Scott Alexander has never personally been involved in the tech industry.

Judge as of 2021-02-14. True: biographical records (his own accounts, profiles, CV) show his career as a psychiatrist/doctor and writer, with no employment, founding, or professional role at a tech company. Mostly true: only trivial or incidental tech contact (e.g. a brief side gig or small advisory chat) that would not ordinarily count as being involved in the industry. Mixed: a real but minor tech role, such as a short job or a part-time contract. Mostly false: a notable tech role, such as working at or co-founding a tech company for a meaningful period. False: substantial, sustained work in the tech industry. Writing about tech or having readers in tech does not count as involvement.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 In defense of interesting writing on controversial topics Slow Boring · 14 February 2021

   “Alexander is a practicing psychiatrist and felt that for reasons of professional ethics, this would jeopardize his job — so he shut the blog down in a rather dramatic fashion.”

2. E2 In defense of interesting writing on controversial topics Slow Boring · 14 February 2021

   “He also has a new job as the founder of Lorien Psychiatry, an innovative effort to use telemedicine to make psychiatric treatment much more affordable.”

3. E3 Who is Scott Alexander and what is he about? Jason Crawford (jasoncrawford.org) · 13 February 2021

   “Scott is a psychiatrist by profession, and some posts are about psychiatry, consciousness, and the brain.”

4. E4 February 2021 – Shtetl-Optimized Shtetl-Optimized (Scott Aaronson) · 23 February 2021

   “Scott resigning from his psychiatry clinic and starting his own low-cost practice, Lorien Psychiatry;”

Independent profiles from around the claim date describe Alexander as a practicing psychiatrist by profession (E1, E3). They say his new role was founding Lorien Psychiatry, a low-cost psychiatric practice that uses telemedicine (E2, E4). None of the evidence mentions a job, founding role or professional role at a tech company. The criteria treat this kind of record, a career as a psychiatrist and writer, as true, and the telemedicine practice is described as psychiatric care, not as a tech company.