analects noun, pl

/ˈan.ə.lɛkts/

a collection of ideas, extracts, or teachings.

Thought Architecture

stuff On making chaos into meaning

show:

analects under the categories btrmt. believes in, as set out in the manifesto

analects organised according to the fundamental questions of philosophy

sequences of articles gathered around a more focused idea

  • the era of the business idiot 29 Apr 2026 [marginalium] The Era Of The Business Idiot. Good article on what I have variously called Malcolm Gladwell Shit or karstic traps. I’ll pull a few quotes f...
  • ai simulates conversations 24 Feb 2026 [marginalium] AI simulates conversations. Sometimes, when a problem is hard, LLMs with ‘thinking’ will simulate an internal conversation between different...
  • gnosticism in blood meridian 26 Jan 2026 [marginalium] Gnosticism in Blood Meridian. Fantastic old essay on the Gnostic themes in McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. I am a little confused by his account...
  • against mcaskillian longtermism 10 Jul 2025 [marginalium] Against McAskillian Longtermism: Whatever is wrong with utilitarians who advocate the murder of a million for a 0.0001 percent reduction in...
  • critiquing utilitarianism 2 Jul 2025 [marginalium] I think a lot of people intuitively like the kind of “calculus of pain and pleasure” that utilitarianism offers. But it often falls short of...
  • caligula as an anti-ideology 19 Jun 2025 [marginalium] Was Caligula Depraved as Suetonius Would Have Him?: it is hard to resist the conclusion that, whatever kernel of truth they might have, the...
  • on zoophilia 12 Jun 2025 [marginalium] “only in very recent years that some people have begun to undermine the absolute prohibition on zoosexuality. Are their arguments dangerous,...
  • christopher alexander and his patterns 10 Jun 2025 [marginalium] Christopher Alexander and his patterns. I talk about Christopher Alexander quite a few times in my content. His concept of a ‘centre’ in par...
  • understanding bayes 6 Jun 2025 [marginalium] An easy way to understand Bayes. It’s pictoral, based off this book review the author did. It also gets into a bunch of extraneous detail. B...
  • how to rig a clinical trial 30 May 2025 [marginalium] How To Rig A Clinical Trial. This one’s a great example of the problems with p-values: Here’s a dirty little science secret: If you measure...
  • the entangled brain 30 May 2025 [marginalium] The entangled brain. I liked this one, as an intro into the frontiers of how we think about cognitive neuroscience (i.e. how does the brain...
  • eurasian demonology 16 May 2025 [marginalium] On Eurasian Demonology. I wrote an article this week about a very expensive faux-neuroscience-based program that talks about your inner demo...
  • are sunk costs fallacies 11 May 2025 [marginalium] Are Sunk Costs Fallacies? Gwern is a pseudonymous researcher and writer who has one of the most interesting websites I’ve ever come across....
  • the universe as black hole reproduction 8 May 2025 [marginalium] I’m not going to pretend to understand this properly, but the main thing I took away is that old mate reckons: direct-collapse supermassive...
  • why can't biology move faster? 8 May 2025 [marginalium] Why can’t biology move faster? Than designed systems, that is. Basically complexity, but interesting read.
  • metaphors shape minds 1 May 2025 [marginalium] Metaphors shape minds: Scientific analogies can crackle too. Consider one of the puzzles of the visual system: saccades, those rapid, darti...
  • policy-oriented political philosophy 1 May 2025 [marginalium] Policy-oriented political philosophy. The article frames it best: how does political philosophy relate to policy? What I found interesting...
  • psychedelics demolish assumptions 18 Apr 2025 [marginalium] Psychedelics demolish assumptions: With their uncanny ability to disrupt our ordinary modes of perception and thinking, psychedelics have l...
  • the epicenter of conspiracy belief 10 Apr 2025 [marginalium] The epicenter of conspiracy belief: The economically left-leaning and culturally regressive the results show a clear picture: Individuals w...
  • the roots of democratic legitimacy 3 Apr 2025 [marginalium] The Roots Of Democratic Legitimacy. This is a technical article, but you can skim it to draw out the main point. We balance majority (repres...

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