It is not that hard to get published academically. Just read some journals and see the dreck mixed with the jewels: you will gain some self-confidence. And much of that dreck is not because of excess academic jargon; on the contrary, much of the lower-quality stuff suffers precisely from a lack of the specific kind of polish required by academic style.
There is a very specific writing style which one must follow unfailingly. (This does not mean one must be unclear.)
At worst, one can publish in lower-prestige journals, though of course one should shoot for the top to start with, and we wouldn’t want to publish any low-quality articles.
It is also easy to get good ideas. Just borrow existing ideas from the blogosphere (giving citations, of course) and write them up for the academic audience!
Most journals have blind review, so you don’t have to worry about affiliation.
If you are still worried about that, you can partner with academics, which gives the additional advantage of bringing someone into the FAI field. You get the benefit of the partner’s academic skills. (Ideally, you should tilt the style, content, and target journal towards the partner’s field.) The academic also gets a publication for his career, although it can be of lesser value if it is not in his field
I have to disagree with Eliezer. There is value to bringing in some very smart new researchers, but they need this sort of validation. And many excellent academic articles are easy to read; though on the other hand some assume a large and specific body of specialized background knowledge—I only wish the FAI field could get to that point!
As to the journal: There are a number of fields where one could get a foot in the door, such as philosophy, cognitive science, decision theory, machine ethics, AI, etc. You just have to sculpt your proposal carefully to get it accepted.
The formalized academic discourse has its problems, but that’s where a lot of the smart people are, so let’s see if we can get them aboard.
This is right on target.
It is not that hard to get published academically. Just read some journals and see the dreck mixed with the jewels: you will gain some self-confidence. And much of that dreck is not because of excess academic jargon; on the contrary, much of the lower-quality stuff suffers precisely from a lack of the specific kind of polish required by academic style.
There is a very specific writing style which one must follow unfailingly. (This does not mean one must be unclear.)
At worst, one can publish in lower-prestige journals, though of course one should shoot for the top to start with, and we wouldn’t want to publish any low-quality articles.
It is also easy to get good ideas. Just borrow existing ideas from the blogosphere (giving citations, of course) and write them up for the academic audience!
Most journals have blind review, so you don’t have to worry about affiliation.
If you are still worried about that, you can partner with academics, which gives the additional advantage of bringing someone into the FAI field. You get the benefit of the partner’s academic skills. (Ideally, you should tilt the style, content, and target journal towards the partner’s field.) The academic also gets a publication for his career, although it can be of lesser value if it is not in his field
I have to disagree with Eliezer. There is value to bringing in some very smart new researchers, but they need this sort of validation. And many excellent academic articles are easy to read; though on the other hand some assume a large and specific body of specialized background knowledge—I only wish the FAI field could get to that point!
As to the journal: There are a number of fields where one could get a foot in the door, such as philosophy, cognitive science, decision theory, machine ethics, AI, etc. You just have to sculpt your proposal carefully to get it accepted.
The formalized academic discourse has its problems, but that’s where a lot of the smart people are, so let’s see if we can get them aboard.
Agreed.