The first times I read LW articles and especially those by Eliezer, it was common for me to think that I simply wasn’t smart enough to follow their lines of argumentation. It’s precisely missing these buckets and handles, these modes of thoughts and the expressions/words used to communicate them, what made it hard at the start; as I acquired them, I could feel I belonged the community. I suppose this occurs to all newbies, and it’s understandable to feel this helplessness and inability to contribute for as long as you haven’t acquired the requisite material. High standards need high barriers of entry.
At the same time, however, I think the use of plenty of unknown-to-me terminology, all linking and referring to other posts, could have as easily put me off as it made me curious to explore this new world. And it has probably repelled many potentially very capable contributors, which didn’t lack the desire or talent, but simply experienced a discouraging introduction. (And kept them out of all the advantages of this new camp and perspective).
Only perhaps a sufficient promotion/display of the benefits and value of this community can outweigh the costs of starting for an outsider (as long as we’re unwilling to reduce the costs; I think there are good reasons to keep the costs high). A way to increase the perceived interests could be to for example ensure that other sites who link to LW, and which might be a source of newcomers, sufficiently introduce and promote the benefits of LW and this rationalist community, rather than merely linking this seemingly highly entangled and exclusive/elitist website. But I feel this would still be insufficient to properly adjust this filter of entry to LW — a more extensive list of measures would be better.
The first times I read LW articles and especially those by Eliezer, it was common for me to think that I simply wasn’t smart enough to follow their lines of argumentation. It’s precisely missing these buckets and handles, these modes of thoughts and the expressions/words used to communicate them, what made it hard at the start; as I acquired them, I could feel I belonged the community. I suppose this occurs to all newbies, and it’s understandable to feel this helplessness and inability to contribute for as long as you haven’t acquired the requisite material. High standards need high barriers of entry.
At the same time, however, I think the use of plenty of unknown-to-me terminology, all linking and referring to other posts, could have as easily put me off as it made me curious to explore this new world. And it has probably repelled many potentially very capable contributors, which didn’t lack the desire or talent, but simply experienced a discouraging introduction. (And kept them out of all the advantages of this new camp and perspective).
Only perhaps a sufficient promotion/display of the benefits and value of this community can outweigh the costs of starting for an outsider (as long as we’re unwilling to reduce the costs; I think there are good reasons to keep the costs high). A way to increase the perceived interests could be to for example ensure that other sites who link to LW, and which might be a source of newcomers, sufficiently introduce and promote the benefits of LW and this rationalist community, rather than merely linking this seemingly highly entangled and exclusive/elitist website. But I feel this would still be insufficient to properly adjust this filter of entry to LW — a more extensive list of measures would be better.