Archive - Conspicuous Cognition

Advice for bloggers

Follow these simple steps and you might very slightly increase your chances of becoming a moderately successful Substacker.

Apr 27 •

Contra critical theory

Academics are often rewarded for discovering novel ways of criticising and condemning Western societies. This generates lots of biased, one-sided…

Apr 20 •

The puzzle of populist devotion: How alliances and propaganda explain right-wing populism

Understanding right-wing populism—and its critics—through a novel theory in political psychology.

Apr 11 •

People embrace beliefs that signal their traits and loyalties

This is often bad and we should develop stronger norms against it.

Apr 6 •

March 2025

What if the truth about AI is more boring than we'd like?

On the excessively negative, alarmist, and catastrophising discourse surrounding AI and democracy.

Mar 30 •

Social media isn't destroying society

But it does reward and amplify those willing to treat online discourse as a self-contained game.

Mar 22 •

Misinformation isn't a contagious virus you can be inoculated against

Against simplistic and misleading metaphors for understanding complex problems

Mar 16 •

The "everyone is biased" bias

On the problems with excessive epistemic cynicism

Mar 9 •

Conversations about misinformation

Game theory, rationality, and whether the science of misinformation is reliable.

Mar 2 •

February 2025

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