Small feedback: this post is a mix of fundamentals and good introductions to key concepts, but also seems to assume a very high level of knowledge of the norms and current recent terminology and developments in the rationality community.
I’d also be interested in a list, or maybe some commentary on how well the links work as references. One of the issues I’m struggling with here is that even if someone has written up a good introduction to, say, internal double crux, there really are several inferential gaps between someone who hasn’t done it and someone who has, and probably it’s better understood after the reader has tried it a time or two. When IDC is fundamental to the point, there’s nothing to be done; they need to read up on that prereq first. When IDC is helpful to understanding the point, there’s a splitting effect; the person who already knows IDC gets their understanding strengthened but the person who doesn’t know IDC gets distracted.
I do try to be careful about having links to things, in part because it helps me notice when there isn’t an online description of the thing (which happened with “metacognitive blind spot,” which is referenced in a draft that’s going live later today).
Yeah, that’s it — IDC, circling, etc are things I’m peripherally aware of but which I haven’t tried and which aren’t really contextualized; it felt sort of like, “If you know this, here’s how they connect; if not, well, you could go find out and come back.” I also got the feeling that ‘Agenty Duck’ was more significant than the short description of it, but I hadn’t come across that before and felt like I was probably missing something.
I think the biggest issue, actually, wasn’t the specific technical terms that I was aware I wasn’t fully up to speed on, but rather with words like “coherence” — I wasn’t sure if there was a formal definition/exploration being alluded to that I haven’t heard, or if it’s the plain English meaning. So my trust in my own ability to be reading the piece correctly really started to decrease at the end of the “Public Guts” section — I wasn’t sure which words/phrases were technical terms that I wasn’t up to speed on, and which were just plain English meaning that I could read and use natural assumptions to keep going.
Even then, still got a lot of it — just wanted to point it out since I liked the piece a lot. Also, it does make sense much of the time to write for an audience that’s maximally informed to push the field forwards; this community and the world at large certainly benefits from both technical pieces that assume context as well as more “spell it out for you” materials.
When IDC is helpful to understanding the point, there’s a splitting effect; the person who already knows IDC gets their understanding strengthened but the person who doesn’t know IDC gets distracted.
Hmm. This makes me think about something like “Arbital style ‘click here to learn the math-heavy explanation, click here to learn a more standard explanation’” thingy, except for “have you practiced this particular introspective skill?”
(I don’t actually think that’ll turn out to be a good idea for various reasons, but seemed a bit interesting)
I’d also be interested in a list, or maybe some commentary on how well the links work as references. One of the issues I’m struggling with here is that even if someone has written up a good introduction to, say, internal double crux, there really are several inferential gaps between someone who hasn’t done it and someone who has, and probably it’s better understood after the reader has tried it a time or two. When IDC is fundamental to the point, there’s nothing to be done; they need to read up on that prereq first. When IDC is helpful to understanding the point, there’s a splitting effect; the person who already knows IDC gets their understanding strengthened but the person who doesn’t know IDC gets distracted.
I do try to be careful about having links to things, in part because it helps me notice when there isn’t an online description of the thing (which happened with “metacognitive blind spot,” which is referenced in a draft that’s going live later today).
Yeah, that’s it — IDC, circling, etc are things I’m peripherally aware of but which I haven’t tried and which aren’t really contextualized; it felt sort of like, “If you know this, here’s how they connect; if not, well, you could go find out and come back.” I also got the feeling that ‘Agenty Duck’ was more significant than the short description of it, but I hadn’t come across that before and felt like I was probably missing something.
I think the biggest issue, actually, wasn’t the specific technical terms that I was aware I wasn’t fully up to speed on, but rather with words like “coherence” — I wasn’t sure if there was a formal definition/exploration being alluded to that I haven’t heard, or if it’s the plain English meaning. So my trust in my own ability to be reading the piece correctly really started to decrease at the end of the “Public Guts” section — I wasn’t sure which words/phrases were technical terms that I wasn’t up to speed on, and which were just plain English meaning that I could read and use natural assumptions to keep going.
Even then, still got a lot of it — just wanted to point it out since I liked the piece a lot. Also, it does make sense much of the time to write for an audience that’s maximally informed to push the field forwards; this community and the world at large certainly benefits from both technical pieces that assume context as well as more “spell it out for you” materials.
Hmm. This makes me think about something like “Arbital style ‘click here to learn the math-heavy explanation, click here to learn a more standard explanation’” thingy, except for “have you practiced this particular introspective skill?”
(I don’t actually think that’ll turn out to be a good idea for various reasons, but seemed a bit interesting)