Top all-time · #3164
Dan Williams
Personal blog · conspicuouscognition.comphilosophypoliticsai
Dan Williams writes Conspicuous Cognition, a personal blog at conspicuouscognition.com about philosophy, politics and ai. Since 2024, 23 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “Why do people believe true things?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-18, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (1) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this Substack post on the case against social media, which a commenter cites while arguing that the case is weak and comparing it with Australia's gambling losses.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 1 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer. Academic philosopher. Writing about philosophy, psychology, evolution, politics, artificial intelligence, and more.
Most-linked posts?
- Why do people believe true things?4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2024-07-29
- Demonizing Narratives2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-04-19
- In the marketplace of ideas, are people shopping for truth?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-07-23
- The Case Against Social Media Is Weaker Than You Think2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-07-27
- Misinformation poses a smaller threat to democracy than you might think2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-06-09
- AI Will Reshape Public Opinion2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-07
- Thoughts on Ideology2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-06-26
- The Decline of Legacy Media, Rise of Vodcasters, and X's Staying Power2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-06-26
What Hacker News says?
The case against social media is pretty weak. https://www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/the-case-against-soci... Meanwhile Australia has the largest per capita losses on gambling in the world. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/gambling Which the government doesn't care about. This may have something to do that people don't criticise the government when they are just losing their life's savings.
Comment linking /p/the-case-against-social-media-is
on “Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption”Submitted Are people too flawed, ignorant, and tribal for open societies? as a story · 65 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why do people believe true things? as a story · 50 points
HN discussionSubmitted Strategic Altruism as a story · 25 points
HN discussionSubmitted For the love of God, stop talking about "post-truth" as a story · 19 points
HN discussionSubmitted The marketplace of good and bad ideas as a story · 17 points
HN discussionSubmitted Misinformation poses a smaller threat to democracy than you might think as a story · 16 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Case Against Social Media Is Weaker Than You Think as a story · 7 points
HN discussionSubmitted Let's Not Bring Back the Gatekeepers as a story · 6 points
HN discussion- zt · 2024-08-04
Submitted Why do people believe true things? as a story · 6 points
HN discussion Submitted Is Social Media Destroying Democracy–Or Giving It to Us Good and Hard? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Misinformation poses a smaller threat to democracy than you might think as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why do people believe true things? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Demonizing Narratives as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Decline of Legacy Media, Rise of Vodcasters, and X's Staying Power as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The deep and unavoidable roots of political bias as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Strategic paranoia: When irrational fears serve rational ends as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted There is no "censorship industrial complex" as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Status, Class, and the Crisis of Expertise as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fashionable Ideas as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted In the marketplace of ideas, are people shopping for truth? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why do people believe true things? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Survival of the Friendliest? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted GPT-6 Astra Reviews 'The Social Roots of Delusions' as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Decline of Legacy Media, Rise of Vodcasters, and X's Staying Power as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Is Misinformation, Anyway? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Marketplace of Misleading Ideas as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Demonizing Narratives as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How AI Will Reshape Public Opinion as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI Will Reshape Public Opinion as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
