piece on Scott Alexander was predictably pathetic garbage. His statement: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @jessesingal Jesse Singal on x

  Scott Alexander's response to the New York Times hit piece against him just went live: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @timodc Tim Miller on x

  The Times letting these types of smears get through fact checking in a piece they've been working on for ages is just crazy. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason @jason on x

  Interesting to see so many @nytimes reporters come out this strongly in support of one story 🤔 https://twitter.com/...

• @andizeisler Andi Zeisler on x

  Weird that so many groups devoted to an ideal of “rational” and “objective” dialogue mostly comprise white tech dudes chapped that they can't be more publicly racist and sexist https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @bostonjoan Joan Donovan, PhD on x

  When networked harassment is targeted at woman journalists, it is to send a message to those in a similar position: criticize the powerful and you will be next. And yet, these people keep climbing the social ladder. https://twitter.com/...

• @justinkan Justin Kan on x

  NYT's coverage on Slate Star Codex is depressing. This HN comment articulates it better than I can. https://news.ycombinator.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @sapinker Steven Pinker on x

  National treasure Scott Alexander on the uncomprehending New York Times article about him. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...

• @nachristakis Nicholas A. Christakis on x

  “I don't want to accuse NYT of lying, exactly, but if they were truthful, it was in same way as Wizard of Oz review: ‘Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.’ https://astralcodexten.su…

• @asymmetricinfo Megan McArdle on x

  I assume it wasn't deliberate, but that paragraph is extremely misleading, and should be corrected. https://twitter.com/...

• @binarybits Timothy B. Lee on x

  This is a remarkable level of dishonesty from the Times. Scott Alexander once expressed agreement with Charles Murray on a topic unrelated to race and IQ. The Times wrote a paragraph strongly implying Alexander endorsed Murray's views on race and IQ. https://astralcodexten.substa…

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  This is straight GamerGate tactics, used by wealthy and connected tech investors https://twitter.com/...

• @elongreen Elon Green on x

  This is one of those stories where the quality of its critics are really all you need to know. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @angebassa Angela Bassa on x

  The folks who like to think of themselves as “rationalists” may believe themselves above this, but I often relearn the lesson that humans are animals and that even the most seemingly (and self-styled) rational of us are just full of crap. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @jessienyc @jessienyc on x

  [a researcher said] “He was worried that Slate Star Codex, like other communities, was allowing extremist views to trickle into the influential tech world.” @cademetz via @NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @chimeracoder Aditya Mukerjee on x

  My friend (who doesn't work in tech) asked me to explain this article to him. I described it as “G*merG*te goes professional”. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @klintron Klint Finley on x

  That vulnerable reporter was me. Ultimately they stood down. Cade hasn't been so fortunate.

• @daveyalba Davey Alba on x

  “The voices also included white supremacists and neo-fascists. The only people who struggled to be heard, Dr. Friedman said, were ‘social justice warriors.’ They were considered a threat to one of the core beliefs driving the discussion: free speech.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  This piece on the Rationalist movement and the Slate Star Codex blog was written by Cade Metz, whose reporting caused the author of the Codex to take the entire blog off the internet (it's back now, known as Astral Codex Ten) https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @hemjhaveri Hemal Jhaveri on x

  Guess which other online harrassers share this MO https://twitter.com/...

• @nbashaw Nathan Baschez on x

  This whole NYT / SSC thing is so depressing. I've been an avid SSC reader for years and the portrait @CadeMetz paints of his writing feels unrecognizable. I want nothing to do with a “dark enlightenment.” The connection Metz tries to make between it and SSC is deeply untrue.

• @charlespulliam Charles PM on x

  “Rationalist” sounds marginally less silly than “phrenologist,” which is part of why these people chose to call themselves that https://twitter.com/...

• @adavies47 Alex Davies on x

  Thank you @CadeMetz for the terrific reporting, not so much for adding to my list of things to shudder and yell about https://twitter.com/...

• @bariawilliams @bariawilliams on x

  So, being on the right side of civil rights and history is a threat to “free speech?” Interesting concept if one is used to spouting racist, xenophobic, and/or homophobic hot takes with no ramifications... That isn't a threat to free speech, but wanting to not face consequences. …

• @moskov Dustin Moskovitz on x

  @mattyglesias The unique thing about Silicon Valley is the public has collectively agreed it is allowed to pretend everyone has exactly the same views.

• @moskov Dustin Moskovitz on x

  @mattyglesias And to clarify not just “everyone has the majority beliefs” but rather “everyone has the worst belief for which I can find at least one example”. In the case of the article the beliefs are not even owned by the people implied, which is a slightly newer trick.

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  @mattyglesias @moskov I don't think this is a smart gloss. The difference is certain tech leaders want to be held up as philosopher kings and get treated as such by some online. reporters want to reckon with their views. Tech reporters know that these elites views don't represent…

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  One of the oddities of Silicon Valley coverage is that in any other industry “many of the rich executives at these big companies have some conservative political views” would be an awfully dog bites man story, but somehow the tech/media dynamic has made it a huge drama.

• @prof_gabriele Matt Gabriele on x

  was super cool to see him and Zeynep co-hosting an event on Clubhouse yesterday https://twitter.com/...

• @mims Christopher Mims on x

  Real talk: targeted harassment of people for doing their job is not OK, but it's shockingly common; can you guess the gender of the reporter(s) this sort of thing gets directed at? https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @edmundlee Edmund Lee on x

  not just Trump and his ilk who think journalists are the enemy https://twitter.com/...

• @teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x

  I don't have much unique to say about today's Star Slate Codex story, but this quote finally speaks the quiet part out loud. https://twitter.com/...

• @gbbranstetter Gillian Branstetter on x

  Many of these same people will then start a Substack where they rail against “cancel culture” https://twitter.com/...

• @beejoli Beejoli Shah on x

  Still waiting to see even one major tech or VC exec speak up and disavow this behavior. Have I missed any? https://twitter.com/...

• @gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x

  I guess stuff like this might be why Margit Wennmachers was pretty adamant about this guy having no current role at the firm nowadays (as related in the one Cl*bhouse room I listened to for more than a minute) https://twitter.com/...

• @brandyzadrozny Brandy Zadrozny on x

  This should be a huge scandal. But it won't be because they have no shame and the targeted harassment of “vulnerable” journalists and their families by rich and powerful men is just accepted—even inside newsrooms. This is depraved. https://twitter.com/...

• @robinhanson Robin Hanson on x

  “The ideas they exchanged were often controversial — connected to gender, race and inherent ability, for example — and voices who might push back were kept at bay.” The article insinuates that maybe those voices shouldn't have been kept at bay. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @lkanies Luke Kanies on x

  Silicon Valley? Iconoclastic? The land of Jobs and Musk and Andreesson and Zuck? Not even a little bit. Disrespectful to other sources of power, yes. But obsessed with their own icons, no matter how poisonous. Silicon Valley's Safe Space https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitte…

• @lenazun Evil Maid on x

  billions of dollars and your digital future in the hands of men who have the philosophical depth of suburban 14 year olds. https://twitter.com/...

• @the_moviebob MovieBob Productions on x

  Never stop being funny that these Slate Star weirdos whose ENTIRE gonzo worldview is built around imagining that “literally the plot of Terminator” is about to happen IRL but, somehow, never internalized that the solution to defeating Rogue A.I. there was “Listen to your mom” 🤣 h…

• @buzz Buzz Andersen on x

  “They were ‘easily persuaded by weird, contrarian things...Because they decided they were more rational than other people, they trusted their own internal judgment.’” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @patrickqmason Patrick Mason on x

  I can't wait for someone to write an awesome Religious Studies book about Silicon Valley. This is a good start. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @edzitron Ed Zitron on x

  Sounds like it sucked ass https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @kctolliver Kevin C. Tolliver on x

  If I had not read Slate Star Codex, I would think it was an alt-right Breitbart-y thing after reading this NYT piece. Pretty bad look. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @noahpinion @noahpinion on x

  I read the NYT article about Slate Star Codex, and I don't like it. It traffics in a certain inaccurate, worn-out stereotype of Silicon Valley and the tech industry, and doesn't do a good job of describing the Rationalist subculture. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @byjoelanderson Joel D. Anderson on x

  With few exceptions, people who describe themselves as “rational” tend to be bigot-curious assholes. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  In case anyone thinks for a moment that this playbook ☝🏻 isn't intentional https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  Imagining this email thread, with Thiel being like “Whoa hold on guys, going after reporters and news outlets is a bridge too far.”

• @samthielman @samthielman on x

  I'm embarrassed that I believed the SlateStarCodex guy when he said Metz was threatening to de-pseudonymize him. This is a really good piece about his awful pretentious blog and its disciples. https://twitter.com/...

• @mattdpearce Matt Pearce on x

  I'm not sold on the sincerity of a “rational inquiry” space that would reach so easily for brutal enforcement against inquiry it doesn't like. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @hshaban Hamza Shaban on x

  What's striking about the strain of Silicon Valley thinking detailed here, of “rational” innovators just exploring ideas, is its tolerance for bigotry and a rejection of the practice of journalism and public criticism https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @alibreland Ali Breland on x

  incredible that a bunch of libertarian silicon valley guys named themselves the “rationalists,” an already existing intellectual movement, and then just assumed they were always correct. gonna name my friend crew “the smart guys with the best ideas” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @jennifer_jserra @jennifer_jserra on x

  These are the same “rational” people who are certain that their leaving SF will doom it to...I'm not sure what, actually. To fewer extremely rich men with extremely bad ideas? I take it as a point of pride racist billionaires aren't comfortable here. https://twitter.com/...

• @mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x

  Well, now is probably a good time to sign off of Twitter for the next few days. Or weeks. Or years. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  I hope the “dark enlightenment” folks recognize how they're being used. Even if you disagree with this piece, stuff like this should be completely unacceptable. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  I have been on the receiving end of this exact campaign by Balaji etc several times in the past year alone. It's so much more vicious, cruel, and overwhelming than you can imagine. The worst part is watching peers in media & tech buy into/contribute to it https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @alex @alex on x

  Well Balaji sounds charming https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @ericajoy Erica Joy on x

  “Mr. Altman thought the essay nailed a big problem: In the face of the ‘internet mob’ that guarded against sexism and racism, entrepreneurs had less room to explore new ideas.” 🤔 https://twitter.com/...

• @dbrauer David Brauer on x

  “No surprise that this has caught on among the tech industry. The tech industry loves disrupters & disruptive thought. But this can lead to real problems. The contrarian nature of these ideas makes them appealing to people who maybe don't think enough about the consequences.” htt…

• @williamturton William Turton on x

  Pretty easy to see why tons of people in Silicon Valley did not want this story to be published https://www.nytimes.com/...