Hi there, Regex. It is great to see that you’re interested in Effective Altruism. Are you already familiar with 80,000 Hours and GiveWell?
There are a few points which you raised above which I would like to respond to:
Still, directing others is not particularly efficient for me considering my skill set.
I do think that it is possible to actively work towards becoming a better conversationalist. This is something which I have recently been working on myself. Specifically, asking people questions about things they are interested in, as well as offering to help others in small ways—such as helping them by sharing knowledge with them—seem like concrete things one can do to be a better people-person.
I intend to print out flyers and scatter them across my college campus.
That reminds me of when I tried to tell all of my friends about how great GiveWell was, when I first learned about the organization a few years ago. Your results may vary, but I have found that it is hard to get people to care about things which they do not already care about, unless they already have a lot in common with you, intellectually and philosophically.
I think that speaking with friends who might enjoy LessWrong might be a better idea than spreading fliers across your campus. I might only feel that way about flier-posting because flier-posting is far too bold of a thing for anypony named Fluttershy to do, but it does seem to me that messages spread by such means are cheapened by being circulated in such a manner.
Also, for what it is worth, I think that HPMoR appeals to a much larger set of people than the LessWrong sequences do, though people who identify closely enough with the “LessWrong culture” might benefit the most from being directly introduced to LessWrong.
(whoops can’t figure out > quotes quite yet, so quotation marks will have to do.)
“Are you already familiar with 80,000 Hours and GiveWell?”
I had seen links to them, but hadn’t gotten around to reading about them. I’ll keep them in mind. Thanks.
“I do think that it is possible to actively work towards becoming a better conversationalist. ”
Very true. When I learned about brain plasticity I was truly shocked at how much rewiring is possible. Did you know that you can lose either side of your brain as an infant and still live mostly normally? We can definitely improve ourselves significantly. The question there is which things when trained will provide the most utility.
“Your results may vary, but I have found that it is hard to get people to care about things which they do not already care about, unless they already have a lot in common with you, intellectually and philosophically.”
I was planning on putting these in the engineering buildings mostly. I would argue that it is much easier to convince engineering types at least first to explore rationality, and then as they explore the site then they would have to deal with the money issues themselves.
“I think that speaking with friends who might enjoy LessWrong might be a better idea than spreading fliers across your campus.”
I will agree that conversation is almost certainly the most effective route to convince a particular person, but many people aren’t even aware than LW exists, so they might not even need convincing to explore. By putting it out there I catch people I don’t even know, or couldn’t possibly meet. This method has the disadvantage that I can’t personally talk to them about it (maybe I could put my username on the flyer),
“I might only feel that way about flier-posting because flier-posting is far too bold of a thing for anypony named Fluttershy to do”
Silly pony.
“it does seem to me that messages spread by such means are cheapened by being circulated in such a manner.”
To a certain degree yes, but not if the messages direct them to better manners of message circulation. The message I was thinking of was something along the lines of “Less Wrong: improve your critical thinking skills! Think smarter, not harder. Discuss ideas, philosophy, and rationality” which would hopefully be more as an invitation to a conversation with self-improvement than an introduction into a cult that wants their money. Maybe rather than a flyer per-say it could be a tiny little square piece of paper with sparse details inviting curiosity.
“Also, for what it is worth, I think that HPMoR appeals to a much larger set of people than the LessWrong sequences do, though people who identify closely enough with the “LessWrong culture” might benefit the most from being directly introduced to LessWrong.”
I’m not really sure how much that is the case. HPMoR is like 500k words long, and is fanfiction. Readers of fanfiction don’t care, but those that don’t read it would be turned off. 500k words is nearly two full days days of straight reading for even me. I wouldn’t call it particularly accessible either (haven’t read it yet though. I’ve sworn off fanfiction for the moment after The Month of Fanfiction).
LW I would argue is significantly better, but has issues in that it is jargon filled and has kinda weird ideas. It has a tvtropes like effect on me at least. I read a thing which links to a dozen more things so I never leave. As I am focusing on the engineering types I should expect similar results. Probably should actually tell people about it and see what happens. You are right that a specific introduction is almost certainly more effective than a piece of paper floating around.
Hi there, Regex. It is great to see that you’re interested in Effective Altruism. Are you already familiar with 80,000 Hours and GiveWell?
There are a few points which you raised above which I would like to respond to:
I do think that it is possible to actively work towards becoming a better conversationalist. This is something which I have recently been working on myself. Specifically, asking people questions about things they are interested in, as well as offering to help others in small ways—such as helping them by sharing knowledge with them—seem like concrete things one can do to be a better people-person.
That reminds me of when I tried to tell all of my friends about how great GiveWell was, when I first learned about the organization a few years ago. Your results may vary, but I have found that it is hard to get people to care about things which they do not already care about, unless they already have a lot in common with you, intellectually and philosophically.
I think that speaking with friends who might enjoy LessWrong might be a better idea than spreading fliers across your campus. I might only feel that way about flier-posting because flier-posting is far too bold of a thing for anypony named Fluttershy to do, but it does seem to me that messages spread by such means are cheapened by being circulated in such a manner.
Also, for what it is worth, I think that HPMoR appeals to a much larger set of people than the LessWrong sequences do, though people who identify closely enough with the “LessWrong culture” might benefit the most from being directly introduced to LessWrong.
Good luck in your endeavors!
(whoops can’t figure out > quotes quite yet, so quotation marks will have to do.)
“Are you already familiar with 80,000 Hours and GiveWell?”
I had seen links to them, but hadn’t gotten around to reading about them. I’ll keep them in mind. Thanks.
“I do think that it is possible to actively work towards becoming a better conversationalist. ”
Very true. When I learned about brain plasticity I was truly shocked at how much rewiring is possible. Did you know that you can lose either side of your brain as an infant and still live mostly normally? We can definitely improve ourselves significantly. The question there is which things when trained will provide the most utility.
“Your results may vary, but I have found that it is hard to get people to care about things which they do not already care about, unless they already have a lot in common with you, intellectually and philosophically.”
I was planning on putting these in the engineering buildings mostly. I would argue that it is much easier to convince engineering types at least first to explore rationality, and then as they explore the site then they would have to deal with the money issues themselves.
“I think that speaking with friends who might enjoy LessWrong might be a better idea than spreading fliers across your campus.”
I will agree that conversation is almost certainly the most effective route to convince a particular person, but many people aren’t even aware than LW exists, so they might not even need convincing to explore. By putting it out there I catch people I don’t even know, or couldn’t possibly meet. This method has the disadvantage that I can’t personally talk to them about it (maybe I could put my username on the flyer),
“I might only feel that way about flier-posting because flier-posting is far too bold of a thing for anypony named Fluttershy to do”
Silly pony.
“it does seem to me that messages spread by such means are cheapened by being circulated in such a manner.”
To a certain degree yes, but not if the messages direct them to better manners of message circulation. The message I was thinking of was something along the lines of “Less Wrong: improve your critical thinking skills! Think smarter, not harder. Discuss ideas, philosophy, and rationality” which would hopefully be more as an invitation to a conversation with self-improvement than an introduction into a cult that wants their money. Maybe rather than a flyer per-say it could be a tiny little square piece of paper with sparse details inviting curiosity.
“Also, for what it is worth, I think that HPMoR appeals to a much larger set of people than the LessWrong sequences do, though people who identify closely enough with the “LessWrong culture” might benefit the most from being directly introduced to LessWrong.”
I’m not really sure how much that is the case. HPMoR is like 500k words long, and is fanfiction. Readers of fanfiction don’t care, but those that don’t read it would be turned off. 500k words is nearly two full days days of straight reading for even me. I wouldn’t call it particularly accessible either (haven’t read it yet though. I’ve sworn off fanfiction for the moment after The Month of Fanfiction).
LW I would argue is significantly better, but has issues in that it is jargon filled and has kinda weird ideas. It has a tvtropes like effect on me at least. I read a thing which links to a dozen more things so I never leave. As I am focusing on the engineering types I should expect similar results. Probably should actually tell people about it and see what happens. You are right that a specific introduction is almost certainly more effective than a piece of paper floating around.
“Good luck in your endeavors!”
Thanks, I appreciate it.