Make one article. Make it a standalone article about one topic. (Not an introduction to a planned long series of articles; just write the first article of the series. Not just the first half of an article, to be continued later; instead choose a narrower topic for the first article. As a general rule: links to already written articles are okay, but links to yet unexisting articles are bad; especially if those yet unexisting articles are used as an excuse for why the existing articles don’t have a conclusion.)
Put the article in Discussion; if it is successful and upvoted, someone will move it to Main. Later perhaps, when two of your articles were moved, put the third one directly in Main.
The topics seems interesting, but it’s not just what topic you write about, but also how do you write it. For example “The Layers of Evolution”: I can imagine it written both very good and very badly. For example, whether you will only speak generally, or give specific examples; whether those examples will be correct or incorrect. (As a historical warning, read “the tragedy of group selectionism” for an example of something that seemed like it would make sense, but at the end, it failed. There is a difference between imagining a mechanism, and having a proof that it exists.)
If you have a lot of topics, perhaps you should start with the one where you feel most experienced.
The Fuzzy Pattern Theory of Identity could reasonably be created as a stand alone post, and probably the Layers of Evolution too. Guided Tour and Strange Loop of Consciousness too, though I’d rather have a few easier ones done before I attempt those. The other posts rely on one or both of the previous ones.
Glad they seem interesting to you :). And yes, layers of evolution is the one I feel could go wrong the most easily (though morality and maths may be hardest to explain my point clearly in). It’s partly meant as a counterpoint to Eliezer’s post you linked actually, since even though altruistic group selection is clearly nonsense when you look at how evolution works, selfish group selection seems like it exists in some specific but realistic conditions (at minimum, single->multicellular requires cells to act for the good of other cells, and social insects have also evolved co-operation). When individuals can be forced to bear significant reproductive losses for harming the group selfishly, selfishly harming the group no longer is an advantage. The cost of punishing an individual for harming your group is much smaller than the cost of passing up chances to help yourself at the expense of the group, so more plausibly evolveable, but still requires specific conditions. I do need to get specific examples to cite as well as general points and do some more research before I’ll be ready to write that one.
I.. would still feel a lot more comfortable about posting something which at least one other person had looked over and thought about, at least for my first post. I’ve started writing several LW posts before, and the main reason I’ve not posted them up is worry about negative reaction due to some silly mistake. Most of my ideas follow non-trivial chains of reasoning and without much feedback I’m afraid to have ended up in outer mongolia. Posting to discussion would help a bit, but does not make me entirely comfortable. How about if I write up something on google docs, post a link here, then if there’s not much notice in a few days use Discussion for getting initial feedback?
How about if I write up something on google docs, post a link here, then if there’s not much notice in a few days use Discussion for getting initial feedback?
I think that would remove a substantial portion of your potential readers. Just suck it up and post something rough in Discussion, even if it feels uncomfortable.
For example: the piece that starts with “even though altruistic group selection is clearly nonsense” up until the end of the paragraph might be expanded just a little and posted stand-alone in an open thread. Gather reactions. Create an expanded post that addresses those reactions. Post it to Discusssion. Rinse and repeat.
I guess you just have to try it.
Make one article. Make it a standalone article about one topic. (Not an introduction to a planned long series of articles; just write the first article of the series. Not just the first half of an article, to be continued later; instead choose a narrower topic for the first article. As a general rule: links to already written articles are okay, but links to yet unexisting articles are bad; especially if those yet unexisting articles are used as an excuse for why the existing articles don’t have a conclusion.)
Put the article in Discussion; if it is successful and upvoted, someone will move it to Main. Later perhaps, when two of your articles were moved, put the third one directly in Main.
The topics seems interesting, but it’s not just what topic you write about, but also how do you write it. For example “The Layers of Evolution”: I can imagine it written both very good and very badly. For example, whether you will only speak generally, or give specific examples; whether those examples will be correct or incorrect. (As a historical warning, read “the tragedy of group selectionism” for an example of something that seemed like it would make sense, but at the end, it failed. There is a difference between imagining a mechanism, and having a proof that it exists.)
If you have a lot of topics, perhaps you should start with the one where you feel most experienced.
The Fuzzy Pattern Theory of Identity could reasonably be created as a stand alone post, and probably the Layers of Evolution too. Guided Tour and Strange Loop of Consciousness too, though I’d rather have a few easier ones done before I attempt those. The other posts rely on one or both of the previous ones.
Glad they seem interesting to you :). And yes, layers of evolution is the one I feel could go wrong the most easily (though morality and maths may be hardest to explain my point clearly in). It’s partly meant as a counterpoint to Eliezer’s post you linked actually, since even though altruistic group selection is clearly nonsense when you look at how evolution works, selfish group selection seems like it exists in some specific but realistic conditions (at minimum, single->multicellular requires cells to act for the good of other cells, and social insects have also evolved co-operation). When individuals can be forced to bear significant reproductive losses for harming the group selfishly, selfishly harming the group no longer is an advantage. The cost of punishing an individual for harming your group is much smaller than the cost of passing up chances to help yourself at the expense of the group, so more plausibly evolveable, but still requires specific conditions. I do need to get specific examples to cite as well as general points and do some more research before I’ll be ready to write that one.
I.. would still feel a lot more comfortable about posting something which at least one other person had looked over and thought about, at least for my first post. I’ve started writing several LW posts before, and the main reason I’ve not posted them up is worry about negative reaction due to some silly mistake. Most of my ideas follow non-trivial chains of reasoning and without much feedback I’m afraid to have ended up in outer mongolia. Posting to discussion would help a bit, but does not make me entirely comfortable. How about if I write up something on google docs, post a link here, then if there’s not much notice in a few days use Discussion for getting initial feedback?
I think that would remove a substantial portion of your potential readers. Just suck it up and post something rough in Discussion, even if it feels uncomfortable.
For example: the piece that starts with “even though altruistic group selection is clearly nonsense” up until the end of the paragraph might be expanded just a little and posted stand-alone in an open thread.
Gather reactions.
Create an expanded post that addresses those reactions.
Post it to Discusssion.
Rinse and repeat.