Sam Levey

I posted a new video! It's the first in a series of videos that will explain the concept of "Degrees of Freedom" from statistics, in a way that actually makes sense. I'm really excited about this one - check it out! youtube.com/watch?v=VDlnuO…

We inherit scripts we mistake for our own thoughts. “Work hard and succeed.” “Nothing’s free.” “Deserve versus undeserve.” These aren’t merely words, they’re lines of code, shaping how we perceive possibility, worth, and reality itself.

I have to decide whether to use bold or italics for the names of matrices in a video, and this is exactly the kind of low-stakes tiny decision that I am terrible at making 😭

If there actually is something incriminating in the Epstein files, then my money would be on them eventually releasing a version with that edited out, then people quickly realize it's been doctored, which inflames the scandal even more. Or at least a guy can dream!

It's fascinating the juxtaposition of people who on the one hand claim to demand more social order, and then on the other hand personally have no discipline whatsoever. "Everything is projection," etc.

I would happily accept this trade

One thing is quickly becoming clear about “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigrant detention camp that the state of Florida just opened in the middle of the Everglades: The politicians running the place are bigger lawbreakers than many of the immigrants they’re locking up. 🧵...

Something I've seen libertarian-types do over and over again is define the word "coercion" in a way that makes "private property" not-coercive, despite it being very obviously an inherently coercive institution. Better to just own it, guys!

The basic reason I don't buy this kind of thinking is because the whole point of a lot social institutions is to stabilize outcomes, by absorbing shocks. Meaning, to the extent that the chaos happens within the expected design parameters, the ultimate outcome is still the same.

sometimes when you read about history you come across periods, often relatively short, where, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems like basically everyone went absolutely insane. present moment feels vaguely like this

Much of the tech sector for 2 decades has been: form a startup to explore some innovation, with the intention that if it proves itself, one of FAANG would buy it. The public sector should adopt this model more. Might even have the federal gov pay state/local govs for good ideas.

Here's an idea to deal with partisan gerrymandering: What if districts were basically fixed forever. The exception being that If people in a district want to change it, they can get majority approval from all the people in that district and any other district affected.

my @NewYorker column this week is on Posting Ennui: social media is becoming so noisy, fraught, and mediated by AI and algorithms that average users aren't feeling like posting as much. What happens when the internet runs out of mundane content?

Here's a dilemma of our time: it feels vital for important ideas to be represented in the public debate, but also, nobody is actually willing to listen and change their mind. To shout into the void, or save your breath? That is the question.

I basically no longer think that "capitalism vs. socialism" is an interesting question, and the more useful question that subsumes it is "what governance structures should we have, and in which situations?"

It was useful in Russia to see how many of Umberto Eco's "features of fascism" were happening under Putin. I never thought I'd be applying it to the USA, but instead of calling Trump names, go down the list and try it yourself.

With a high degree of confidence, we can confirm new inference tests are now live! 🎉 🗒️ Learn more in the Desmos Help Center: help.desmos.com/hc/en-us/artic…

The next video in my series on Degrees of Freedom is posted! This one provides a geometric explanation of Bessel's Correction, which refers to the "n minus 1" in the sample variance that confuses the hell out of everybody. Enjoy! youtu.be/8e9aDMXRRlc