I notice that you didn’t give any arguments, in this post, for why people should try to write on the pareto frontier. Intuitively it seems like something that you should sometimes aim for, and sometimes not. But it seems like you find it a more compelling goal than I do, if you’ve made it a rule for yourself. Mind explaining briefly what the main reasons you think this is a good goal are?
Also, do you intend this to apply to fiction as well as nonfiction?
Good question! Rough argument: if someone else has already written it better, then do your readers a favor and promote that to them instead.
Obviously this is an imperfect argument—for instance, writing is a costly signal that you consider a topic important, and it’s also a way to clarify your own thoughts or promote your own brand. So Pareto optimality isn’t necessarily relevant to things I’m writing for my own benefit (as opposed to readers’), and it’s not relevant when the writing is mostly a costly signal of importance aimed at my social circle. Also, even if we accept the argument, then Pareto optimality is only a necessary condition for net value, not a sufficient condition; plenty of things are on some Pareto frontier but still not worth reading for anyone.
Not exactly a counterpoint to anything, but I am reminded: there’s a bunch of times Scott Alexander has said “please, read the original thing! it’s very good!” and then goes on to summarize it and discuss it and each time I’m like “ugh I’d rather just read Scott’s take on this thing than This Thing”.
I notice that you didn’t give any arguments, in this post, for why people should try to write on the pareto frontier. Intuitively it seems like something that you should sometimes aim for, and sometimes not. But it seems like you find it a more compelling goal than I do, if you’ve made it a rule for yourself. Mind explaining briefly what the main reasons you think this is a good goal are?
Also, do you intend this to apply to fiction as well as nonfiction?
Good question! Rough argument: if someone else has already written it better, then do your readers a favor and promote that to them instead.
Obviously this is an imperfect argument—for instance, writing is a costly signal that you consider a topic important, and it’s also a way to clarify your own thoughts or promote your own brand. So Pareto optimality isn’t necessarily relevant to things I’m writing for my own benefit (as opposed to readers’), and it’s not relevant when the writing is mostly a costly signal of importance aimed at my social circle. Also, even if we accept the argument, then Pareto optimality is only a necessary condition for net value, not a sufficient condition; plenty of things are on some Pareto frontier but still not worth reading for anyone.
Not exactly a counterpoint to anything, but I am reminded: there’s a bunch of times Scott Alexander has said “please, read the original thing! it’s very good!” and then goes on to summarize it and discuss it and each time I’m like “ugh I’d rather just read Scott’s take on this thing than This Thing”.
I don’t super endorse this.
I mean, the argument does kinda rely on someone else having written it better, which does not often happen when “better” is comparing to Scott.