Do you think it might be possible to make Less Wrong more interactive? There are a lot of simple rationality tests which most people get wrong; like the classic tests used for Confirmation Bias or The Conjunction Fallacy.
Could we make fun versions of such tests for people to try out, perhaps with animation, etc? With a little work, we could even come up with little games that test Bayesian reasoning skills.
This would select for active, interested people who like to try things out, and if we quickly explained mistakes as soon as people made them, the idea that “I, too, am irrational” would be much more salient.
Rationality is a skill we have to practice, in the end, not just a thing we read about.
(I apologize if this would be too hard to implement to be worth it; I have very little programming experience.)
I’ve been thinking about this for a little while. This is a really, really good idea. It’s not too hard to implement. I feel there are some other things to do first (prevent endless September for instance) but other than that I think it’s a great idea and it’s just a matter of constructing these with the right questions. Questions have to be worded very carefully, and tests constructed cautiously, in order to have the scientific properties that give test results their accuracy. On the other hand, fun internet quizzes can bring in users and do not necessarily need to be scientifically sound (though for this site in particular, I’d figure that wording even a fun quiz as scientifically as possible would be the way to go, as that would attract more like minded people and gain more respect). It would actually take a lot more time to think of all the questions, consider how scientific the series of tests was, and word all the questions correctly than to set up a script that allows you to take the tests.
At least to begin with, we don’t have to come up with things on our own. There’s a whole literature of psychological studies we can comb through to recreate. The Sequences cite a whole lot of iconic studies, and a sufficiently motivated person could dig up more obscure follow-ups, too.
Converting them into a format that would work on the Internet is a bit trickier, but a lot can be done with Java applets.
The first page I linked to shows a Confirmation Bias test designed by a LWer, based on the classic experiment. The Conjunction Fallacy has a simple written multiple choice test.
Anchoring and adjustment could be tested for by providing people with high or low random numbers and asking them to answer a bunch of estimation questions, like the “How many countries in Africa?” test. It would work out best if we already had people take this test and had gathered data to show people upon completion.
Do you think it might be possible to make Less Wrong more interactive? There are a lot of simple rationality tests which most people get wrong; like the classic tests used for Confirmation Bias or The Conjunction Fallacy.
Could we make fun versions of such tests for people to try out, perhaps with animation, etc? With a little work, we could even come up with little games that test Bayesian reasoning skills.
This would select for active, interested people who like to try things out, and if we quickly explained mistakes as soon as people made them, the idea that “I, too, am irrational” would be much more salient.
Rationality is a skill we have to practice, in the end, not just a thing we read about.
(I apologize if this would be too hard to implement to be worth it; I have very little programming experience.)
I’ve been thinking about this for a little while. This is a really, really good idea. It’s not too hard to implement. I feel there are some other things to do first (prevent endless September for instance) but other than that I think it’s a great idea and it’s just a matter of constructing these with the right questions. Questions have to be worded very carefully, and tests constructed cautiously, in order to have the scientific properties that give test results their accuracy. On the other hand, fun internet quizzes can bring in users and do not necessarily need to be scientifically sound (though for this site in particular, I’d figure that wording even a fun quiz as scientifically as possible would be the way to go, as that would attract more like minded people and gain more respect). It would actually take a lot more time to think of all the questions, consider how scientific the series of tests was, and word all the questions correctly than to set up a script that allows you to take the tests.
At least to begin with, we don’t have to come up with things on our own. There’s a whole literature of psychological studies we can comb through to recreate. The Sequences cite a whole lot of iconic studies, and a sufficiently motivated person could dig up more obscure follow-ups, too.
Converting them into a format that would work on the Internet is a bit trickier, but a lot can be done with Java applets.
Ooh… But what about copyrights? And if they are copyright expired, would they be any good? Maybe. Hmm.
Do you have suggestions for specific materials we could start with?
The first page I linked to shows a Confirmation Bias test designed by a LWer, based on the classic experiment. The Conjunction Fallacy has a simple written multiple choice test.
Anchoring and adjustment could be tested for by providing people with high or low random numbers and asking them to answer a bunch of estimation questions, like the “How many countries in Africa?” test. It would work out best if we already had people take this test and had gathered data to show people upon completion.