Thank you for writing this post-mortem! I think that if we want to start “winning” as a community is it very important to analyze the times we don’t win.
I got the impression that Yudkowsky had a fascinating grand vision but lacked experience / domain knowledge in building software products, whereas the rest of the team might or might not had sufficient experience / domain knowledge, but if they did, they were not assertive enough in applying it. More generally, I suspect that experience / domain knowledge are somewhat underrated in the community compared to generic rationality skills (and I say this as someone who believes generic rationality skills are very important).
Aside of that, I really like the idea of a social network with different channels. Relatedly, I thought (and still think) that it might have been better to make LW 2.0 more like a social network.
In any case, I feel that, although the universe doesn’t reward effort in itself, the community should, and I personally believe the Arbital team made a laudable effort to improve the world, even if it wasn’t as succesful as we might have hoped.
… but if they did, they were not assertive enough in applying it.
… experience / domain knowledge are somewhat underrated in the community compared to generic rationality skills
Yes to both.
And yes, I’d love to see LW 2.0 execute my plan and become a social network. (They already did the first few steps; just instead of math, they did rationality.)
“Aside of that, I really like the idea of a social network with different channels.”—I’ve had this idea for years, but sadly never pursued it. Anyway, such a network already exists. It’s called Google+. PInterest works like this as well.
Thank you for writing this post-mortem! I think that if we want to start “winning” as a community is it very important to analyze the times we don’t win.
I got the impression that Yudkowsky had a fascinating grand vision but lacked experience / domain knowledge in building software products, whereas the rest of the team might or might not had sufficient experience / domain knowledge, but if they did, they were not assertive enough in applying it. More generally, I suspect that experience / domain knowledge are somewhat underrated in the community compared to generic rationality skills (and I say this as someone who believes generic rationality skills are very important).
Aside of that, I really like the idea of a social network with different channels. Relatedly, I thought (and still think) that it might have been better to make LW 2.0 more like a social network.
In any case, I feel that, although the universe doesn’t reward effort in itself, the community should, and I personally believe the Arbital team made a laudable effort to improve the world, even if it wasn’t as succesful as we might have hoped.
Yes to both.
And yes, I’d love to see LW 2.0 execute my plan and become a social network. (They already did the first few steps; just instead of math, they did rationality.)
“Aside of that, I really like the idea of a social network with different channels.”—I’ve had this idea for years, but sadly never pursued it. Anyway, such a network already exists. It’s called Google+. PInterest works like this as well.
Much more than somewhat!