When new people show up at LW, they are often told to “read the sequences.” While Eliezer’s writings underpin most of what we talk about, 600 fairly long articles make heavy reading. Might it be advisable that we set up guided tours to the sequences? Do we have enough new visitors that we could get someone to collect all of the newbies once a month (or whatever) and guide them through the backlog, answer questions, etc?
...except for one last thing; so after tomorrow, I plan to go back to posting about plain old rationality on Monday.
If that makes you want to know what the “last thing” is, you have to click Next no less than ten times on Articles tagged ai to find out. Another is “More on this tomorrow” in Resist the Happy Death Spiral.
I found this (scroll down for the majority of articles) graph of all links between Eliezer’s articles a while ago, it could be be helpful. And its generally interesting to see all the interrelations.
That’s not a bad idea. How about just a third monthly thread? To be created when a genuinely curious newcomer is asking good, but basic questions. You do not want to distract from a thread but at the same time you may be willing to spend time on educational discussion.
Yes, I am working my way through the sequences now. Hearing these ideas makes one want to comment but so frequently its only a day or two before I read something that renders my previous thoughts utterly stupid.
It would be nice to have a “read this and you won’t be a total moron on subject X” guide.
Also, it would be good to encourage the readings about Eliezer Intellectual Journey. Though its at the bottom of the sequence page I used it a “rest reading” between the harder sequences.
It did a lot to convince me that I wasn’t inherently stupid. Knowing that Eliezer has held foolish beliefs in the past is helpful.
As a newcomer, I would find this tremendously useful. I clicked through the wiki links on noteworthy articles, but often find there are a lot of assumptions or previously discussed things that go mentioned but unexplained. Perhaps this would help.
When new people show up at LW, they are often told to “read the sequences.” While Eliezer’s writings underpin most of what we talk about, 600 fairly long articles make heavy reading. Might it be advisable that we set up guided tours to the sequences? Do we have enough new visitors that we could get someone to collect all of the newbies once a month (or whatever) and guide them through the backlog, answer questions, etc?
Most articles link to those preceeding it, but it would be very helpful to have links to those articles that follow.
One example: The Thing That I Protect.
If that makes you want to know what the “last thing” is, you have to click Next no less than ten times on Articles tagged ai to find out. Another is “More on this tomorrow” in Resist the Happy Death Spiral.
I found this (scroll down for the majority of articles) graph of all links between Eliezer’s articles a while ago, it could be be helpful. And its generally interesting to see all the interrelations.
Yes- it’s very natural for the ongoing community progression of LW, but not great for archiving; we’re pulling up the latter after we’ve climbed it.
I’ll edit this post to add if I want to add further examples.
One Life Against the World: “I will post later on why this tends to be so.”.
That’s not a bad idea. How about just a third monthly thread? To be created when a genuinely curious newcomer is asking good, but basic questions. You do not want to distract from a thread but at the same time you may be willing to spend time on educational discussion.
I approve. This may also spawn new ways of explaining things.
Or create (or does one exist) some thread(s) that would be a standard place for basic questions. Having somewhere always open might be useful too.
Yes, I am working my way through the sequences now. Hearing these ideas makes one want to comment but so frequently its only a day or two before I read something that renders my previous thoughts utterly stupid.
It would be nice to have a “read this and you won’t be a total moron on subject X” guide.
Also, it would be good to encourage the readings about Eliezer Intellectual Journey. Though its at the bottom of the sequence page I used it a “rest reading” between the harder sequences.
It did a lot to convince me that I wasn’t inherently stupid. Knowing that Eliezer has held foolish beliefs in the past is helpful.
Arguably, as seminal as the sequences are treated, why are the “newbies” the only ones who should be (re)reading them?
As a newcomer, I would find this tremendously useful. I clicked through the wiki links on noteworthy articles, but often find there are a lot of assumptions or previously discussed things that go mentioned but unexplained. Perhaps this would help.