Only in the minds of “yay future!” sorts of people. My parents think self-publishing a non-fiction book is sketchy, and they have every valid reason for believing this. I agree with them, in fact.
Take the “outside view”: if someone handed you a book and said, “This describes the most important scientific and moral challenge of our times”, and you had never heard of MIRI/FHI/CFAR/LW in any way whatsoever, what are the questions you’re going to ask? They’ll almost definitely be credibility questions; you want to read a book that’s been edited well and comes from some kind of well-known intellectual expert on the topic being discussed, preferably one from very credible institutions like academia and government. You’re a non-expert, after all, and it’s not worth your time becoming an expert on some obscure, highly technical topic just to judge whether you should spend $30 on a book.
Luckily, information above indicates that FHI is publishing Superintelligence under the Oxford University label, with actual academic credentials and such, in hardback print. I’ll be waiting for that one before I recommend anything to “the normals”.
“This describes the most important scientific and moral challenge of our times”, and you had never heard of MIRI/FHI/CFAR/LW in any way whatsoever, what are the questions you’re going to ask?
“Why do you think so?”
They’ll almost definitely be credibility questions;
Not in my case.
you want to read a book that’s been edited well and comes from some kind of well-known intellectual expert on the topic being discussed, preferably one from very credible institutions like academia and government.
Oh, certainly not. Government is pretty much the opposite of a “credible institution” and as to academia, it depends on the field.
Traditional publishing is close to becoming an atavism, a vestigial remnant of the pre-digital age.
Digital or not, the fact that an article or book has passed the filter of a reputable publisher provides useful evidence in estimating its quality.
That’s most obvious for scientific publishing, where publishers employ expert editors and peer review. Publication of material intended for non-technical audiences has to meet lower standards, but there is still some level of editorial oversight.
Digital or not, the fact that an article or book has passed the filter of a reputable publisher provides useful evidence in estimating its quality.
Yep, the word for that is curating and it is a common and valuable activity. Art museums, for example, play a similar role. On the web brand-name blog collections (e.g. the Gawker stable) is also basically about the same thing—in this particular case, though, I don’t know if we’re talking about quality… :-D
There can be a lot of valid reasons to self-publish besides”tak[ing] advantage of people’s ignorance”.
Traditional publishing is close to becoming an atavism, a vestigial remnant of the pre-digital age.
Only in the minds of “yay future!” sorts of people. My parents think self-publishing a non-fiction book is sketchy, and they have every valid reason for believing this. I agree with them, in fact.
Take the “outside view”: if someone handed you a book and said, “This describes the most important scientific and moral challenge of our times”, and you had never heard of MIRI/FHI/CFAR/LW in any way whatsoever, what are the questions you’re going to ask? They’ll almost definitely be credibility questions; you want to read a book that’s been edited well and comes from some kind of well-known intellectual expert on the topic being discussed, preferably one from very credible institutions like academia and government. You’re a non-expert, after all, and it’s not worth your time becoming an expert on some obscure, highly technical topic just to judge whether you should spend $30 on a book.
Luckily, information above indicates that FHI is publishing Superintelligence under the Oxford University label, with actual academic credentials and such, in hardback print. I’ll be waiting for that one before I recommend anything to “the normals”.
“Why do you think so?”
Not in my case.
Oh, certainly not. Government is pretty much the opposite of a “credible institution” and as to academia, it depends on the field.
Do you think your views on this matter are typical of the audience to whom the book is targeted?
Digital or not, the fact that an article or book has passed the filter of a reputable publisher provides useful evidence in estimating its quality.
That’s most obvious for scientific publishing, where publishers employ expert editors and peer review. Publication of material intended for non-technical audiences has to meet lower standards, but there is still some level of editorial oversight.
Yep, the word for that is curating and it is a common and valuable activity. Art museums, for example, play a similar role. On the web brand-name blog collections (e.g. the Gawker stable) is also basically about the same thing—in this particular case, though, I don’t know if we’re talking about quality… :-D