---
title: Essays
description: "Personal website of Gwern Branwen (writer, self-experimenter, and programmer): topics: psychology, statistics, technology, deep learning, anime. This index page is a categorized list of Gwern.net pages."
created: 2009-01-27
status: in progress
confidence: log
importance: 0
css-extension: dropcaps-not
index: True
backlink: False
...

<div id="abstract" class="abstract-small smallcaps-not">
This is the website of **Gwern Branwen**.
I write about AI, psychology, & statistics.
I am best known for my writings about AI scaling, poetry & [anime neural networks](#generative-ai-image); [darknet markets](#dark-net-markets) and [Bitcoin](#cryptobitcoin); blinded [self-experiments](#qs-sleep); and [dual _n_-back](#cognition) & [spaced repetition](/spaced-repetition "'Spaced Repetition for Efficient Learning', Gwern 2009").

[Navigation]{.smallcaps}: For information about my site's philosophy & method, see the *[About page](/about "'About This Website', Gwern 2010")*;
for the website features & implementation, see the *[Design page](/design "'Design Of This Website', Gwern 2010")*;
for information about myself, my use of other websites, and contact information, see the *[about-me page](/me "'About Gwern', Gwern 2009")*;
for new pages, see the *[Changelog](/changelog)* ([]{.icon-single-white-star-on-black-circle #black-star-demo} = new), short [*blog posts*](/blog/index){.link-annotated-not}, or [*new links*](/doc/newest/index); or [<em>subscribe</em>](https://gwern.substack.com/ "'Gwern.net newsletter (Substack subscription page)', Gwern 2013") to the newsletter ([archives](/doc/newsletter/index)).

[Features]{.smallcaps}: To use *dark-mode* (<span class="dark-mode-selector-inline">​</span>) or *reader-mode* (<span class="reader-mode-selector-inline">​</span>), or *disable popups* (<span class="extracts-mode-selector-inline">​</span>), or *search* the site (<span class="search-mode-selector-inline">​</span>), use the floating toggle bar in the <span class="desktop-not">lower-right</span><span class="mobile-not">upper-right</span> corner (<span class="toolbar-mode-selector-inline">​</span>); for more, see the [*help* (<span class="help-mode-selector-inline">​</span>)](/help){.link-annotated-not} page.
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</div>

# Newest

- [Idea: Lean scaling laws](/lean-scaling){.link-modified-recently #lean-scaling-newest}
- ["Sand, Rain, Wood"](/fiction/walking){.link-modified-recently #walking-newest}
- ["Chapter 6, Mime Molting: What to Expect"](/fiction/molting){.link-modified-recently #molting-newest}
- ["Guardian Angels: Deep LLM Personalization"](/guardian-angel){.link-modified-recently #guardian-angel-newest}
- ["Human-like Neural Nets by Catapulting"](/llm-catapult){.link-modified-recently #llm-catapulting-newest}
- ["Style-Aware Generative Models"](/generating-style){.link-modified-recently #generating-style-newest}
- ["NYT & Vaping: How To Lie With The Truth"](/vaping){.link-modified-recently #vaping-newest}
- ["Top-<em>k</em> Reading: Don’t Polish Median Essays"](/polish){.link-modified-recently #polish-newest}
- ["‘Try, Score, Change’: RL for Children"](/rl-children){.link-modified-recently #rl-children-newest}
- ["The City of Counted Stars"](/fiction/astrology){.link-modified-recently #stars-newest}
- ["Elegy in a Craneyard"](/fiction/craneyard){.link-modified-recently #crane-newest}

# Popular

- [The NN Scaling Hypothesis](/scaling-hypothesis "'The Scaling Hypothesis', Gwern 2020"){#gwern-scaling-hypothesis-2}
- [_Death Note_ Anonymity](/death-note-anonymity "'Death Note: L, Anonymity & Eluding Entropy', Gwern 2011"){#dna-2}
- [Silk Road 1 Tutorial](/silk-road "'Silk Road 1: Theory & Practice', Gwern 2011"){#sr-2}
- [DNM Archives (201​3--201​5)](/dnm-archive "'Darknet Market Archives (2013–2015)', Gwern 2013"){#dnm-archives-2}
- [Spaced Repetition Learning](/spaced-repetition "'Spaced Repetition for Efficient Learning', Gwern 2009"){#spaced-repetition-2}
- [Commoditize Your Complement](/complement "'Laws of Tech: Commoditize Your Complement', Gwern 2018"){#complement-2}
- [Banner Ads Considered Harmful](/banner)
- [Generating Anime Faces](/face "'Making Anime Faces With StyleGAN', Gwern 2019"){#faces-2}
- [Melancholy of Subculture Society](/subculture "'The Melancholy of Subculture Society', Gwern 2009")
- [Ordinary Life Improvements](/improvement "'My Ordinary Life: Improvements Since the 1990s', Gwern 2018"){#improvements-popular}

# Notable

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<div class="columns">
- ["Guardian Angels: Deep LLM Personalization"](/guardian-angel){#guardian-angel-notable}
- [Existential Risks & Math Errors](/math-error "'The Existential Risk of Math Errors', Gwern 2012"){#math-error-notable}
- <span id="danbooru2017">​</span><span id="danbooru2018">​</span><span id="danbooru2019">​</span><span id="danbooru2020">​</span> [Danbooru2021: Anime Dataset](/danbooru2021 "'Danbooru2021: A Large-Scale Crowdsourced & Tagged Anime Illustration Dataset', Gwern 2015"){#danbooru2021-notable}
- [DNM Archives (201​3--201​5)](/dnm-archive "'Darknet Market Archives (2013–2015)', Gwern 2013"){#dnm-archives-notable}
- [Correlation ≠ Causality](/correlation "'How Often Does Correlation=Causality?', Gwern 2014"){#correlation-notable}
- [Embryo Selection For Traits](/embryo-selection "'Embryo Selection For Intelligence', Gwern 2016"){#embryo-selection-notable}
- [Longevity Meta-Analyses](/longevity "'Life Extension Cost-Benefits', Gwern 2015"){#longevity-notable}
- [Tool AIs Want To Be Agent AIs](/tool-ai "'Why Tool AIs Want to Be Agent AIs', Gwern 2016"){#tool-ai-notable}
- [Internet Research Tips](/search "'Internet Search Tips', Gwern 2018"){#search-notable}
- [In Defense Of Inclusionism](/inclusionism){#inclusionism-notable}
</div>

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# Newest: Blog

[\[Most recent 29 blog posts.\]](/blog/newest#newest-list){.include-strict .include-spinner-not}

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# Statistics

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- [Predicting Google Closures](/google-shutdown){#shutdowns-2}
- [Judging 2012 Election Forecasts](/2012-election "'2012 election predictions', Gwern 2012")
- [Google Alerts Over Time](/google-alerts "'Alerts Over Time', Gwern 2013")
- [Modeling Fiction Review Rates](/hpmor "‘‘HP: Methods of Rationality’ review statistics’, Gwern 2012")
- [LW EA Donations, 2013--2014](/ea-donation "'LWer Effective Altruism donations, 2013–2014', Gwern 2015")
- [Miscellaneous Stats Notes](/note/statistic "'Statistical Notes', Gwern 2014")
- [Regression-To-Mean Fallacy](/doc/statistics/bayes/regression-to-mean/index "'Regression To A Mean Fallacies', Gwern 2021")
- [Fermi Problem Examples](/doc/science/fermi-problem/index "'Fermi Calculation Examples', Gwern 2019")
- [The Math Of Hunting Lions](/doc/math/humor/lion-hunting/index)
- [‘CQK’ Is The First Unused TLA](/tla)
- [How many shower controls are there?](/shower-controls)

# Meta-Science

- [Why Correlation ≠ Causation](/causality "'Why Correlation Usually ≠ Causation', Gwern 2014"){#causality-2} ([eg](/correlation "'How Often Does Correlation=Causality?', Gwern 2014"))
- [Everything Is Correlated](/everything)
- [How To Critique Research?](/research-criticism "'How Should We Critique Research?', Gwern 2019")
- [The Replication Crisis](/replication "'The Replication Crisis: Flaws in Mainstream Science', Gwern 2010")
- [Citation Leprechaun Hunting](/leprechaun)

    - [Origin of Littlewood’s Law](/littlewood-origin "'Origin of ‘Littlewood’s Law of Miracles’', Gwern 2019")
- [Does Mouse Utopia Exist?](/mouse-utopia)
- [Hydrocephalus & IQ](/hydrocephalus "'Hydrocephalus and Intelligence: The Hollow Men', Gwern 2015")
- [Open Questions & Topics](/question "'Open Questions', Gwern 2018")
- [Fake Journal Club](/fake-journal-club "‘Fake Journal Club: Teaching Critical Reading’, Gwern 2022"){#fake-2}

# Decision Theory

- [Banner Ads Considered Harmful](/banner){#ads-2}
- [When Should I Check The Mail?](/mail-delivery){#mail-2}
- [My Prediction Market Trades](/prediction-market "'Prediction Markets', Gwern 2009")
- [Twin Power: Milk Experiment](/milk "'The Power of Twins: The Scottish Milk Experiment', Gwern 2016")
- [Running Lights as Complex Disaster](/traffic-lights)
- [‘Try, Score, Change’: RL for Children](/rl-children)
- [Candy Japan's Box A/B Test](/candy-japan)
- [A/B Testing CSS & HTML](/ab-test "'A/B testing long-form readability on Gwern.net', Gwern 2012")
- [Frank P. Ramsey Papers](/doc/philosophy/frank-ramsey/index "'Frank P. Ramsey bibliography', Gwern 2019")

# Order Statistics

- [Gaussian Expected Maximums](/order-statistic "'Calculating The Gaussian Expected Maximum', Gwern 2016")
- [Interactive List Sorting](/resorter "'Resorting Media Ratings', Gwern 2015")
- [Multi-Stage Selection Demo](/doc/statistics/order/beanmachine-multistage/index.html "'Multi-Stage Bean Machine Visualization: Advantages of Repeated Optimization', Kennedy & Gwern 2018")
- [GoodReads Abandoned Books](/goodreads "'The Most ‘Abandoned’ Books on GoodReads', Gwern 2019")
- [_Genius Revisited_ School Flaws](/hunter "'<em>Genius Revisited</em> Revisited', Gwern 2016")
- [Leaky Pipeline/Log-normals](/doc/statistics/order/selection/pipeline/index "'Leaky Pipelines', Gwern 2014")
- [Selection Scenarios](/selection "'Common Selection Scenarios', Gwern 2021")
- [Best Student Ever!](/best-student-ever)
- [Speedrunning Is Not Such A Waste](/speedrunning)

# Crypto/Bitcoin

- [Bitcoin Is "Worse Is Better"](/bitcoin-is-worse-is-better){#worse-is-better-2}
- [Time-Lock Crypto](/self-decrypting "'Time-lock encryption', Gwern 2011"){#self-decrypting-files-2}; [Timestamp](/timestamping "'Easy Cryptographic Timestamping of Files', Gwern 2015")
- [CO~2~ Coin: Carbon Blockchain](/co2-coin "'CO₂ Coin: Decentralized Carbon Capture Blockchains', Gwern 2021")
- [Trustless Trade: 2-Of-2 NashX](/doc/bitcoin/nashx/index)
- <span id="dark-net-markets">​</span> **Dark Net Markets**:

    - [Silk Road 1 Buyers' Guide](/silk-road "'Silk Road 1: Theory & Practice', Gwern 2011"){#sr-3}
    - [DNM Archive: 201​3--201​5](/dnm-archive "'Darknet Market Archives (2013–2015)', Gwern 2013")
    - [DNM Arrests: 201​1--201​5](/dnm-arrest "'DNM-related arrests, 2011–2015', Gwern 2012")
    - [DNM Lifetime Census](/dnm-survival "'Darknet Market mortality risks', Gwern 2013")

# AI: Safety

- [GPT-3 & The Scaling Hypothesis](/scaling-hypothesis "'The Scaling Hypothesis', Gwern 2020"){#on-gpt3-2}
- [Evolution As Learning Backstop](/backstop "'Evolution as Backstop for Reinforcement Learning', Gwern 2018")
- ["Guardian Angels: Deep LLM Personalization"](/guardian-angel)
- ["Human-like Neural Nets by Catapulting"](/llm-catapult)
- [Tool AIs Want To Be Agent AIs](/tool-ai "'Why Tool AIs Want to Be Agent AIs', Gwern 2016")
- [Complexity Is No Bar To AGI](/complexity)
- [Looks Like You're Taking Over The World](/fiction/clippy "‘It Looks Like You’re Trying To Take Over The World’, Gwern 2022")
- [The NN Tank/Photo Urban Legend](/tank "'The Neural Net Tank Urban Legend', Gwern 2011")
- [Hyperbolic Time Chambers & AI](/hyperbolic-time-chamber "'The Hyperbolic Time Chamber & Brain Emulation', Gwern 2012")

# Generative AI: Image

<span id="generative-ai-anime">​</span>

- [**Danbooru2021** Anime Dataset](/danbooru2021 "'Danbooru2021: A Large-Scale Crowdsourced & Tagged Anime Illustration Dataset', Gwern 2015"){#danbooru2021-2}

    - [PALM: Hand Detection+Crops](/crop#hands "'Anime Crop Datasets: Faces, Figures, & Hands § Hands', Branwen et al 2020"){#crops-hands-2}
    - [Danbooru2019 Figures](/crop#danbooru2019-figures "'Anime Crop Datasets: Faces, Figures, & Hands § Danbooru2019 Figures', Branwen et al 2020"){#figures-2}
    - [Danbooru2019 Portraits](/crop#danbooru2019-portraits "'Anime Crop Datasets: Faces, Figures, & Hands § Danbooru2019 Portraits', Branwen et al 2020")
- [Anime Faces](/face "'Making Anime Faces With StyleGAN', Gwern 2019"){#faces-3}: [BigGAN](/biggan "'Making Anime With BigGAN', Gwern 2019"), [Failures](/face-graveyard "'Anime Neural Net Graveyard', Gwern 2019")
- [Dropcap Generation With AI](/dropcap)
- [This Waifu Does Not Exist](https://www.thiswaifudoesnotexist.net/ "'ThisWaifuDoesNotExist.net', Gwern 2019"){#gwern-twdne-website-1} ([details](/twdne "'This Waifu Does Not Exist', Gwern 2019"){#gwern-twdne-2})

# Generative AI: Fiction

- [GPT-3 Creative Nonfiction](/gpt-3-nonfiction "'GPT-3 Nonfiction', Gwern 2020"){#gwern-gpt-3-nonfiction-2}
- [Benchmarking LLM Creativity?](/creative-benchmark)
- [CYOA AI Dungeons](/cyoa "'Choose-Your-Own-Adventure <em>AI Dungeon</em> Games', Gwern 2021")
- [GPT-2 Folk Music](/gpt-2-music)
- [Preference Learning Music](/gpt-2-preference-learning "'GPT-2 Preference Learning for Music Generation', Gwern 2019")
- ["Superhuman Rubik’s Cube Solving"](/rubiks-cube)
- [Writing Non-Biblical Sentences](/non-biblical-sentences)
- [My 2025 LLM System Prompts](/system-prompts-2025)
- ["Spoilage"](/fiction/spoilage)
- ["The City of Counted Stars"](/fiction/astrology)
- ["Chapter 6, Mime Molting: What to Expect"](/fiction/molting)
- [Claude-2: "Bats With Baby Faces"](/claude-2)

# Generative AI: Poetry

- ["Apollonian 1: Counted & Crowned"](/fiction/lab-animals); [2: "The River That Forgets"](/fiction/alice)
- ["Your Hands And Mine"](/fiction/your-hands-and-mine)
- ["_Tilakkhana_"](/fiction/tilakkhana)
- ["Silver Bird Above SF"](/fiction/silver-bird); ["Elegy in a Craneyard"](/fiction/craneyard)
- ["The Fourth Truth Of Pain"](/fiction/this-last-pain) ([Failures](/fiction/this-last-pain-graveyard))
- ["A Christmas Protestation"](/fiction/christmas)
- ["Sand, Rain, Wood"](/fiction/walking)
- ["Bell, Crow, Moon: Poetic Variations"](/blog/2025/bell-crow-moon)
- [A Strict Pindaric Meter](/fiction/pindaric-strict)
- ["Human Perception at a Red Light" writing experiment](/fiction/hays)
- **Old**:

    - [**GPT-3** Poems & Fiction](/gpt-3 "'GPT-3 Creative Fiction', Gwern 2020")
    - [GPT-2](/gpt-2 "'GPT-2 Neural Network Poetry', Branwen & Presser 2019")
    - [RNN](/rnn-metadata "'RNN Metadata for Mimicking Author Style', Gwern 2015")

# Deep Learning

- [Kelly Coin-Flip Game](/coin-flip "'The Kelly Coin-Flipping Game: Exact Solutions', Branwen et al 2017")
- [Machine Learning Scaling](/doc/ai/scaling/index)
- [Efficient Transformer Attention](/doc/ai/nn/transformer/attention/index "'Efficient Attention: Breaking The Quadratic Transformer Bottleneck', Gwern 2020")
- [The MLP/FC NN Rebirth](/doc/ai/nn/fully-connected/index "'Fully-Connected Neural Nets', Gwern 2021")
- [Neural Nets Are Oversized](/doc/ai/nn/sparsity/index)
- [The End-To-End Principle](/doc/cs/end-to-end-principle/index)
- [Absolute Unit NNs: MLP Everything](/aunn "‘Absolute Unit NNs: Regression-Based MLPs for Everything’, Gwern 2023")
- [How to Write for LLMs](/llm-writing)
- [Project Ideas](/idea "‘Research Ideas’, Gwern 2017")

    - [Lean scaling laws](/lean-scaling)
    - [Style-aware generative models](/generating-style)
    - [number search engine](/oen)
    - [novelty-net sampling](/novelty-net) • [free-play period](/free-play) • [daydreaming](/ai-daydreaming)
    - [SPFN: Bayesian LLM by Reversing Stan](/spfn)
    - [Towards a Better Hutter Prize](/hutter-prize)

# Computer Science

- [Surprisingly Turing-Complete](/turing-complete)
- [Archiving URLs](/archiving){#archiving-urls-2}
- [Gwtar: static efficient single-file HTML](/gwtar)
- [The `sort --key` Trick](/sort)
- [Internet WiFi Improvement](/wifi)
- [The 3 Grenades](/3-grenades "'The Three Grenades and the Four Noble Truths', Gwern 2008")
- [Computers In Computers](/computers "'How Many Computers Are In Your Computer?', Gwern 2010")
- [Computers Are Fast](/note/faster "'Computer Optimization: Your Computer Is Faster Than You Think', Gwern 2021")
- [Utext: Rich Unicode Documents](/utext)
- [Unsorting Lists for Diversity](/unsort)
- [Rock-Paper-Scissors as game mechanic](/rock-paper-scissors)

# Haskell

- [Haskell Summer Of Code](/haskell/summer-of-code "'Summers of Code, 2006–2013', Gwern 2009")
- [Gambling Problem #14](/problem-14 "‘Problem 14 Dynamic Programming Solutions’, Branwen  et al 2022")
- [Archiving GitHub](/haskell/archiving-github)
- [Wikipedia Archive Bot](/haskell/wikipedia-archive-bot "'Writing a Wikipedia Link Archive Bot', Gwern 2008")
- [WP RSS Archive Bot](/haskell/wikipedia-rss-archive-bot "'Writing a Wikipedia RSS Link Archive Bot', Gwern 2009")
- [Resilient Haskell Software](/resilient-software)
- [Evolutionary Licenses](/evolutionary-license "'Evolutionary Software Licenses', Gwern 2009")
- [Elegant Run Length Coding](/haskell/run-length-encoding "'Golfing Run Length Encoding in Haskell', Gwern 2008")
- [Choosing Software](/choosing-software)

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---

# Cognition

- [Spaced Repetition & Learning](/spaced-repetition "'Spaced Repetition for Efficient Learning', Gwern 2009"){#spaced-repetition-3}
- [Dual _n_-Back FAQ](/dnb-faq)
- [Dual _n_-Back Meta-Analysis](/dnb-meta-analysis "'Dual _n_-Back Meta-Analysis', Gwern 2012")
- [Iodine Adult-IQ Meta-Analysis](/iodine "'Iodine and Adult IQ meta-analysis', Gwern 2012"){#iodine-2}
- [Conscientiousness & Online Ed](/conscientiousness "'Conscientiousness & Online Education', Gwern 2012")
- [SMPY G&T Bibliography](/smpy "'SMPY Bibliography', Gwern 2018")
- [Creatine Cognition Meta-Analysis](/creatine)
- [How Complex Human Differences?](/difference "'How Complex Are Individual Differences?', Gwern 2010")
- [Anne Roe's Elite Scientists](/doc/iq/high/anne-roe/index)
- [Intelligence Of _Portia_ Spiders](/doc/biology/portia/index)
- [Anti-spaced-repetition](/anti-spaced-repetition)
- [LW Anchoring Experiment](/anchoring)

# Psychology

- [Are Sunk Costs Fallacies?](/sunk-cost){#sunk-cost-2}
- [Lithium In Drinking Water](/lithium "'Lithium in ground-water and well-being', Gwern 2010")
- [Morning-Writing Effect](/morning-writing "'What Is The Morning Writing Effect?', Gwern 2011")
- [The Collecting Mindset](/collecting "'What Is The Collecting Mindset?', Gwern 2021")
- [Why Do Hipsters Steal Stuff?](/larping)
- [Progress In Beauty](/beauty)
- [Ordinary Incompetence](/note/competence)
- [Finding Feynman's Maze Story](/maze "‘Feynman’s Maze-Running Story’, Gwern 2014")
- [Elon Musk](/doc/psychiatry/bipolar/elon-musk/index)
- [Potent Drugs As Psychological Warfare](/rtx)
- [Why To Not Write A Book](/book-writing)
- [Why So Few Matt Levines?](/matt-levine)

# Behavior Genetics

- [Embryo Selection For Traits](/embryo-selection "'Embryo Selection For Intelligence', Gwern 2016")
- [Bakewell's Invention: Breeding](/review/bakewell "'Origins of Innovation: Bakewell & Breeding', Gwern 2018")
- [Dog Cloning For Special Forces](/clone "'Dog Cloning For Special Forces: Breed All You Can Breed', Gwern 2018")
- [History of IES](/ies-history)
- [Drug Evolutionary Heuristics](/drug-heuristic "'The Algernon Argument', Gwern 2010")
- [Genetics In Herbert's _Dune_](/dune-genetics "'Genetics and Eugenics in Frank Herbert’s Dune-verse', Gwern 2018")
- [Genetics In _My Little Pony_](/mlp-genetics "'Race in My Little Pony', Gwern 2018")
- [Amusing Ourselves To Death?](/amuse)
- [Emergenesis: Genius' Genetics?](/doc/genetics/heritable/emergenesis/index)
- [Non-Gene Variance Components](/doc/statistics/variance-component/index "'Variance Components Beyond Genetics', Gwern 2019")
- [Could Deer Evolve Away Accidents?](/deer-evolution)

# Economics

- [Ordinary Life Improvements](/improvement "'My Ordinary Life: Improvements Since the 1990s', Gwern 2018")
- [Girl Scouts & Good Governance](/girl-scouts "'Girl Scouts & Good Corporate Governance', Gwern 2011")
- [Console Insurance](/console-insurance "'Console Insurance Is A Ripoff', Gwern 2009")
- [Buying Greenland](/greenland "'Reasons of State: Why Didn’t Denmark Sell Greenland?', Gwern 2011")
- [Long Bets's Design Problems](/long-bets "'Long Bets as Charitable Giving Opportunity', Gwern 2017")
- [Copyright Deadweight Loss](/doc/economics/copyright/index)
- [Local Optima & Greedy Choice](/note/local-optima "'Local Optima & Greedy Choices', Gwern 2021")
- [IQ/Income](/doc/iq/ses/index)
- [Self-funding Harberger copyright tax](/harberger)
- [Copyright](/copyright "'Against Copyright', Gwern 2008")

# Economics: Tech

- [Commoditize Your Complement](/complement "'Laws of Tech: Commoditize Your Complement', Gwern 2018")
- [Timing Tech: Media Lab Lessons](/timing "'Timing Technology: Lessons From The Media Lab', Gwern 2012")

    - [DARPA & The SCI VC Program](/review/arpa "'ARPA and SCI: Surfing AI', Gwern 2018")
    - [The Garden Of Forking Paths](/forking-path "'Technology Forecasting: The Garden of Forking Paths', Gwern 2014")
- [Moore's Law & Chip Fabs](/slowing-moores-law "'Slowing Moore’s Law: How It Could Happen', Gwern 2012")
- ['Holy Wars' Coordination Problem](/holy-war "'Technology Holy Wars are Coordination Problems', Gwern 2020")
- [Startup Ideas](/startup-idea "'Startup Ideas', Gwern 2017")
- [Automation/Colonization Wave](/doc/economics/automation/index)

# Domestic Cats

- [Cat Psychology/Domestication](/review/cat "'Cat Psychology & Domestication: Are We Good Owners?', Gwern 2018")
- [Catnip Rate Meta-Analysis](/catnip "'Catnip immunity and alternatives', Gwern 2015")

    - [Solving Catnip POMDPs](/catnip#optimal-catnip-alternative-selection-solving-the-mdp "'Catnip immunity and alternatives § Optimal catnip alternative selection: solving the MDP', Gwern 2015")
    - [Catnip Breeding](/catnip#breeding-cats-to-increase-frequency-of-catnip-response "'Catnip immunity and alternatives § Breeding cats to increase frequency of catnip response', Gwern 2015")
- [Catnip Surveys](/catnip-survey "'World Catnip Surveys', Gwern 2015")
- [Cat-Caused Accidents](/fuzz-testing "'Fuzz Testing', Gwern 2018")
- [Why Cats Like Earwax](/earwax "'Why Cats Love Earwax', Gwern 2019")
- [Cats As Horror Movie Villains](/cat-horror)
- [<em>Cat</em>itecture: Better Cat Window Boxes](/catitecture)
- [What is it Like to be a Cat Tail?](/blog/2021/cat-tail)

# Practical

- [Internet Search Tips](/search "'Internet Search Tips', Gwern 2018")
- [On Having Enough Socks](/socks)
- [Plastination Vs Cryonics](/plastination "'Plastination versus Cryonics', Gwern 2011")
- [Vitamin D Longevity](/longevity "'Life Extension Cost-Benefits', Gwern 2015")
- [Falling & Head Injuries](/doc/psychiatry/traumatic-brain-injury/index)
- [Bjorksten Aging Papers](/doc/longevity/johan-bjorksten/index)
- [Oldest possible food](/oldest-food)
- [How Long Would “Weird Al” Survive In A Freezer?](/rocky-road)

# Design

- [Gwern.net Design](/design "'Design Of This Website', Gwern 2010"){#design-2}, [Lessons](/design-graveyard "‘Design Graveyard’, Gwern 2010"), [Traffic](/traffic "'Gwern.net Website Traffic', Gwern 2011")

    - [Feature test page](/lorem)
    - [Manual of Style](/style-guide)
    - [InvertOrNot.com](/invertornot)
- [Sidenotes In Web Design](/sidenote){#sidenotes-2}
- [Rubrication Design Examples](/red)
- [Poetry HTML Typesetting](/poetry-html)
- ["Top-<em>k</em> Reading: Against Polishing Median Essays"](/polish)
- [Who Buys Fonts?](/font)
- [On Subscripting Citations](/subscript "'Subscripts For Citations', Gwern 2020")
- [Use Rarer Greek Variables](/variable "'Rare Greek Variables', Gwern 2021"){#gwern-variables-2}
- [Twitter Follow-UX Problems](/twitter)
- [Website Colors: Red vs Blue](/web-color)
- [Grow-Speech Specification](/grow-speech); [Go-Speech](/go-speech)

# QS: Sleep

<span id="supplements">​</span>

- [Melatonin For Sleep](/melatonin "'Melatonin', Gwern 2008")
- [Modafinil As Stimulant](/modafinil "'Modafinil', Gwern 2009")
- [Modafinil Use Survey](/modafinil-survey "'Modafinil community survey', Gwern 2015")
- [Self-Experiments](/zeo/zeo "'Zeo sleep self-experiments', Gwern 2010"):

    - [Caffeine](/zeo/caffeine "'Caffeine wakeup experiment', Gwern 2013")
    - [Potassium](/zeo/potassium "'Potassium sleep experiments', Gwern 2012")
    - [Redshift](/zeo/redshift "'Redshift sleep experiment', Gwern 2012")
    - [Vitamin D](/zeo/vitamin-d "'Vitamin D sleep experiments', Gwern 2012")
    - [ZMA Mix](/zeo/zma "'ZMA Sleep Experiment', Gwern 2017")
- [Wooden Pillows](/wood-pillow "'Wooden Pillow', Gwern 2008")
- [Lunar Sleep Rhythms](/lunar "'Lunar circadian rhythms', Gwern 2013")

# QS

- [Nootropics Experiments](/nootropic/nootropics "'Nootropics', Gwern 2010")
- [LSD Microdosing](/lsd-microdosing "'LSD microdosing RCT', Gwern 2012")
- [Blind Mineral Water Taste Test](/water "'Self-Blinded Mineral Water Taste Test', Gwern 2017")
- [Spirulina Allergy Experiment](/2014-spirulina "'2014 Spirulina randomized self-experiment', Gwern 2014")
- [Bitter Melon Blood-Glucose](/melon "'Bitter Melon for blood glucose', Gwern 2015")
- [Meditation & Math Errors](/lewis-meditation "'2013 Lewis meditation results', Gwern 2013")
- [Weather & My Mood](/weather "'Weather and My Productivity', Gwern 2013")
- [Treadmill Memory & Typing](/treadmill "'Treadmill desk observations', Gwern 2012")
- [Bacopa Quasi-Experiment](/bacopa)
- [2013 LLLT Self-Experiment](/lllt)
- [Acne: a good QS topic](/acne)

---

# Politics

- [Melancholy Of Subculture Society](/subculture "'The Melancholy of Subculture Society', Gwern 2009"){#subculture-2}
- [Terrorism Is Not About Terror](/terrorism-is-not-about-terror)
- [Terrorism Is Not Effective](/terrorism-is-not-effective)
- [Colder Wars In Space](/colder-war "'Colder Wars', Gwern 2009")
- [Parasocial Relationships Online](/doc/sociology/technology/parasocial/index)
- [Unreasonable Small Groups' Efficacy](/doc/sociology/small-groups/index "'The Effectiveness of Unreasonable Small Groups', Gwern 2021")
- [Political Fashions](/note/fashion "'Fashion Cycles', Gwern 2021")
- [Best Of _Abandoned Footnotes_](/doc/sociology/abandoned-footnotes/index)

# Epistemology

- [Existential Risks & Math Errors](/math-error "'The Existential Risk of Math Errors', Gwern 2012"){#math-error-2}
- [Hacker Mindset: Seeing Through](/unseeing "'On Seeing Through and Unseeing: The Hacker Mindset', Gwern 2012")
- [On Powerful Natural Languages](/language "'On the Existence of Powerful Natural Languages', Gwern 2016")
- [Littlewood’s Law & The Global Media](/littlewood "'Littlewood’s Law and the Global Media', Gwern 2018")

    - [The Lizardman Constant](/doc/sociology/survey/lizardman/index "'Lizardman Constant in Surveys', Gwern 2013")
- [Internet Community Design](/internet-community-design)
- [One Man's _Modus Ponens_...](/modus)
- [Newton's Cosmology & Comets](/newton "'Newton’s System of the World and Comets', Gwern 2016")
- [Simulation Inferences](/simulation-inference)
- [Hacking Smartphone ESP Apps](/esp-hacking)

# Philosophy

- [Culture Is Not About Esthetics](/culture-is-not-about-esthetics)
- [Video Games as Art](/video-game-art)
- [Impossibility of Retrocognition](/retrocognition "‘The Impossibility of Knowledge of Retrocognitive Knowledge’, gwern 2023")
- [Ontological Pantheism](/ontological-pantheism)
- [On Disrespect](/on-disrespect)
- [Against The Miletians](/miletian "'Against the Miletians and the One True Element', Gwern 2008")
- ["NYT & Vaping: How To Lie With The Truth"](/vaping)
- <span id="ethics">​</span> **Ethics**

  - [The Narrowing Circle](/narrowing-circle)
  - [An Abortion Dialogue](/abortion)
  - [Immoral Books](/immoral-book)
  - [Justifications](/justification "'On Justifications', Gwern 2008")
  - [Ethicists' Ethics](/doc/philosophy/ethics/ethicists/index)
  - [Anencephaly Infant Organ Donation Survey](/organ-donation-survey)

---

# Literary Criticism

- **Time travel**:

    - ["Story Of Your Life" ≠ Time Travel](/story-of-your-life "'‘Story Of Your Life’ Is Not A Time-Travel Story', Gwern 2012")
    - [R. Scott Bakker's _Second Apocalypse_](/review/bakker "'<em>The Second Apocalypse</em>: Freedom In An Unfree Universe', Gwern 2017")
    - [<em>Timecrimes</em>: Time Travel In Hell](/review/timecrimes)
- [_MLP_: Immanetizing the Equestrian](/review/mlp)
- [Wolfe's "Suzanne Delage" is _Dracula_](/suzanne-delage "'Interpreting ‘Suzanne Delage’', Gwern 2009")
- ["Scanners Live In Vain" Realism](/scanners "'‘Scanners Live in Vain’ as realistic SF', Gwern 2013")
- ['Screwfly Solution' Solution](/screwfly "'The ‘Screwfly Solution’ Solution: Bi-Sexuality', Gwern 2021")
- [Tragedy of Grand Admiral Thrawn](/thrawn)

# Anime

- [The Melancholy Of Kyon](/kyon){#kyon-2}
- **_Death Note_** [Anonymity](/death-note-anonymity "'Death Note: L, Anonymity & Eluding Entropy', Gwern 2011"),  [Ending](/death-note-ending "'Death Note’s Ending', Gwern 2008")

    - [Movie Script Authors](/death-note-script "'Who Wrote The ‘Death Note’ Script?', Gwern 2009")
- [Hafu Gender Ratios In Anime](/hafu)
- [_Aria_'s Past, Present, & Future](/aria "'Aria’s Past, Present, and Future', Gwern 2011")
- [_FMP_ Parodies](/fmp-parody "'Parody in Full Metal Panic!', Gwern 2008")
- [On Development Hell](/development-hell)
- [Why OVAs?](/ova)
- [Why ugly Western animation?](/ugly-anime)
- [Why _Space Battleship Yamato_?](/review/space-battleship-yamato)

# Fiction: Prose

- [October The First Is Too Late](/fiction/october)
- [The Gift Of The Amygdali](/fiction/batman)
- [Second life sentences](/second-life-sentence)
- [The Ones Who Walk Towards Acre](/fiction/acre)
- [Three Missing Cities](/fiction/missing-cities "'Missing Cities', Gwern 2009")
- [The Erl King](/fiction/erl-king)
- [Men Of Iron](/fiction/men-of-iron)
- [Gilles Goullet, _Blindsight_ Author](/fiction/menard "'Gilles Goullet, Author of the Blindsight', Gwern 2010")
- [How The Panther Got Black](/fiction/how-the-panther-got-black)
- [The Palace Of Wonders](/fiction/palace)
<!-- - [_Cloud Nine_](/fiction/cloud-nine) -->
- [_Dinosaur Comics_ Comics](/fiction/dinosaur-comics)
- [Epigrams & Humor](/epigram "'Epigrams', Gwern 2014")

# Fiction: Verse

- [Miscellaneous Poems](/fiction/poem "'Poems', Gwern 2011")
- [Brave Poem](/fiction/brave-poem)
- [Dying Outside](/fiction/dying-outside)
- [Poems On _Genshiken_ Theme](/fiction/genshiken "'Poems on the theme of Genshiken', Gwern 2011")
- [Safecracker](/fiction/safecracker "'The Safecracker of Hearts', Gwern 2009")
- [Hybrid Rainbow](/fiction/hybrid-rainbow)
- [The Mulberry Tree](/fiction/mulberry)
- [The Snowbanks Of Time](/fiction/snowbank)

---

# Docs

- [Browse By Tag](/doc/index) ([newest](/doc/newest/index){#newest-2}), [Bounties](/fulltext "'Research Bounties On Fulltexts', Gwern 2018")
- [Rotten.com Library Archives](/doc/rotten.com/library/index.html "'The Rotten Library archives', Rotten.com 2019")
- [OKCupid Statistics Blog Archives](/doc/psychology/okcupid/index)
- ["Shiny Balls Of Mud"](/doc/japan/art/2002-gibson "'Shiny balls of Mud: William Gibson Looks at Japanese Pursuits of Perfection', Gibson 2012") (Gibson)
- ["Even More Aphorisms & 10s Essays"](/doc/philosophy/2010-richardson-bythenumbers-vectors30 "'Vectors 3.0: Even More Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays', Richardson 2018")
- ["Nor The Summers As Golden"](/doc/culture/2007-wolfe "'Nor the Summers as Golden: Writing Multivolume Works', Wolfe 2012") (Wolfe)
- ["Loyal To The Group Of 17's Story"](/doc/culture/1983-wolfe-thecitadeloftheautarch-thejustman "'Loyal to the Group of Seventeen’s Story—The Just Man', Wolfe 2018")

# Docs: Science

- [_Radiance_](/doc/radiance/2002-scholz-radiance "'Radiance: A Novel', Scholz et al 2013") (Carter Scholz)
- ["The Iron Law Of Evaluation"](/doc/sociology/1987-rossi "'The Iron Law Of Evaluation And Other Metallic Rules', Rossi 2012")
- ["You And Your Research"](/doc/science/1986-hamming) (Hamming)
- ["Sanity & Survival"](/doc/existential-risk/1985-hofstadter "'Metamagical Themas: Sanity and Survival', Hofstadter 2012") (Hofstadter)
- ["Hope Function In Fruitless Search"](/doc/statistics/bayes/hope-function/1994-falk "'The Ups and Downs of the Hope Function In a Fruitless Search', Falk et al 2012")
- ["Climb Mount Improbable"](/doc/genetics/selection/www.mountimprobable.com/index.html) (Dawkins)
- ["The Sword Of Achilles"](/doc/culture/1963-asimov) (Asimov)
- [Norvir's Vanishing Polymorphs](/doc/biology/2000-iapac-norvir/description.html "'Norvir Advisory', Care 2000")

# Docs: Crypto

- [Cryptography & P=NP, Nash 1955](/doc/cs/cryptography/nash/1955-nash "'John Nash on cryptography', Nash 2012")
- [Wei Dai/Satoshi Nakamoto Emails](/doc/bitcoin/2008-nakamoto "'Wei Dai/Satoshi Nakamoto 2009 Bitcoin emails', Nakamoto & Dai 2014")
- ["Bitcoin's Mysterious Inventor"](/doc/bitcoin/2011-davis "'The Crypto-Currency: Bitcoin and its mysterious inventor', Davis 2013")
- [_Drugs 2.0_: "Crack's In The Post"](/doc/darknet-market/silk-road/1/2013-power "'Drugs 2.0: Your Crack’s in the Post', Power 2013")
- [Jed McCaleb/MtGox Interview](/doc/bitcoin/2014-mccaleb "'2014 Jed McCaleb MtGox interview', McCaleb 2014")

# Docs: Anime

- ["Talk About _RahXephon_"](/doc/anime/eva/2003-oshii-izubuchi "'Talk About RahXephon: In Search of Fantasy and Details', Oshii & Izubuchi 2012")
- ["Yutaka Izubuchi × Anno"](/doc/anime/eva/2003-rahxephoncomplete-anno-izubuchi "'Special Talk: Yutaka Izubuchi × Hideaki Anno', Anno & Izubuchi 2012")
- ["Otaku Talk"](/doc/anime/eva/little-boy/2004-okada) (Okada et al)
- ["Earth In My Window"](/doc/anime/eva/little-boy/2005-murakami), ["Little Boy"](/doc/anime/eva/little-boy/2005-little-boy "'Excerpts from Little Boy', Murakami 2013")
- [_Utena_ 2011 Boxset Commentary](/doc/anime/1997-utena "'Utena 2011 Boxset Booklet Commentary', Ikuhara et al 2013")
- ["On The Battlefield Of 'Superflat' "](/doc/anime/eva/little-boy/2005-sawaragi)
- ["Ero-Anime: Manga Comes Alive"](/doc/anime/2010-sarrazin)

# Docs: NGE

- [_Evangelion_ Source Anthology](/otaku "'Neon Genesis Evangelion source anthology', Gwern 2009")
- [_The Notenki Memoirs_](/doc/anime/eva/notenki-memoirs/2002-takeda-notenkimemoirs "'The Notenki Memoirs: Studio Gainax And The Men Who Created Evangelion', Takeda 2010") (Takeda)
- [_Rebuild 2.0 CRC_](/doc/anime/eva/2010-crc "'Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection', Hikawa et al 2011")
- ["Conscience Of The Otaking"](/doc/anime/eva/1996-animerica-conscience "'The Conscience of the Otaking: The Studio Gainax Saga in Four Parts', Okada 2011")
- [Michael House On Gainax](/doc/anime/eva/2011-house "‘Interviewing translator Michael House’, House 2011")
- [1996](/doc/anime/eva/1996-newtype-anno-interview "'June 1996 NewType Interview with Hideaki Anno', Anno & Inoue 2012"), [1997 Anno Interview](/doc/anime/eva/1997-anno-english "'May 1997 AnimeLand Interview with Hideaki Anno (English)', Anno 2012")

---

# Wikipedia

- [In Defense Of Inclusionism](/inclusionism)
- [WP & Google Knol](/wikipedia-and-knol "'Wikipedia & Knol: Why Knol Already Failed', Gwern 2009")
- [WP & Google YouTube](/wikipedia-and-youtube "'Wikipedia & YouTube', Gwern 2009")
- [WP & Darkside Editing](/wikipedia-and-dark-side-editing "'Wikipedia and Dark Side Editing', Gwern 2009")
- [WP & Other Wikis](/wikipedia-and-other-wikis "'Wikipedia and Other Wikis', Gwern 2009")
- [My Old WP Edits](/wikipedia-resume "'Wikipedia Résumé', Gwern 2010")

# Reviews

- [Anime](/review/anime "'Anime Reviews', Gwern 2010"):

    - [_Princess Kaguya_](/review/princess-kaguya)
    - [_Last Unicorn_](/review/the-last-unicorn)

- [Movies](/review/movie "'Movie Reviews', Gwern 2014"): [_Crumb_](/review/crumb) • [_The Bridge_](/review/the-bridge)
- [Operas](/review/opera "‘Opera Reviews’, Gwern 2019")
- [Teas](/review/tea "'Tea Reviews', Gwern 2011")

    - [Why is microwaving bad?](/microwave-tea)

# Reviews: Books

[Book reviews](/review/book "'Book Reviews', Gwern 2013"){#book-reviews-2}:

- [_McNamara's Folly_](/review/mcnamara "'McNamara’s Folly: The Denial of Individual Differences', Gwern 2018")
- [_The Cultural Revolution_](/review/cultural-revolution "'Review Of The Cultural Revolution, Dikötter 2016', Gwern 2019")
- [_Umineko no Naku Koro Ni_](/review/umineko "'Umineko: The Hopium Of The Magics', Gwern 2018")
- [_The Quantum Thief_](/review/quantum-thief)
- [_I Remember Lemuria!_](/review/lemuria)

# Personal

- [About Website](/about "'About This Website', Gwern 2010"){#about-2}
- [Links/About Me](/me "'About Gwern', Gwern 2009"){#links-2}
- [Interview with Dwarkesh Patel](/interview-dwarkesh "‘Gwern Branwen—How an Anonymous Researcher Predicted AI’s Trajectory’, Gwern & Patel 2024")
- [Inkhaven interview on ideas](/interview-inkhaven)
- [Interview on risk-taking & self-experiment](/interview-risk)
- [Old Newsletters](/doc/newsletter/index){#newsletter-archives-2}
- [Misc Notes](/note/note "'Miscellaneous', Gwern 2009")

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