This is the weekly visible open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. ACX has an unofficial subreddit, Discord, and bulletin board, and in-person meetups around the world. 95% of content is free, but for the remaining 5% you can subscribe here. Also:

1: Thanks to everyone who pushed back against my overly cynical post on college admissions. Some of the best responses were Yes, Students At Elite Schools Are Actually Taught Different Things, and the several people (eg Raghu Parthasarathy) pointing out that smart people want to socialize with other smart people.

2: Heads up that I’ll probably be having a Berkeley meetup this coming Sunday (7/23) and an NYC meetup the Sunday after that (7/30). I’m still finalizing plans and can’t guarantee either of them, I’m just letting you know to keep the date open if you want. I’ll make a top-level post about both if they end up happening.

3: In 2020, using data from the SSC survey, I wrote about how Autogenderphilia Is Common And Not Especially Associated With Transgender. More recently, Aella did another survey and found the same thing. Last week Michael Bailey, a researcher who thinks autogynephilia is very associated with transgender, responded here, saying that our questions were bad. Tailcalled, who helped write the questions for Aella and my survey, explains here why they think the questions were good. Instead of having an opinion on this, I plan to ask Michael to design the questions for the next survey and demonstrate that they get the same result.

4: The Progress Studies cabal is offering the Roots Of Progress Blog Building Intensive [Fellowship]; apply if you blog about science and progress and want to do more of that. If accepted, you’ll get a free intensive writing program, a chance to talk with experts, and a free trip to an in person event in SF. Advisors include Tyler Cowen, Steven Pinker, Tamara Winter, and lots of other impressive people.