I’m not sure LW is a good entry point for people who are turned away by a few technical terms. Responding to unfamiliar scientific concepts with an immediate surge of curiosity is probably a trait I share with the majority of LW’ers. While it’s not strictly a prequisite for learning rationality, it certainly is for starting in medias res.
The current approach is a good selector for dividing the chaff (well educated because that’s what was expected, but no true intellectual curiosity) from the wheat (whom Deleuze would call thinkers-qua-thinkers).
Agree. NancyLebovitz’s posts points at something true: there should be more resources like HPMOR for “regular people” to increase their level of rationality. That’s part of the reason I’m excited about groups like Intentional Insights that are working on this. But I think “dumbing down” Less Wrong is a mistake. You want to segment your audience. Less Wrong is for the segment that gets curious when they see unfamiliar technical terms.
I’m not sure LW is a good entry point for people who are turned away by a few technical terms. Responding to unfamiliar scientific concepts with an immediate surge of curiosity is probably a trait I share with the majority of LW’ers. While it’s not strictly a prequisite for learning rationality, it certainly is for starting in medias res.
The current approach is a good selector for dividing the chaff (well educated because that’s what was expected, but no true intellectual curiosity) from the wheat (whom Deleuze would call thinkers-qua-thinkers).
HPMOR instead, maybe?
Agree. NancyLebovitz’s posts points at something true: there should be more resources like HPMOR for “regular people” to increase their level of rationality. That’s part of the reason I’m excited about groups like Intentional Insights that are working on this. But I think “dumbing down” Less Wrong is a mistake. You want to segment your audience. Less Wrong is for the segment that gets curious when they see unfamiliar technical terms.