I’ve gotta say, I think you’re right about the problem, but more wrong than right about the solution. Writing more detailed pieces is rarely the way to communicate clearly outside of the community, because few readers will carefully read all of it. Writing better is often writing more concisely, and using intuition pumps and general arguments that are likely to resonate with your particular target audience. It’s also anticipating their emotional hangups with the issue and addressing them.
Not everyone is as logical as LW members, and even rationalists don’t read in detail when they feel that the topic is probably silly.
You noted that he’s using sentences that mean something totally different when parsed even a little bit wrong, and I think that’s right and an insightful way to look at possible modes of communication failure.
I’ve gotta say, I think you’re right about the problem, but more wrong than right about the solution. Writing more detailed pieces is rarely the way to communicate clearly outside of the community, because few readers will carefully read all of it. Writing better is often writing more concisely, and using intuition pumps and general arguments that are likely to resonate with your particular target audience. It’s also anticipating their emotional hangups with the issue and addressing them.
Not everyone is as logical as LW members, and even rationalists don’t read in detail when they feel that the topic is probably silly.
This advice is helpful in addition, and yeah, my advice is probably reverse-worthy sometimes (though not like half the time).
You noted that he’s using sentences that mean something totally different when parsed even a little bit wrong, and I think that’s right and an insightful way to look at possible modes of communication failure.