Thanks for all the comments! This is helpful. I agree ‘Biases: An Introduction’ needs to function better as a hook. The balls-in-an-urn example was chosen because it’s an example Eliezer re-uses a few times later in the Sequences, but I’d love to hear ideas for better examples, or in general a more interesting way to start the book.
‘Religion is an obvious example of a false set of doctrines’ is so thoroughly baked into the Sequences that I think getting rid of it would require creating an entirely new book. R:AZ won’t be as effective for theists, just as it won’t be as effective for people who find math, philosophy, or science aversive.
I agree with you about ‘boiling the frog’, though: it would be nice if the book eased its way into anti-religious examples. I ended up deciding it was more important to quickly reach accessible interesting examples (like the ones in ‘Fake Beliefs’) than to optimize for broad appeal to theists and agnostics. One idea I’ve been tossing around, though, is to edit Book I (‘Map and Territory’) and Book II (‘How to Actually Change Your Mind’) for future release in such a way that it’s possible to read II before I. It will still probably be better for most people to start with I, but if this works perhaps some agnostic or culturally religious readers will be able to start with II and get through more content before running into a huge number of anti-religious sentiments.
I agree about doing more to address the technobabble. In addition to including a Glossary in future editions of the book, I’ll look into turning some unnecessarily technical asides into footnotes. The hyperlinks, of course, will need to be removed regardless when the print book comes out.
Thanks for all the comments! This is helpful. I agree ‘Biases: An Introduction’ needs to function better as a hook. The balls-in-an-urn example was chosen because it’s an example Eliezer re-uses a few times later in the Sequences, but I’d love to hear ideas for better examples, or in general a more interesting way to start the book.
‘Religion is an obvious example of a false set of doctrines’ is so thoroughly baked into the Sequences that I think getting rid of it would require creating an entirely new book. R:AZ won’t be as effective for theists, just as it won’t be as effective for people who find math, philosophy, or science aversive.
I agree with you about ‘boiling the frog’, though: it would be nice if the book eased its way into anti-religious examples. I ended up deciding it was more important to quickly reach accessible interesting examples (like the ones in ‘Fake Beliefs’) than to optimize for broad appeal to theists and agnostics. One idea I’ve been tossing around, though, is to edit Book I (‘Map and Territory’) and Book II (‘How to Actually Change Your Mind’) for future release in such a way that it’s possible to read II before I. It will still probably be better for most people to start with I, but if this works perhaps some agnostic or culturally religious readers will be able to start with II and get through more content before running into a huge number of anti-religious sentiments.
I agree about doing more to address the technobabble. In addition to including a Glossary in future editions of the book, I’ll look into turning some unnecessarily technical asides into footnotes. The hyperlinks, of course, will need to be removed regardless when the print book comes out.