Tech/skill trees help with the visualization process, and that goes a long way to motivation. Much of my struggle battling akrasia and learning math & beginner rationality is to try to stop imagining forbidding mountains of concepts, nomenclature and future practice, and instead focus on images of cartoonish/animated tech trees that are more appealing, tractable and familiar (for those of us with gaming backgrounds); ultimately, anything less intimidating than an impassible mountain to climb.
Added bonus: You will probably not find a more willing group of participants to enthusiastically input, rate and measure themselves on their cognitive and rationalist skills.
Added bonus 2: I speculate that CFAR may be able to integrate this type of system as additional value-add for post-workshop alumni.
edit: “Data Scientist” seems to be a buzz word used to trigger competence and desirability in job candidates. Here’s an example of a visual roadmap: http://nirvacana.com/thoughts/becoming-a-data-scientist/. I think other people are willing to create skill trees, but the missing ingredient is the ability to animate and infuse them with meaning over time (i.e. referring back to your ideas of tests for each node/module with clear achievement and progress indicators).
How about starting in a supportive domain that you happen to be interested in where existing taxonomies and skill progressions seem to exist?
http://intelligence.org/courses/
http://rationality.org/recommended-reading-on-rationality/
LW “curriculum”
Tech/skill trees help with the visualization process, and that goes a long way to motivation. Much of my struggle battling akrasia and learning math & beginner rationality is to try to stop imagining forbidding mountains of concepts, nomenclature and future practice, and instead focus on images of cartoonish/animated tech trees that are more appealing, tractable and familiar (for those of us with gaming backgrounds); ultimately, anything less intimidating than an impassible mountain to climb.
Added bonus: You will probably not find a more willing group of participants to enthusiastically input, rate and measure themselves on their cognitive and rationalist skills.
Added bonus 2: I speculate that CFAR may be able to integrate this type of system as additional value-add for post-workshop alumni.
edit: “Data Scientist” seems to be a buzz word used to trigger competence and desirability in job candidates. Here’s an example of a visual roadmap: http://nirvacana.com/thoughts/becoming-a-data-scientist/. I think other people are willing to create skill trees, but the missing ingredient is the ability to animate and infuse them with meaning over time (i.e. referring back to your ideas of tests for each node/module with clear achievement and progress indicators).