Every school has this problem: how to welcome people who as yet know little and raise them up to the standard we want them to reach, while allowing those already there to develop further. Universities solve this with a caste distinction between the former (students) and the latter (faculty), plus a few bridging roles (grad student, intern, etc.). On a much smaller scale, the taiko group I play with has found the same problem of dividing beginners from the performing team. It doesn’t work to have one class that combines introductory practice with performance rehearsal. And there can be social problems of people who simply aren’t going to improve getting disgruntled at never being invited to join the performing team.
In another comment I suggested that this division already exists: LessWrong and CFAR. So the question is, does LessWrong itself need a further splitting between welcoming beginners and a “serious” inner circle? Who would be the advanced people who would tend the beginners garden? How would membership in the inner circle be decided?
Every school has this problem: how to welcome people who as yet know little and raise them up to the standard we want them to reach, while allowing those already there to develop further. Universities solve this with a caste distinction between the former (students) and the latter (faculty), plus a few bridging roles (grad student, intern, etc.). On a much smaller scale, the taiko group I play with has found the same problem of dividing beginners from the performing team. It doesn’t work to have one class that combines introductory practice with performance rehearsal. And there can be social problems of people who simply aren’t going to improve getting disgruntled at never being invited to join the performing team.
In another comment I suggested that this division already exists: LessWrong and CFAR. So the question is, does LessWrong itself need a further splitting between welcoming beginners and a “serious” inner circle? Who would be the advanced people who would tend the beginners garden? How would membership in the inner circle be decided?