Top all-time · #534
Experimental History
Personal blog · experimental-history.comwritingsciencephilosophy
Experimental History is a personal blog at experimental-history.com about writing, science and philosophy. Since 2023, 111 different Hacker News readers have linked it 185 times, most often “The rise and fall of peer review”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 13 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Experimental History (Adam Mastroianni) for essays on psychology, science publishing and peer review, and on LLMs as 'bag of words'. Commenters call it amazing and recommend starting with specific posts.
- Recommended for · 13 comments
- Called amazing work, a great read and one of the best things read on the topic; one commenter says the writing is so good and relatable; another calls a piece r
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
1) Find what's true and make it useful. 2) Publish every other Tuesday. 3) Photo cred: my dad. Click to read Experimental History, by Adam Mastroianni, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Most-linked posts?
- The rise and fall of peer review13 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2023-04-21
- Bag of words, have mercy on us8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2025-08-05
- Science is a strong-link problem7 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2023-04-12
- The Illusion of Moral Decline5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2023-06-09
- Good conversations have lots of doorknobs (2022)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2023-05-09
- I’m so sorry for psychology’s loss, whatever it is5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2023-08-29
- So you wanna de-bog yourself5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2024-01-02
- You can't reach the brain through the ears4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-06-08
- Why aren't smart people happier?4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2024-09-13
- Incentives Are for Losers4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-08-05
What Hacker News says?
> It's too much fun to be home alone This reminded me of the insurance company TV ad: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/S7KX/geico-cancelled-plans > Americans are unhappier than ever For a slightly different take, the great Experimental History blog wrote about this (in a way...) too: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/there-is-no-epidemic-... > More recent data suggests that teenage loneliness might have ticked back up t…
Comment linking /p/there-is-no-epidemic-of-loneliness
on “Everybody’s home. No one’s coming over”Submitted Face it: you're a crazy person as a story · 760 points
HN discussionIt does not work that way. The model does not "know". Here is a very nice explanation of what you are actually dealing with (hint: it's not a toddler-level intelligence): https://www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-words-have-mer... instead of seeing AI as a sort of silicon homunculus, we should see it as a bag of words.
Comment linking /p/bag-of-words-have-mercy-on-us
on “Gemma 3 270M: Compact model for hyper-efficient AI”Submitted So you wanna de-bog yourself as a story · 372 points
HN discussionLooking at what you wrote about not seeing benefits of anything that doesn't directly contribute to your job fitness - please read this: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/excuse-me-but-why-are... It isn't a waste of time, I promise.
Comment linking /p/excuse-me-but-why-are-you-eating
on “The average college student today”Submitted Bag of words, have mercy on us as a story · 328 points
HN discussionRelevant https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-devian...
Comment linking /p/the-decline-of-deviance
on “How elites could shape mass preferences as AI reduces persuasion costs”Submitted The decline of deviance as a story · 313 points
HN discussionThis is from 2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32409811 - https://www.experimental-history.com/p/why-arent-smart-peopl...
Comment linking /p/why-arent-smart-people-happier
on “Why aren't smart people happier?”Submitted How to get 7th graders to smoke as a story · 205 points
HN discussionAdam Mastroianni talks about this a lot. His best example is at: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/things-could-be-bette...
Comment linking /p/things-could-be-better
on “The Lost Art of Research as Leisure”Submitted Research in psychology: are we learning anything? as a story · 182 points
HN discussionreminds me of the advice of unpacking your dreams in https://www.experimental-history.com/p/face-it-youre-a-crazy...
Comment linking /p/face-it-youre-a-crazy-person
on “To become a better writer, read as much as you can”Submitted Ideas aren't getting harder to find (2022) as a story · 138 points
HN discussionIt's difficult alright. My father is very academic and he tends to start projects but not finish them. I also recognise the same fault in myself. But I've fought it hard and won a few times with some long-term successes (using a variety of personal strategies to avoid my unproductive tendencies). We have many concepts related to what you are saying: analysis-paralysis, productivity porn, ivory tower, etcetera, etcet…
Comment linking /p/excuse-me-but-why-are-you-eating
on “So you wanna de-bog yourself”Submitted “The Mind in the Wheel” lays out a new foundation for the science of mind as a story · 125 points
HN discussionI'm floored by how good this article is, and I just read another, and was also floored. His writing reminds me a bit of Raptitude in its - everything-is-fucked-heh-let's-try-to-function-anyhow attitude. And the writing is so, so good, and wildly relatable. https://www.experimental-history.com/p/its-very-weird-to-hav...
Comment linking /p/its-very-weird-to-have-a-skull-full
on “So you wanna de-bog yourself”Submitted Pop culture has become an oligopoly (2022) as a story · 119 points
HN discussionI really, really hate how many of my problems are toothbrushing problems. I know I just need to get over it and start brushing, but... ugh. Anyway, can't recommend Adam's writing enough. Subscribed after his second post and have never regretted it. If you liked this, you should also read "You can't reach the brain through the ears", an excellent piece about failing to communicate. https://www.experimental-history.co…
Comment linking /p/you-cant-reach-the-brain-through
on “So you wanna de-bog yourself”Submitted There's a place for everyone as a story · 92 points
HN discussionReminds me of this [1] article. If us humans, after all these years we've been around, can't relay our thoughts exactly as we perceive them in our heads, what makes us think that we can make a model that does it better than us? [1]: https://www.experimental-history.com/p/you-cant-reach-the-br...
Comment linking /p/you-cant-reach-the-brain-through
on “LLMs aren't world models”Submitted There is no epidemic of loneliness, but there is an epidemic of scurvy as a story · 91 points
HN discussionhttps://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-...
Comment linking /p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review
on “Navier-Stokes Announcement”Submitted Good conversations have lots of doorknobs (2022) as a story · 89 points
HN discussionAnecdotally.. - Working from home for long stretches.. feels more like "living at work" for me. Hybrid is good. Some boundaries in my life are healthy. - Most people hate their commute. I ride my bike to work and it's the best bit of my day. - I'm in a three person startup.. a ton of the software engineering and business problems I work on get hashed out talking over lunch and coffee—or in 2 minute hallway chats. -…
Comment linking /p/science-is-a-strong-link-problem
on “Companies with return-to-office mandates face losing their most valuable workers”Submitted Science is a strong-link problem as a story · 56 points
HN discussionMaybe he's trying to "give" as per https://www.experimental-history.com/p/good-conversations-ha...
Comment linking /p/good-conversations-have-lots-of-doorknobs
on “The trap of "I am not an extrovert"”Submitted Psychology might be a big stinkin' load of hogwash and that's just fine as a story · 47 points
HN discussionYup, that's the point this article makes: I’m so sorry for psychology’s loss, whatever it is - https://www.experimental-history.com/p/im-so-sorry-for-psych... This whole debacle matters a lot socially: careers ruined, reputations in tatters, lawsuits flying. But strangely, it doesn't seem to matter much scientifically. That is, our understanding of psychology remains unchanged ... That might sound like a dunk on Gin…
Comment linking /p/im-so-sorry-for-psychologys-loss
on “Harvard concluded that a dishonesty expert committed misconduct”Submitted Underrated Ways to Change the World as a story · 35 points
HN discussion
