Sep 5, 2026
Since the beginning of time, mankind has yearned to drink a cup of coffee at 5 PM and go to sleep at 10. But now there’s an entire scientific subfield and several companies pandering to this absurd fantasy.
Here’s a simplified diagram of caffeine metabolism:
Caffeine is converted to a different stimulating chemical...
Sep 5, 2026
[previously in series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Paul Graham once said that every city sends a message. New York says you should make more money. Berkeley says you should live better. Boston says you should be smarter. People shouldn’t decide on a permanent residence until they’ve lived in several cities...
Sep 5, 2026
Old Scottish joke:
A man at the bar is complaining: “You see that bridge there? I built it with my own hands! But do they call me ‘MacGregor The Bridge-Builder’? No! And I raised five beautiful children! But do they call me ‘MacGregor The Child-Raiser’? No! But, you fuck one sheep . . .”
Has MacGregor been...
Sep 5, 2026
Last month, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies signed an open letter supporting open-weights AI.
Open weights AI is like open-source software, where the creator makes the raw code publicly available for free download. It’s good insofar as it’s the only way an AI can truly be the user’s property, as...
Sep 5, 2026
Commenters convinced me I made a subtle mis-step in my framing of Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine.
My framing emphasized that social priming studies had failed to replicate, but that many other subfields of psychology hadn’t. This naturally led commenters to point to failed replications in other subfields....