Top all-time · #2791
Aceso Under Glass
Personal blog · acesounderglass.comhealthsciencephilosophy
Aceso Under Glass is a personal blog at acesounderglass.com about health, science and philosophy. Since 2015, 27 different Hacker News readers have linked it 54 times, most often “What to write down when you’re reading to learn”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-10, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Elizabeth Van Nostrand's blog of essays on epistemics and argument, including the 'epistemic legibility' concept, epistemic spot checks of books, and homelessness policy. Often cited as a source.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
What if we understood more things?
Most-linked posts?
- What to write down when you’re reading to learn3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-06-11
- Epistemic legibility: being easy to argue with is a virtue3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-03-25
- Groups of Homeless People2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-04-05
- Predictions as a Substitute for Reviews2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-11
- /2017/04/18/epistemic-spot-check-a-brief-history-of-the-human-race-michael-cook/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-12-04
What Hacker News says?
This is delightful. Read it. ALSO I believe I have found one of the sources of claude’s “load bearing” tic — the author Elizabeth Van Nostrand’s blog https://acesounderglass.com/2019/12/11/hows-that-epistemic-s... uses the phrase “load bearing facts” in a comprehensible way, and was written by someone rationalist adjacent writing in their own voice. Seriously, this is big. I’m going to pester claude as to whether or…
Comment linking /2019/12/11/hows-that-epistemic-spot-check-project-coming/
on “Frog and Toad and the Increasingly Capable Machines”Submitted What to write down when you’re reading to learn as a story · 298 points
HN discussionAccording to the author, the illustrations are human-made: https://acesounderglass.com/2026/09/25/frog-and-toad-and-the... The author discloses the story started as a prompt to Claude, but has been rewritten. She shares the conversation: https://claude.ai/share/52385381-9df2-4b39-a127-f583d862dc0c I think the actual published prose is considerably different from the initial result of Claude.
Comment linking /2026/09/25/frog-and-toad-and-the-increasingly-capable-machines/
on “Frog and Toad and the Increasingly Capable Machines”Submitted Epistemic legibility: being easy to argue with is a virtue as a story · 242 points
HN discussionInteresting! This is the second time I see a strong recommendation for that product (first one was [0]). Seems pretty expensive ($300) for a vibrating bracelet. Couldn't you emulate the effect with an Android smart watch and a custom app? [0] https://acesounderglass.com/2023/05/08/product-endorsement-a...
Comment linking /2023/05/08/product-endorsement-apollo-neuro/
on “The vagus nerve orchestrates the mind-body connection”Submitted Emotional Blocks as Obstacles to Learning as a story · 204 points
HN discussionI really appreciated the concept of "epistemic legibility" as a virtue. Arguments are most valuable when they are clear and concise. It makes them easier to refute if wrong and easier to extend/apply if correct. As far as I know, the phrase was coined here: https://acesounderglass.com/2022/02/07/epistemic-legibility/
Comment linking /2022/02/07/epistemic-legibility/
on “We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute”Submitted Coping with Cats as a story · 142 points
HN discussion(the author is a woman: https://acesounderglass.com/about-me-2/ )
Comment linking /about-me-2/
on “Epistemic legibility: being easy to argue with is a virtue”Submitted Cost Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction as a story · 134 points
HN discussionMaybe check out other posts on the blog to see how they did it? They've done epistemic spot checks on book chapters. It sounds like a lot of work! Looks like these blog posts are tagged: https://acesounderglass.com/tag/epistemicspotcheck/
Comment linking /tag/epistemicspotcheck/
on “Epistemic legibility: being easy to argue with is a virtue”Submitted Dear self: we need to talk about social media as a story · 129 points
HN discussionI am a 35-year-old person, and I have spent at least 5 years now trying to figure out how to read for comprehension and retention. There is no simple solution, but I do think people discount "familiarity". The truth is that it is tough, and it is slow. I also found this helpful: "The single most helpful thing in figuring out what to write down was noticing when my reading was slowing down, which typically meant eith…
Comment linking /2020/06/10/what-to-write-down-when-youre-reading-to-learn/
on “How to Read a Textbook (2003)”Submitted The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance as a story · 125 points
HN discussionI go through phases of mostly reading online vs mostly reading printed books. I strongly suspect that pieces like this, which focus on saving print culture, are driven more by emotion than reason. Just because it's in print doesn't mean it's worth reading. For example, many printed books are literally fiction. If you read something online, more likely than not it is at least "based on a true story". Our culture atta…
Comment linking /2017/04/18/epistemic-spot-check-a-brief-history-of-the-human-race-michael-cook/
on “Home Libraries Will Save Civilization”Submitted Bullshit Job Notes as a story · 124 points
HN discussionPossibly worth noting that this is a crosspost of https://acesounderglass.com/2022/02/04/butterfly-ideas/
Comment linking /2022/02/04/butterfly-ideas/
on “Butterfly Ideas”Submitted Groups of Homeless People as a story · 107 points
HN discussionSounds like an excellent example of policies failing to address different types of homeless, as described at https://acesounderglass.com/2019/04/03/5-groups-of-homeless-... . Optimal aid for people who just got priced out is not optimal aid for people who use a stairwell as a restroom.
Comment linking /2019/04/03/5-groups-of-homeless-people/
on “D.C. housed the homeless in upscale apartments. It hasn’t gone as planned”Submitted Why Open Offices? as a story · 107 points
HN discussionI've been reading a lot of history books. For me, reading history is like reading fiction but better. It still transports me to a different place. But the characters are more realistic. My suspension of disbelief never breaks. And I learn about things which really happened. If you just want to dip your toe in reading history, the Cartoon Guide to the History of the Universe series is a reasonable place to start. I t…
Comment linking /2017/04/18/epistemic-spot-check-a-brief-history-of-the-human-race-michael-cook/
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022”Submitted Predictions as a Substitute for Reviews as a story · 80 points
HN discussionI am aware that there are problems with the books, even some serious ones. But I find that hardly surprising from a book that references a 1000 other scholarly works. But the reason you can critique the book effectively is because he references where his claims originate from. In the language of this essay [1], Graeber's work is legible, Harari's not at all. [1] https://acesounderglass.com/2022/02/07/epistemic-legib…
Comment linking /2022/02/07/epistemic-legibility/
on “Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?”Submitted Knowing I’m Being Tricked Is Barely Enough as a story · 80 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Balto/Togo theory of scientific development as a story · 77 points
HN discussionSubmitted Impact of Depression and Its Treatment on Productivity as a story · 77 points
HN discussionSubmitted Antidepressants and medical uncertainty as a story · 69 points
HN discussionSubmitted Where to Start Research? as a story · 29 points
HN discussionSubmitted Literature Review: MDMA as a story · 16 points
HN discussionSubmitted Review: The End Is Always Near as a story · 14 points
HN discussion
