To be frank, I question the value of compressing information of this generality, even as a roadmap. For example, “Networking” can easily be expanded into several books (e.g., Dale Carnegie) and “Educating oneself in career-related skills” has almost zero intersection when quantified over all possible careers. If Eliezer had made a “things to know to be a rationalist” post instead of breaking it down into The Sequences, I doubt anyone would have had much use for it.
Maybe you could focus on a particular topic, compile a list of relevant resources you have uncovered, and ask LW for further opinions? In fact, people havedonethis.
Well, I somewhat agree. A list like this definitely isn’t very useful all by itself. The utility I imagine is in figuring out where the gaps in your knowledge are, and what you need to do better. If my goal is to live life as well as possible, I don’t just want to read a bunch of sequences; I also want to figure out which sequences I should read.
You say that you question the value of compressed information like this as a roadmap. Do you think that a different type of roadmap may be more useful, or that a roadmap may not be useful at all?
If Eliezer had made a “things to know to be a rationalist” post instead of breaking it down into The Sequences, I doubt anyone would have had much use for it.
On the other hand, you tend to need an outline which graduates up to this level of vagueness at some point before writing large, in-depth works.
To be frank, I question the value of compressing information of this generality, even as a roadmap. For example, “Networking” can easily be expanded into several books (e.g., Dale Carnegie) and “Educating oneself in career-related skills” has almost zero intersection when quantified over all possible careers. If Eliezer had made a “things to know to be a rationalist” post instead of breaking it down into The Sequences, I doubt anyone would have had much use for it.
Maybe you could focus on a particular topic, compile a list of relevant resources you have uncovered, and ask LW for further opinions? In fact, people have done this.
Well, I somewhat agree. A list like this definitely isn’t very useful all by itself. The utility I imagine is in figuring out where the gaps in your knowledge are, and what you need to do better. If my goal is to live life as well as possible, I don’t just want to read a bunch of sequences; I also want to figure out which sequences I should read.
You say that you question the value of compressed information like this as a roadmap. Do you think that a different type of roadmap may be more useful, or that a roadmap may not be useful at all?
On the other hand, you tend to need an outline which graduates up to this level of vagueness at some point before writing large, in-depth works.
Seconded. Another question to ask: would you really expect this list, even if complete, to contain any new or useful information?