I have a meta-answer: I want LW to have a good shot at advancing humanity’s understanding. For that it’s not enough to be rational, you also have to be at the frontier of an area. As Vaniver puts it, to make progress you need an important unsolved problem “worked out to third order”.
So far the only area where LW has succeeded in putting anyone at the frontier and pushing forward is… yeah… decision theory math. So I’m concentrating my effort there, finding and proving new theorems within the concept space discovered by Eliezer and Wei. If another such topic arises, I’ll be happy to help there too.
I want LW to have a good shot at advancing humanity’s understanding. For that it’s not enough to be rational, you also have to be at the frontier of an area.
I disagree on two counts. For one, I doubt that LW is the best place to develop original research (i.e. to publish ideas and rough drafts and get feedback). For that, you want a different kind of forum or ‘subscription list’ or wiki or RSS feed. Something with fewer people, most of whom are likely to read what you write. Something more focused. And, more important than a subscription list, you also need a peer-reviewed journal, so that your finished research actually gets academically published. SIAI should create a journal. JFAI or IJFAI.
Second, I disagree that the only way to advance humanity’s understanding is by doing original research. We can also advance mankind’s intellectual heritage indirectly, by doing original pedagogy—by publicizing ideas and problems in an interesting way for a broader audience, and thus attracting more sharp people to working with you at the cutting edge.
We have a mailing list on decision theory. Many new results we post here come originally from there. LW served as catalyst for bringing us together, creating interest in decision theory. Hopefully LW can serve as catalyst for other topics too.
We have a mailing list on decision theory. Many new results we post here come originally from there. LW served as catalyst for bringing us together, creating interest in decision theory.
Who is ‘we’ and where is said list?
To the extent that the ‘we’ is exclusive it is not relevant to LW or this post and to the extent that it is not I’d like to know where it is. :)
We can also advance mankind’s intellectual heritage indirectly, by doing original pedagogy
Strong agreement. When you say “advance mankind” instead of “advance an academic discipline” you need either technology or education, and rationality isn’t the sort of thing that can be turned into technology easily.
I have a meta-answer: I want LW to have a good shot at advancing humanity’s understanding. For that it’s not enough to be rational, you also have to be at the frontier of an area. As Vaniver puts it, to make progress you need an important unsolved problem “worked out to third order”.
So far the only area where LW has succeeded in putting anyone at the frontier and pushing forward is… yeah… decision theory math. So I’m concentrating my effort there, finding and proving new theorems within the concept space discovered by Eliezer and Wei. If another such topic arises, I’ll be happy to help there too.
I disagree on two counts. For one, I doubt that LW is the best place to develop original research (i.e. to publish ideas and rough drafts and get feedback). For that, you want a different kind of forum or ‘subscription list’ or wiki or RSS feed. Something with fewer people, most of whom are likely to read what you write. Something more focused. And, more important than a subscription list, you also need a peer-reviewed journal, so that your finished research actually gets academically published. SIAI should create a journal. JFAI or IJFAI.
Second, I disagree that the only way to advance humanity’s understanding is by doing original research. We can also advance mankind’s intellectual heritage indirectly, by doing original pedagogy—by publicizing ideas and problems in an interesting way for a broader audience, and thus attracting more sharp people to working with you at the cutting edge.
We have a mailing list on decision theory. Many new results we post here come originally from there. LW served as catalyst for bringing us together, creating interest in decision theory. Hopefully LW can serve as catalyst for other topics too.
Who is ‘we’ and where is said list?
To the extent that the ‘we’ is exclusive it is not relevant to LW or this post and to the extent that it is not I’d like to know where it is. :)
http://groups.google.com/group/decision-theory-workshop
Thanks. If someone there accepts me I’ll have a whole lot more stuff to add to my incremental reading collection. :)
Strong agreement. When you say “advance mankind” instead of “advance an academic discipline” you need either technology or education, and rationality isn’t the sort of thing that can be turned into technology easily.