2019 Survey Results

Slate Star Codex

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PART ONE: BASIC DEMOGRAPHICS

Age Distribution

Please write only your age in years, with no other text or characters. For example, 18

Country

If multiple possible answers, please choose the one you most identify withn

State

(If American) What state do you live in? (Please give full name, not abbreviation)

Race

With what race do you most identify? "Hispanic" is a term mostly used in the US referring to people whose ethnic background is from Mexico, Central America, and South America.

PART TWO: SEX, GENDER, RELATIONSHIPS

Sex

What sex were you assigned at birth?

Gender

With what gender do you primarily identify?

Sexual Orientation

What is your sexual orientation?

Relationship Style

Relationship Status

What is your preferred relationship style?

Children

PART THREE: WORK AND EDUCATION

Work Status

What do you currently do?

Profession

In what area do you currently work or study? If more than one, please choose most important.

Degree

What is your highest degree earned?

Education Complete

Have you completed your formal education?

PART FOUR: RELIGIOUS VIEWS

Religious Views

How would you describe your religious views?

Religious Denomination

Which best describes the religion you believe? (If you do not believe any religion, skip this question.)

Religious Background

What is your family's religious background, as of the last time your family practiced a religion?

Moral Views

With which of these moral philosophies do you MOST identify?

PART FIVE: NUMBERS THAT PURPORT TO MEASURE YOUR INTELLIGENCE

IQ

Please give the score you got on your most recent PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC IQ test - no Internet tests, please! All tests should have the standard average of 100 and stdev of 15.

SAT score verbal/reading

The SAT is a test Americans take before going to college. In the old days, it included a section called Verbal; now that section is called Reading. If you took the SAT, what was your score on this section?

SAT score math

The SAT is a test Americans take before going to college. If you took the SAT, what was your score on the math section?

PART SIX: SSC

Length of Time

How long have you been reading SSC?

Posts Read

How many SSC posts do you think you've read? (right now there are 750 total, excluding Open Threads)

Comment

How often do you comment on SSC?

Referrals

How did you find SSC?

Subreddit

Do you read the r/slatestarcodex subreddit?

Subreddit Culture War Thread

Do you read the r/slatestarcodex culture war thread?

Meetup

Have you ever been to a Slate Star Codex meetup?

Meetup Approval

For people who went to SSC meetups: how much did you enjoy it?

PART SEVEN: COMMUNITY IDENTIFICATION

LW ID

Do you identify as a Less Wronger or "aspiring rationalist"?

SJ ID

Do you identify as a feminist or a member of the social justice community?

EA ID

Do you identify as an effective altruist?

PART EIGHT: POLITICS

Political Spectrum

Where do you think you fall on a classic political spectrum?

Political Interest

On a scale from 1 (not interested at all) to 5 (extremely interested), how would you describe your level of interest in politics?

Political Affiliation

With which of these political descriptions do you most identify?

American Parties

If you are an American, what party are you registered with?

Political Change

How have your politics changed in the past ten years?

Global Warming

How would you describe your opinion on anthropogenic climate change?

Immigration

How would you describe your opinion on immigration into your country?

Minimum Wage

How would you describe your opinion on minimum wage laws?

Gay Marriage

How would you describe your opinion on gay marriage?

Feminism

How would you describe your opinion of feminism?

Human Biodiversity

How would you describe your opinion of the the idea of "human biodiversity", eg the belief that races differ genetically in socially relevant ways?

Basic Income

How would you describe your opinion of a Basic Income Guarantee in your country? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Income_Guarantee for more information.

Donald Trump

How would you describe your opinion of Donald Trump?

PART NINE: INCOME AND CHARITY

Income

What is your approximate annual income in US dollars (non-Americans: convert at www.xe.com)? Obviously you don't need to answer this question if you don't want to. Please don't include commas or dollar signs

Income Status

...and that income represents what point in your career?

Class Childhood

When you were a child, how would you describe the social class of the family you were raised in?

Class Current

How would you describe your current social class?

Charity

How much money, in number of dollars, have you donated to charity over the past year? (non-Americans: convert to dollars at http://www.xe.com/ ). Please don't include commas or dollar signs in your answer. For example, 4000

PART TEN: MENTAL HEALTH

Depression

Regarding clinical depression...

Anxiety

Regarding any clinical anxiety disorder, like generalized anxiety or panic disorder...

OCD

Regarding obsessive compulsive disorder

Eating disorder

Regarding an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia

Alcoholism

Regarding alcoholism

Drug addiction

Regarding addiction to some drug other than alcohol or tobacco

Borderline

Regarding borderline personality disorder

Bipolar

Regarding bipolar disorder

Autism

Regarding autism or Aspergers' syndrome

ADHD

Regarding ADD/ADHD:

Schizophrenia

Regarding schizophrenia...

Mood Scale

How would you rate your usual mood?

Anxiety

How would you rate your usual anxiety level

PART ELEVEN: UNCOMFORTABLE SELF-EVALUATION

Life Satisfaction

Overall, how satisfied are you with your life?

Ambition

How ambitious would you say you are?

Status

How high-status do you think you are? This question is deliberately vague so you can interpret it however you want.

Social Skills

How would you rate your social skills?

Financial Situation

How would you rate your financial situation?

Romantic Life

How would you rate your romantic life, by whatever standards you're going for?

Morality

How would you rate how moral a person you are compared to the average person in your society?

PART TWELVE: GRAB BAG

Risks

How would you describe your attitude toward risk?

Vegetarian

Are you vegetarian?

Trustworthy

Other people are....

Psychiatric Commitment

In most western countries, people judged mentally ill can be involuntarily committed (ie sent to a psychiatric hospital without their consent) if doctors judge them to be a danger to themselves or others, eg they seem suicidal. Which of these most clearly matches your thoughts on this issue?

Handedness

Which is your dominant hand?

Imagination

Are you able to clearly visualize images in your mind with imagination?

PART THIRTEEN: SSRIs

Which SSRI

Which SSRI did you use? If you have used several, please tell me about the one you used most recently.

When SSRI

When did you use this SSRI?

Reason

Why were you using an SSRI? If you were using it for many reasons, please tell me which one was most important.

SSRI Duration

How long did you use the SSRI? Please answer regardless of whether you stopped it or are still on it.

SSRI Effectiveness

On net, how did you find the SSRI?

SSRI Side Effects

Check any of these that you felt long-term while on the SSRI. You do not need to list side effects if you had them briefly but they went away after a little longer on the medication. If you had the severe version of something, you do not also need to check the mild version.

SSRI Overall

Rate your overall experience with this SSRI

SSRI Discontinuation Intro

The next several questions will be about going off of an SSRI. Have you ever done this?

SSRI Discontinuation 0

While going off the SSRI...

SSRI Discontinuation 1

Which SSRI did you discontinue?

SSRI Discontinuation 2

How and why did you stop taking the SSRI?

SSRI Discontinuation 3

How long had you been on that SSRI antidepressant before coming off of it?

SSRI Discontinuation 4

If you tapered off the medication gradually, approximately how long did your taper last?

SSRI Discontinuation 5

How would you describe your experience of withdrawal symptoms coming off of the SSRI? "Withdrawal symptoms" may include things like stomachaches, headaches, strange nerve sensations, etc. Please do not include "I got depressed again" as a withdrawal symptom.

SSRI Discontinuation 6

Consider the side effects you have from the SSRI. After stopping the SSRI...

SSRI Discontinuation 7

What was the final result of discontinuation?

PART FOURTEEN: THERAPY

Therapy School

What school of therapy did you do? If you have worked with multiple schools, please choose the one you did most recently.

Therapy Type

How did you do the therapy?

Therapy Issue

What was the main issue you were trying to address in therapy?

Therapy Length

How long did you regularly attend therapy?

Therapy Overall

Rate your overall experience with this therapy

PART FIFTEEN: MENTAL HEALTH GRAB BAG

Psychiatrist Rating

Consider the most recent psychiatrist you saw (not psychologist or therapist). Please do not count psychiatrists you saw in a hospital. Overall, how would you rate them?

Therapist Rating

Consider the most recent therapist you saw (probably not a psychiatrist, though if your psychiatrist does formal therapy with you then I guess you can use them). Please do not count therapists you saw in a hospital. Overall, how would you rate them?

Overall Mental Health (Medication)

Consider your interaction with the mental health system in terms of biological treatments like medication. Overall, how would you rate it?

Overall Mental Health (Therapy)

Consider your interaction with the mental health system in terms of talk-based therapy treatments. Overall, how would you rate it?

Inpatient Approval Rating

If you have ever been in an inpatient psychiatric hospital for any reason, consider the last time that happened. Overall, how would you rate the experience?

Inpatient Voluntary

In the inpatient experience you used to answer the question above, were you in the hospital voluntarily, or because you were involuntarily committed?

Childhood

How would you describe your childhood?

Hospitalized mania

Have you ever been hospitalized for an episode of bipolar mania?

PART EIGHTEEN: FAMILY AGES

Paternal Age

How old was your father when you were born?

Maternal Age

How old was your mother when you were born?

Older Siblings

How many older siblings do you have?

Younger Siblings

How many younger siblings do you have?

Older Sibling Gap

How many years between you and your next oldest sibling (if you are the oldest, leave this blank)

Younger Sibling Gap

How many years between you and your next youngest sibling (if you are the youngest, leave this blank)?

PART NINETEEN: MORE IN DEPTH POLITICS

Everyone: Open Borders

Do you support complete open borders - no restriction on immigration except possibly for very specific categories like convicted criminals - for your country?

Everyone: Skilled Immigration

Consider skilled immigrants who have degrees from good colleges, speak your country's language relatively well, and would have no trouble finding a good job if they came to your country.

Everyone: Culturally Similar Immigration

Consider immigrants who are a very close cultural fit for your country - for example, Canadian immigrants to the United States

Everyone: Legal Immigration

Consider legal immigrants who come into your country through the existing system. Assume that you cannot change the way the existing system selects people, just the number of people it selects. Do you want:

Everyone: Transgender

Deep down, transgender people are:

Everyone: Transgender 2

I personally prefer to treat transgender people as:

Everyone: Censorship

Do you feel like you can freely express your opinions on controversial topics (such as race and gender) without facing excessive social or financial repercussions?

Everyone: Censorship Change

How do you feel like people's ability to openly express opinions on controversial topics (such as race and gender) has changed over the past five years?

Everyone: Job Loss

Some people worry that if they are caught expressing the wrong opinion on a controversial topic, they might lose their job. Has this ever happened to anyone you know?

Immigration Opponents: Why

Please answer this question if you prefer on net to have less immigration into your country: which of these do you consider the most important reason for your position?

Libertarians: Type

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat libertarian: which of these best describes your libertarianism?

Libertarians: Ethics

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat libertarian: which of these do you consider more important as an ethical justification for your libertarianism?

Communists: USSR

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat communist: rate the USSR

Communists: Ideal

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat communist: how should a nation that has just completed a communist revolution, and which feels safe from immediate capitalist interference, try to approach the communist ideal?

Alt-Rightists ID

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat alt-right: please check any of the following labels you identify with

Alt-Rightists Race

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat alt-right: which of these accurately reflect your views on how countries should think about race?

Libs/SocDems: Countries

Please answer if you identify as at least somewhat liberal or social democratic: which of these countries do you think best realizes your vision of a good society?

PART TWENTY: WORK

Work vs College

Please answer only if you have both gone to college and worked a full-time job: which did you find easier, work or college?

Job Approval Rating

How much do you like your job?

Open Plan Office

Please answer only if you have worked in an open plan office: how did you like this?

BS Job

David Graeber discusses the phenomenon of "bullshit jobs", jobs that feel "as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working." He says that many people, when asked directly and anonymously, will admit that their job is "utterly meaningless, contributes nothing to the world, and, in your own estimation, should not really exist." Do you think this describes you?

Gender Bias Work

At your current job, do you feel like you are taken less seriously, or treated worse in any way, because of your gender?

Gender Composition Team

What is the gender composition of your team (or otherwise of the coworkers you most often interact with at work?)

Gender Composition Boss

What is your boss' gender?

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is "a pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud". How often do you feel this way? Note: if you object to this question because "I am actually an imposter, it's not a syndrome", please select "almost all the time"

Quit For UBI

Suppose the government offered everyone a universal basic income of $25,000. Do you think you would quit your job?

PART TWENTY-ONE: HEALTH

Sleep Hours

How many hours do you sleep in an average night?

Sleep Position

In what position do you most commonly sleep?

BMI

What is your BMI? There is a calculator available at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm

Meditation Minutes

About how many minutes do you meditate in an average day (if you do not meditate, put 0)

Meditation Time

About how long have you been meditating regularly?

Meditation Approval

Overall, how helpful do you think meditation has been for you?

Jhana

Have you ever reached any of the states of meditative absorption/bliss called jhanas? If you don't know what this is, your answer is probably no.

Enlightenment

Some meditators report a profound and long-lasting insight into questions of identity and suffering, which various traditions call things like "enlightenment" or "stream entry". Have you ever had such an experience?

PART TWENTY-TWO: FUN GRAB BAG

Advanced Math Preference

Answer only if you have a strong enough background in advanced math that you feel you clearly understand this question - which of the following types of math do you prefer?

Albion's Seed

Americans who have read Albion's Seed or my review of it: which of the following groups, if any, is most prominently involved in your family background?

Financial Success

Financial success is...

Urbanism

NIMBYs ("not in my back yard") believe that cities should restrict new development in order to preserve neighborhood character, quality of life, and existing communities. YIMBYs believe that cities should encourage new development to lower housing costs, increase density, and allow more people to live in desirable locations. Which group more closely matches your own views?

Corn Eating

How do you usually eat corn on the cob?

Kind Of School

What kind of school did you attend most during your early childhood? Note for British people - Please answer according to US terminology, where public school is free and provided by the government, and private school costs money and is considered more upper class.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books

How much do you generally enjoy science fiction and fantasy books?

Literature

How much do you generally enjoy the sort of modern books that are considered "highbrow literature" and might get discussed in literary magazines or college English classes?

SSC Change

Do you think SSC has gotten better or worse since you first started reading it?

Beef Jerky

How often do you eat beef jerky, meat sticks, or other similar nitrate-cured meats?

Vegetarian Labeling

Some companies make vegetarian versions of common animal-based foods and call them by the name of the food they are replacing, like "the Beyond Burger" and "Just Mayonnaise". Meat companies argue this is false advertising, and that instead of calling their products "burger" or "mayonnaise" they should have to say things like "burger-style patty" or "pea-protein-based dip" or something else that makes it clear there is no beef or egg involved. How do you feel about this?

Habituation

Consider a somewhat-constant background noise, like a dripping faucet. How much would this bother you?

Tickle Self

Can you tickle yourself?