I want to improve my exposition and writing skills, but whenever I think “what do I know that I can explain to people that isn’t explained well elsewhere?” not much comes to mind. I think that happens because it is hard to just do a search of everything that I know. The main topics that I know are math and rationality (mostly LW epistemic rationality, but also a little instrumental and LW moral philosophy). So I ask:
What is a topic in math or rationality that you wish were explained better or explained at a different level (casual, technical, etc.) than what already exists? Like, something that you know now but wish had been explained to you better, something that you don’t know but wish you did, or something that you wish you could explain to other people but don’t know of any sources to send them to.
I want to improve my exposition and writing skills, but whenever I think “what do I know that I can explain to people that isn’t explained well elsewhere?” not much comes to mind
If improving your skills is your main goal, you should just write, regardless of whether better explanations already exist elsewhere. Actually, such explanations already existing could even be an advantage, as it provides you with feedback: after writing your own, you can look up existing ones and compare what you did better and what you did worse.
I see what you are saying, but I would be more motivated if it felt like I was doing useful work, and I don’t really know what to write about. So I kind of am looking for inspiration/motivation and ideas.
I would be more motivated if it felt like I was doing useful work
Are you sure? I wish this was what motivated me, but I’ve learned from writing about math for awhile that what I’m most motivated to write about is precisely what I’m most curious about at the moment. The usefulness of the writing has very little effect on my ability to actually finish it. (For example, I think it would be really useful to write an introduction to some of the material in Jaynes. But this hasn’t motivated me to actually do so yet.) You should try writing a few things first, of varying usefulness and curiousness, and see which thing you actually feel motivated to finish.
The two things that come to mind are things that I am still learning. General category theory (rather than category theory for the purpose of x), and a higher level structural and general viewpoint on Bayes (rather than basic articles on how to compute Bayes theorem and what it means). Also something on what actually happens when you extend mathematical logic using Bayesian probability. I could probably start on the second one right now...
Writing about things you are still learning would probably be a great idea, actually. It would likely help you learn them better (research shows that in peer-to-peer tutoring, the tutors benefit more than tutees). And you can always leave in placeholders that give you more to write about: “I don’t know why this is yet, but I’m going to look it up and write about it later.”
You might also have an unfair advantage, in that since you have newly learned it, you’ll have a better perspective from which to explain it to people who aren’t familiar with the material.
If you want to practice writing, but you can’t think of any fun (or… fun-like) ways to practice writing, it may be a good idea to practice in a way that isn’t fun, instead of waiting for something fun to come along. If lack of motivation turns out to be actually problematic, then searching for a more motivating topic is a potential solution, but there are lots of other, potentially better solutions.
I think that happens because it is hard to just do a search of everything that I know.
There are tools you can use to solve this problem! Have you tried mindmapping everything you know, e.g. with FreeMind?
whenever I think “what do I know that I can explain to people that isn’t explained well elsewhere?” not much comes to mind.
At least in math, many topics are explained well at some high level but not explained well at a lower level. There’s always more work to be done explaining math to the general population; the gulf between what could be explained and what has already been explained is absurd.
I want to improve my exposition and writing skills, but whenever I think “what do I know that I can explain to people that isn’t explained well elsewhere?” not much comes to mind.
That seems like the wrong question to start with for casual writing. Some version of it might make sense for academic publishing.
Is there some math you’re having fun with that you’d like to try explaining?
If you’d like a great big project, how about rationality for people of average intelligence?
Why do you think that is a wrong question? I am mostly asking because I want something interesting to write about, that I would be motivated to write.
The math that I am having fun with I don’t know thoroughly enough to explain (and I am learning it from a really good piece of exposition).
The rationality one looks like fun, I will see if I can do some of it. First step, hack it into pieces so I am not working on a massive supergoal project, but a small project instead.
My guess was that it was a wrong question because it seems to stop you very early.
If having your writing be useful is a primary motivation, then maybe “what do I know well that I can explain to people which they aren’t likely to have seen already?” would be better.
Another might be “what’s something interesting that I know well that a good many people haven’t heard of?”.
I want to improve my exposition and writing skills, but whenever I think “what do I know that I can explain to people that isn’t explained well elsewhere?” not much comes to mind. I think that happens because it is hard to just do a search of everything that I know. The main topics that I know are math and rationality (mostly LW epistemic rationality, but also a little instrumental and LW moral philosophy). So I ask:
What is a topic in math or rationality that you wish were explained better or explained at a different level (casual, technical, etc.) than what already exists? Like, something that you know now but wish had been explained to you better, something that you don’t know but wish you did, or something that you wish you could explain to other people but don’t know of any sources to send them to.
If improving your skills is your main goal, you should just write, regardless of whether better explanations already exist elsewhere. Actually, such explanations already existing could even be an advantage, as it provides you with feedback: after writing your own, you can look up existing ones and compare what you did better and what you did worse.
I see what you are saying, but I would be more motivated if it felt like I was doing useful work, and I don’t really know what to write about. So I kind of am looking for inspiration/motivation and ideas.
Are you sure? I wish this was what motivated me, but I’ve learned from writing about math for awhile that what I’m most motivated to write about is precisely what I’m most curious about at the moment. The usefulness of the writing has very little effect on my ability to actually finish it. (For example, I think it would be really useful to write an introduction to some of the material in Jaynes. But this hasn’t motivated me to actually do so yet.) You should try writing a few things first, of varying usefulness and curiousness, and see which thing you actually feel motivated to finish.
What do you really wish someone had explained to you 2 years ago?
The two things that come to mind are things that I am still learning. General category theory (rather than category theory for the purpose of x), and a higher level structural and general viewpoint on Bayes (rather than basic articles on how to compute Bayes theorem and what it means). Also something on what actually happens when you extend mathematical logic using Bayesian probability. I could probably start on the second one right now...
Writing about things you are still learning would probably be a great idea, actually. It would likely help you learn them better (research shows that in peer-to-peer tutoring, the tutors benefit more than tutees). And you can always leave in placeholders that give you more to write about: “I don’t know why this is yet, but I’m going to look it up and write about it later.”
You might also have an unfair advantage, in that since you have newly learned it, you’ll have a better perspective from which to explain it to people who aren’t familiar with the material.
If you want to practice writing, but you can’t think of any fun (or… fun-like) ways to practice writing, it may be a good idea to practice in a way that isn’t fun, instead of waiting for something fun to come along. If lack of motivation turns out to be actually problematic, then searching for a more motivating topic is a potential solution, but there are lots of other, potentially better solutions.
There are tools you can use to solve this problem! Have you tried mindmapping everything you know, e.g. with FreeMind?
At least in math, many topics are explained well at some high level but not explained well at a lower level. There’s always more work to be done explaining math to the general population; the gulf between what could be explained and what has already been explained is absurd.
Pretend you’re to have a conversation with a friend in which you need to explain a topic before proceeding. Write your dialogue.
That seems like the wrong question to start with for casual writing. Some version of it might make sense for academic publishing.
Is there some math you’re having fun with that you’d like to try explaining?
If you’d like a great big project, how about rationality for people of average intelligence?
Why do you think that is a wrong question? I am mostly asking because I want something interesting to write about, that I would be motivated to write.
The math that I am having fun with I don’t know thoroughly enough to explain (and I am learning it from a really good piece of exposition).
The rationality one looks like fun, I will see if I can do some of it. First step, hack it into pieces so I am not working on a massive supergoal project, but a small project instead.
My guess was that it was a wrong question because it seems to stop you very early.
If having your writing be useful is a primary motivation, then maybe “what do I know well that I can explain to people which they aren’t likely to have seen already?” would be better.
Another might be “what’s something interesting that I know well that a good many people haven’t heard of?”.