# The Whispering Earring by Scott Alexander

8 Hacker News commenters recommended The Whispering Earring by Scott Alexander and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Short story people cite for thinking about outsourcing thought to AI and cognitive dependence. Critics say it doesn't clearly say what it means.

## Why people recommend it

- Relevant to AI-era thinking (3 comments): "Wow what a read! Thanks for sharing. Really helped me unpack why I’m so bothered by people who c/p AI answers verbatim." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911418)) "I think it's very relevant to what the author is concerned with here." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49151763)) "I love it for the LLM era." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48909064))
- Reminder to guard cognitive health (2 comments): "one of my spinning tops to remind me to remain vigilant of my cognitive health" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48141488)) "which is one of my spinning tops to remind me to remain vigilant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48141185))

## What people warn about

- Does not clearly state its meaning (1 comments): "this story's failure to say what it means has in some ways only made it less relevant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017260))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Last Question by Isaac Asimov](https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-question.md): 50 recommend
- [There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-will-come-soft-rains.md): 27 recommend
- [They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/they-re-made-out-of-meat.md): 17 recommend
- [Lena by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lena.md): 16 recommend
- [The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster](https://hackerapproved.com/p/machine-stops.md): 15 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Whispering Earring by Scott Alexander", https://hackerapproved.com/p/whispering-earring/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).