It is somewhat puzzling to me that my PredictionBook evangelizing is well received here
This particular shame based instance of evangelism isn’t well received.
Frankly, it is a scandal to Less Wrong that its high-karma members don’t bother to publicly record their own predictions and yet continue to expect others to believe in the efficacy of the techniques taught in its core texts like The Sequences.
Eliezer frequently makes predictions and even bets. Luke makes predictions from time to time as well. Not sure about Yvain. Your complaint seems to be that they don’t happen to personally use your preferred website.
As far as I’m concerned you would have struggled to have come up with a more powerful way to persuade us to not use prediction book.
Eliezer frequently makes predictions and even bets.
Frequently? The http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Bets_registry lists just 3 bets by Eliezer (full disclaimer: 1 involving me), which even dating just from 2008 (the first listed one) represents less than 1 a year.
(If we want to bring in the AI box experiments as involving money and so being bets, it’s still less than 1 a year since that pushes the interval back to the early 2000s while only adding in like 4 bets.)
Eliezer frequently makes predictions and even bets. Luke makes predictions from time to time as well. Not sure about Yvain. Your complaint seems to be that they don’t happen to personally use your preferred website.
Maybe I am being too tough on them, but I don’t think so. Yes, Eliezer makes bets now and then; Luke has even used PredictionBook before (he currently has 2 public predictions on his userpage). On the other hand, what would you think of a martial artist who claimed to have techniques superior to those used by the pros (Bayes versus Science), yet refused to spar publicly (let alone fight) more than a few times a year?
As far as I’m concerned you would have struggled to have come up with a more powerful way to persuade us to not use prediction book.
Upon reconsideration, I now see that I was following a poor strategy of increasing PredictionBook usage. I won’t retract my comment, but I probably won’t make one like that again.
On the other hand, what would you think of a martial artist who claimed to have techniques superior to those used by the pros (Bayes versus Science), yet refused to spar publicly (let alone fight) more than a few times a year?
If Luke, Yvain or Eliezer claimed that they were superior at achieving predictionbook status than others and refused to demonstrate then I would see your point. As it happens nothing they have said indicates that they ought to be able to dominate on predictionbook (although I would expect them to be better than average).
I also note that predictionbook represents a lost purpose. If you orient your thinking and what predictions you make according to what will make you most impressive on predicitonbook you will not necessarily think the best thoughts or subject your belief’s actual weak points to testing. This means I’d say it is more useful for those whose status is not tied up with their performance.
Upon reconsideration, I now see that I was following a poor strategy of increasing PredictionBook usage. I won’t retract my comment, but I probably won’t make one like that again.
This particular shame based instance of evangelism isn’t well received.
Eliezer frequently makes predictions and even bets. Luke makes predictions from time to time as well. Not sure about Yvain. Your complaint seems to be that they don’t happen to personally use your preferred website.
As far as I’m concerned you would have struggled to have come up with a more powerful way to persuade us to not use prediction book.
Frequently? The http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Bets_registry lists just 3 bets by Eliezer (full disclaimer: 1 involving me), which even dating just from 2008 (the first listed one) represents less than 1 a year.
(If we want to bring in the AI box experiments as involving money and so being bets, it’s still less than 1 a year since that pushes the interval back to the early 2000s while only adding in like 4 bets.)
Translation from human: “I can think of multiple instances without trying hard.”
Terrorists frequently attack us.
Seems like a reasonable claim. Certainly compared to how often they attack us.
Perhaps. We’ll see.
Maybe I am being too tough on them, but I don’t think so. Yes, Eliezer makes bets now and then; Luke has even used PredictionBook before (he currently has 2 public predictions on his userpage). On the other hand, what would you think of a martial artist who claimed to have techniques superior to those used by the pros (Bayes versus Science), yet refused to spar publicly (let alone fight) more than a few times a year?
Upon reconsideration, I now see that I was following a poor strategy of increasing PredictionBook usage. I won’t retract my comment, but I probably won’t make one like that again.
If Luke, Yvain or Eliezer claimed that they were superior at achieving predictionbook status than others and refused to demonstrate then I would see your point. As it happens nothing they have said indicates that they ought to be able to dominate on predictionbook (although I would expect them to be better than average).
I also note that predictionbook represents a lost purpose. If you orient your thinking and what predictions you make according to what will make you most impressive on predicitonbook you will not necessarily think the best thoughts or subject your belief’s actual weak points to testing. This means I’d say it is more useful for those whose status is not tied up with their performance.
Thankyou.