This is the bi-weekly visible open thread (there are also hidden open threads twice a week you can reach through the Open Thread tab on the top of the page). Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. You can also talk at the SSC subreddit or the SSC Discord server. Also:

1. Comment of the week is mrjeremyfade on how companies are responding to the new tax bill – in particular, their difficulties winding down their now-obsolete tax evasion schemes without admitting they were always just tax evasion schemes.

2. New sidebar ad – this one for Mark Neyer’s book The Mechanics Of Emotion, which he describes as “an exploration of physics, emotion, money, AI, and meaning. Also, dirty jokes.”

3. And an update from another advertiser – Nectome, previous winner of the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize, is back in the news for winning the Large Mammal Brain Preservation Prize. They don’t have a human product available yet, but there’s a waitlist which apparently includes Sam Altman. Obviously Nectome’s embalming process is 100% fatal, and not aimed at anyone except the terminally ill.

4. The Future of Humanity Institute is doing some experiments on human judgment and probability calibration, and asks me to pass on the link for anyone willing to play some online game-type-things.