The hottest Social Science Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

Virtue in Two Acts

From the New World • 32 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
📖 Philosophy Social Science
  1. Modern society may be more ignorant than previous ones, as we have created layers of belief and technology that distance us from true understanding. This is like being in a cave beneath another cave, where we lose sight of the bigger picture.
  2. Political philosophy, once a comprehensive study of human affairs, has become fragmented and superficial. This change means we often miss deeper truths and only focus on narrow aspects of social science.
  3. To truly understand political issues, we need to combine technical knowledge with an appreciation of human values. This balance helps us see what is good and guides our actions effectively.

Vision Reasoning, Brain-Inspired Pruning, and Behavioral Simulations

HackerPulse Dispatch • 16 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Social Science
  1. LLaVA-o1 helps vision-language models improve their reasoning skills with clear steps, making them better at understanding complex tasks.
  2. Brain-inspired pruning makes spiking neural networks much more efficient by keeping only the important parts, leading to significant cost savings.
  3. Generative agents can simulate thousands of people's behavior accurately, which can help in studying social science and creating better policies.

Alessandro Strumia | The War on Science Interviews | Day 14

Critical Mass • 3 implied HN points • 07 Aug 25
🔬 Science Social Science
  1. The series features 20 interviews with authors discussing the challenges facing science and scholarship today. They explore topics like academic integrity and how social justice activism can impact research.
  2. These dialogues aim to raise awareness about the damage being done to scientific progress and the importance of free speech in academia. The discussions are direct and thought-provoking.
  3. The project encourages public engagement and aims to restore trust in science and scholarship. It's a call for academics to unite and address the internal issues affecting universities.
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Against the Labor Theory of Science

Never Met a Science • 11 implied HN points • 23 Jan 24
🔬 Science Social Science
  1. New social scientific processes are being developed for more efficiency and improved knowledge production.
  2. Centralization of knowledge production can lead to significant gains in efficiency on both production and consumption sides.
  3. Machine learning algorithms can extract high-dimensional knowledge, reducing the need for human translation and potentially improving accuracy.

Why vaccine misinformation is winning the information war

Weaponized • 5 HN points • 17 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Social Science
  1. Misinformation about vaccines is spreading faster than efforts to debunk it, limiting the impact of accurate information campaigns.
  2. Addressing vaccine misinformation needs to consider the complex reasons why people fall for it, such as political beliefs or past mistreatment by authorities.
  3. Combatting vaccine misinformation requires more than just sharing facts, it's crucial to understand the root causes of hesitancy and engage with empathy and trust.

The hubris of social scientists

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🔬 Science Social Science
  1. Researchers should expand beyond randomized trials in social science evaluations due to the complexity of the social world and challenges in replicating findings.
  2. The 'hubris of social scientists' refers to the overconfidence and limitations in assuming new ideas will succeed, highlighting the commonality of failures in various fields, not just social policy.
  3. Identifying small effects in social science research is difficult due to the high variability across contexts, limitations in sample sizes, and challenges in replicating studies, necessitating a more systematic approach to data collection and policy evaluation.

Causal research: More, not less

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🚌 Education Social Science
  1. Understanding the effects of policies on people's lives is crucial, and causal research can provide valuable information to guide decision-making.
  2. Critiques of causal social science highlight the need for improvement in research publishing practices, such as publishing null studies and ensuring clarity on statistically significant but small results.
  3. Replication studies in policy-making, especially with experimental interventions like RCTs, can offer valuable insights to refine policies before widespread implementation, and continuous use of evidence can help in making incremental progress.

Issue index

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social Science
  1. The post contains 19 essays focusing on various important topics like research, policy, and social science.
  2. The essays discuss the importance of evidence-based decision-making and the challenges faced in implementing change.
  3. Authors explore subjects such as research integrity, government transparency, and the complexities of driving societal change.

Incrementalism beats YOLO

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social Science
  1. Incremental social policies have proven to make the world a better place over time
  2. Narrow, incremental policy changes can have significant positive impacts, like increasing school attendance, boosting earnings, and reducing incarceration rates
  3. Incremental changes informed by high-quality evaluation and research can lead to greater effectiveness over time in various social programs, showing better results than 'you only live once' approaches in policy-making

Research Note: Defining "the South"

Matt’s Five Points • 0 implied HN points • 06 Jul 10
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social Science
  1. Defining 'the South' can vary a lot depending on the perspective. It could be based on historical factors like the Confederacy, slavery, or segregation.
  2. Different definitions of 'the South' can lead to different interpretations of cultural or political data, affecting conclusions drawn from research.
  3. People often manipulate definitions of 'the South' to support their arguments, making it important to be clear about which definition is used in discussions.

The world is hard to change

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social Science
  1. Social science has its limits when it comes to creating large, lasting changes through evidence-based policymaking.
  2. Social science is about learning from failures and adapting to the challenges of understanding and changing human behavior.
  3. Disappointment in evidence-based policymaking does not justify reverting to ideological assumptions; instead, it highlights the complexity of creating effective social change.

Happy Illigitimate Federal Holiday Day!

Matt’s Five Points • 0 implied HN points • 10 Oct 11
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Social Science
  1. Columbus Day is seen as the least legitimate federal holiday compared to others like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Many people don't celebrate it, and it lacks cultural significance.
  2. Major holidays like Christmas and Independence Day have strong personal and community celebrations. These holidays are recognized by both the government and the public.
  3. Some holidays, like Labor Day, are more about getting a day off rather than celebrating anything. People often use it as a chance to relax or have fun with friends instead.

Data in, garbage out

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🔬 Science Social Science
  1. Statistics can only tell us so much, so we should approach data with humility about both the power of social programs and hard data to test them.
  2. Rigorous measurement often doesn't definitively show whether interventions work, leading to ongoing debates and conflicting results in various fields.
  3. While randomized controlled trials have their value in measuring specified outcomes, they can miss unexpected effects and subtle interactions, highlighting the importance of qualitative methods and personal observations.