Hm. Arguably I should only be worried about fast dilution rather than slow dilution. But I’m also worried that the community grows slower if it’s inward-looking, and hope for faster growth if it’s involved with the outside world.
Is it possible that having taught yourself you haven’t so directly experienced that there’s not necessarily a correlation between a persons understanding of a subject and their ability to teach it?
Entirely possible. But I’m not sure I have so much faith in the system you describe, either. The most powerful textbooks and papers from which I get my oomph are usually not by people who are solely teachers—though I haven’t been on the lookout for exceptions, and I should be.
Er, I thought the difference between religious and scientific teachings was that scientific teachings didn’t have to worry about dilution? It seems like you put a high probability on this community disappearing into a death spiral of some sort without you—I would have thought we should worry more that we’re already in one which we haven’t picked up on.
I thought the difference between religious and scientific teachings was that scientific teachings didn’t have to worry about dilution?
More of a difference between things that are hard vs. easy to teach and measure. Businesses have the same problem with a great CEO trying to hire great employees, dilution of corporate culture, etc. - they have highly quantifiable output at the end of the day, but in the middle of the day and the middle steps of the process, it’s not as easy to measure.
I anticipate a beginning period extending for at least several years when we don’t have good metrics because we’re still trying to develop them.
I think that you can legitimately worry about both for good reasons.
Fast growth is something to strive for but I think it will require that our best communicators are out there. Are you concerned that rationality teachers without secret lives won’t be inspiring enough to convert people or that they’ll get things wrong and head into death spirals?
From a personal perspective i don’t have that much interest in being a rationality teacher. I want to use rationality as a tool to make the greatest success of my life. But I also find it fascinating and, in an ideal world, would stay in touch with a ‘rational community’ as both a guard against veering off into a solo death spiral and as a subject of intellectual interest. I’m sure that there must be other people like me that are more accomplished and could give inspiring lectures on how rationality helped them in their chosen profession. That would go some way to covering the inspiration angle.
As an aside i appreciate why you care about this; I’m always a bit suspicious of self help gurus who’s only measurable success is in the self help theory they promote. I wonder whether I’m selecting for people who effectively sell advice rather than effectively use advice.
Hm. Arguably I should only be worried about fast dilution rather than slow dilution. But I’m also worried that the community grows slower if it’s inward-looking, and hope for faster growth if it’s involved with the outside world.
Entirely possible. But I’m not sure I have so much faith in the system you describe, either. The most powerful textbooks and papers from which I get my oomph are usually not by people who are solely teachers—though I haven’t been on the lookout for exceptions, and I should be.
Er, I thought the difference between religious and scientific teachings was that scientific teachings didn’t have to worry about dilution? It seems like you put a high probability on this community disappearing into a death spiral of some sort without you—I would have thought we should worry more that we’re already in one which we haven’t picked up on.
More of a difference between things that are hard vs. easy to teach and measure. Businesses have the same problem with a great CEO trying to hire great employees, dilution of corporate culture, etc. - they have highly quantifiable output at the end of the day, but in the middle of the day and the middle steps of the process, it’s not as easy to measure.
I anticipate a beginning period extending for at least several years when we don’t have good metrics because we’re still trying to develop them.
I think that you can legitimately worry about both for good reasons.
Fast growth is something to strive for but I think it will require that our best communicators are out there. Are you concerned that rationality teachers without secret lives won’t be inspiring enough to convert people or that they’ll get things wrong and head into death spirals?
From a personal perspective i don’t have that much interest in being a rationality teacher. I want to use rationality as a tool to make the greatest success of my life. But I also find it fascinating and, in an ideal world, would stay in touch with a ‘rational community’ as both a guard against veering off into a solo death spiral and as a subject of intellectual interest. I’m sure that there must be other people like me that are more accomplished and could give inspiring lectures on how rationality helped them in their chosen profession. That would go some way to covering the inspiration angle.
As an aside i appreciate why you care about this; I’m always a bit suspicious of self help gurus who’s only measurable success is in the self help theory they promote. I wonder whether I’m selecting for people who effectively sell advice rather than effectively use advice.