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In­tel­lec­tual Progress (So­ciety-Level)

TagLast edit: Sep 8, 2020, 9:04 PM by abramdemski

Intellectual Progress is the progressive accumulation of knowledge. Questions include How is intellectual progress made? and How do we make more? Intellectual Progress (Individual-Level) and the Scholarship & Learning tag is focused on the learning and research of individuals. In contrast, Intellectual Progress (Society-Level) is about how we, humanity, collectively make progress on important questions. What broader conditions, institutions, and technologies enable progress?

Also related to: Progress Studies, Practice & Philosophy of Science

[TO-DO: link Science tag(s)]

On Solv­ing Prob­lems Be­fore They Ap­pear: The Weird Episte­molo­gies of Alignment

adamShimiOct 11, 2021, 8:20 AM
110 points
10 comments15 min readLW link

[An­swer] Why wasn’t sci­ence in­vented in China?

RubyApr 23, 2019, 9:47 PM
95 points
46 comments21 min readLW link1 review

Episte­molog­i­cal Fram­ing for AI Align­ment Research

adamShimiMar 8, 2021, 10:05 PM
58 points
7 comments9 min readLW link

Pre­dic­tion Mar­kets for Science

VaniverJan 2, 2023, 5:55 PM
27 points
7 comments5 min readLW link

The Coper­ni­can Revolu­tion from the Inside

Bird ConceptNov 1, 2017, 10:51 AM
156 points
46 comments19 min readLW link

Study­ing Early Stage Science: Re­search Pro­gram Introduction

habrykaJan 17, 2020, 10:12 PM
32 points
1 comment15 min readLW link
(medium.com)

How to an­a­lyze progress, stag­na­tion, and low-hang­ing fruit

jasoncrawfordJun 15, 2020, 9:02 PM
42 points
9 comments4 min readLW link
(rootsofprogress.org)

[Question] Which sci­en­tific dis­cov­ery was most ahead of its time?

Richard_NgoMay 16, 2019, 12:58 PM
38 points
14 comments1 min readLW link

Is the rate of sci­en­tific progress slow­ing down? (by Tyler Cowen and Ben South­wood)

Ben PaceDec 2, 2019, 3:45 AM
49 points
6 comments1 min readLW link
(docs.google.com)

The Fu­ture of Science

Richard_NgoJul 28, 2020, 2:43 AM
21 points
2 comments7 min readLW link

In­tel­lec­tual Progress In­side and Out­side Academia

Ben PaceSep 2, 2017, 11:08 PM
40 points
5 comments14 min readLW link

Paper read­ing as a Cargo Cult

jem-mosigAug 7, 2022, 7:50 AM
70 points
10 comments5 min readLW link

What’s Wrong with So­cial Science and How to Fix It: Reflec­tions After Read­ing 2578 Papers

habrykaSep 12, 2020, 1:46 AM
107 points
22 comments2 min readLW link
(fantasticanachronism.com)

For progress to be by ac­cu­mu­la­tion and not by ran­dom walk, read great books

MichaelVassarMar 2, 2010, 8:11 AM
84 points
117 comments3 min readLW link

On the Loss and Preser­va­tion of Knowledge

Samo BurjaMar 8, 2018, 6:40 PM
71 points
21 comments10 min readLW link
(medium.com)

Epistemic Arte­facts of (con­cep­tual) AI al­ign­ment research

Aug 19, 2022, 5:18 PM
31 points
1 comment5 min readLW link

How to Find the Fron­tiers of Knowledge

Samo BurjaOct 30, 2020, 10:50 AM
60 points
1 comment9 min readLW link
(medium.com)

MATS Models

johnswentworthJul 9, 2022, 12:14 AM
94 points
5 comments16 min readLW link

Why Aca­demic Papers Are A Ter­rible Dis­cus­sion Forum

alyssavanceJun 20, 2012, 6:15 PM
44 points
53 comments6 min readLW link

Pro­duc­tive Mis­takes, Not Perfect Answers

adamShimiApr 7, 2022, 4:41 PM
100 points
11 comments6 min readLW link

[Question] How of­ten are new ideas dis­cov­ered in old pa­pers?

TurnTroutJul 26, 2019, 1:00 AM
23 points
5 comments1 min readLW link

The Ba­co­nian Method (Novum Or­ganum Book 1: 93-107)

Francis BaconOct 10, 2019, 6:54 PM
28 points
1 comment11 min readLW link

A brief his­tory of computers

Adam ZernerJul 19, 2023, 2:59 AM
73 points
18 comments33 min readLW link

[Question] What makes peo­ple in­tel­lec­tu­ally ac­tive?

abramdemskiDec 29, 2018, 10:29 PM
122 points
72 comments1 min readLW link

The effi­ciency of prizes

lukeprogApr 3, 2012, 9:45 PM
39 points
18 comments2 min readLW link

Pas­teur’s quadrant

jasoncrawfordJun 5, 2020, 5:47 PM
36 points
2 comments5 min readLW link
(rootsofprogress.org)

Shut­tling be­tween sci­ence and invention

jasoncrawfordMay 27, 2020, 9:25 PM
61 points
1 comment6 min readLW link1 review
(rootsofprogress.org)

The YouTube Revolu­tion in Knowl­edge Transfer

Samo BurjaSep 17, 2019, 8:10 PM
68 points
7 comments4 min readLW link
(medium.com)

Why ev­ery­thing might have taken so long

KatjaGraceJan 1, 2018, 1:00 AM
113 points
16 comments3 min readLW link1 review
(meteuphoric.wordpress.com)

Is Science Slow­ing Down?

Scott AlexanderNov 27, 2018, 3:30 AM
129 points
77 comments9 min readLW link1 review
(slatestarcodex.com)

Some ex­am­ples of tech­nol­ogy timelines

NunoSempereMar 27, 2020, 6:13 PM
24 points
0 comments16 min readLW link

How to Diver­sify Con­cep­tual Align­ment: the Model Be­hind Refine

adamShimiJul 20, 2022, 10:44 AM
87 points
11 comments8 min readLW link

Quick look: ap­pli­ca­tions of chaos theory

Aug 18, 2024, 3:00 PM
79 points
51 comments8 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

AI do­ing philos­o­phy = AI gen­er­at­ing hands?

Wei DaiJan 15, 2024, 9:04 AM
46 points
22 comments1 min readLW link

Some (prob­le­matic) aes­thet­ics of what con­sti­tutes good work in academia

Steven ByrnesMar 11, 2024, 5:47 PM
147 points
12 comments12 min readLW link

How do we know that “good re­search” is good? (aka “di­rect eval­u­a­tion” vs “eigen-eval­u­a­tion”)

RubyJul 19, 2024, 12:31 AM
49 points
21 comments6 min readLW link

A Defense of Peer Review

Oct 22, 2024, 4:16 PM
23 points
1 comment22 min readLW link
(www.asimov.press)

The Me­dian Re­searcher Problem

johnswentworthNov 2, 2024, 8:16 PM
161 points
71 comments1 min readLW link

Build­ing AI Re­search Fleets

Jan 12, 2025, 6:23 PM
127 points
11 comments5 min readLW link

So You Want To Make Marginal Progress...

johnswentworthFeb 7, 2025, 11:22 PM
281 points
41 comments4 min readLW link

United We Align: Har­ness­ing Col­lec­tive Hu­man In­tel­li­gence for AI Align­ment Progress

Shoshannah TekofskyApr 20, 2023, 11:19 PM
41 points
13 comments25 min readLW link

The Just World Hypothesis

michael_vassar2Oct 9, 2017, 6:03 AM
17 points
9 comments3 min readLW link

Start Un­der the Streetlight, then Push into the Shadows

lukeprogJun 24, 2013, 12:49 AM
52 points
29 comments8 min readLW link

Char­ac­ter­iz­ing Real-World Agents as a Re­search Meta-Strategy

johnswentworthOct 8, 2019, 3:32 PM
29 points
4 comments5 min readLW link

De­liber­ate and spon­ta­neous creativity

Kaj_SotalaMar 29, 2009, 7:45 PM
28 points
30 comments4 min readLW link

LW2.0: Tech­nol­ogy Plat­form for In­tel­lec­tual Progress

RubyJun 19, 2019, 8:25 PM
31 points
5 comments7 min readLW link

LW2.0: Com­mu­nity, Cul­ture, and In­tel­lec­tual Progress

RubyJun 19, 2019, 8:25 PM
27 points
2 comments6 min readLW link

Mee­tups as In­sti­tu­tions for In­tel­lec­tual Progress

mingyuanSep 17, 2019, 5:23 AM
91 points
26 comments7 min readLW link

Mus­ings on LessWrong Peer Review

RaemonMar 18, 2018, 9:47 PM
47 points
23 comments5 min readLW link

On the im­por­tance of Less Wrong, or an­other sin­gle con­ver­sa­tional locus

AnnaSalamonNov 27, 2016, 5:13 PM
176 points
365 comments4 min readLW link

Learn­ing To Love Scien­tific Consensus

Scott AlexanderSep 2, 2017, 8:44 AM
31 points
1 comment19 min readLW link

Open Prob­lems Create Paradigms

johnswentworthNov 9, 2020, 8:04 PM
50 points
5 comments2 min readLW link

1960: The Year The Sin­gu­lar­ity Was Cancelled

Scott AlexanderApr 23, 2019, 1:30 AM
104 points
15 comments11 min readLW link1 review
(slatestarcodex.com)

Po­ten­tial fac­tors in Bell Labs’ in­tel­lec­tual progress, Pt. 1

RubyFeb 12, 2021, 7:26 PM
50 points
6 comments8 min readLW link

[Question] Sugges­tions of posts on the AF to review

adamShimiFeb 16, 2021, 12:40 PM
56 points
20 comments1 min readLW link

Re­view of “Fun with +12 OOMs of Com­pute”

Mar 28, 2021, 2:55 PM
65 points
21 comments8 min readLW link1 review

Les­sons from “The Book of My Life”

bmgarfinkelJan 6, 2021, 10:40 PM
114 points
3 comments16 min readLW link
(benmgarfinkel.wordpress.com)

Look­ing Deeper at Deconfusion

adamShimiJun 13, 2021, 9:29 PM
62 points
13 comments15 min readLW link

[Question] Why not more small, in­tense re­search teams?

egAug 5, 2021, 11:57 AM
19 points
9 comments1 min readLW link

Com­bin­ing two posts: Blank­face (Scott Aa) and Is Science Slow­ing Down? (Scott Al)

William GasarchAug 9, 2021, 5:37 PM
10 points
0 comments1 min readLW link

How can we in­crease the fre­quency of rare in­sights?

MichaelDickensApr 19, 2021, 10:54 PM
19 points
10 comments5 min readLW link

Grav­ity Turn

alkjashAug 16, 2021, 7:20 PM
220 points
21 comments5 min readLW link1 review
(radimentary.wordpress.com)

Blind Spots in Science and Culture

rogersbaconSep 2, 2021, 12:02 AM
7 points
3 comments15 min readLW link

Pri­ori­ti­za­tion Re­search for Ad­vanc­ing Wis­dom and Intelligence

ozziegooenOct 18, 2021, 10:28 PM
49 points
8 comments5 min readLW link
(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

An anal­ogy as the mid­wife of thermodynamics

adamShimiFeb 16, 2022, 9:34 PM
30 points
10 comments7 min readLW link

Be­com­ing Stronger as Episte­mol­o­gist: Introduction

adamShimiFeb 15, 2022, 6:15 AM
30 points
2 comments4 min readLW link

What The Foucault

adamShimiFeb 19, 2022, 10:48 PM
39 points
6 comments3 min readLW link

The Art and Science of In­tu­ition Pumping

adamShimiFeb 22, 2022, 12:18 AM
26 points
3 comments9 min readLW link

Re­plac­ing Nat­u­ral Interpretations

adamShimiMar 16, 2022, 1:05 PM
19 points
0 comments7 min readLW link

What do paradigm shifts look like?

leogaoMar 16, 2022, 7:17 PM
18 points
2 comments1 min readLW link

On Con­text And People

JanMar 19, 2022, 11:38 PM
7 points
0 comments10 min readLW link
(universalprior.substack.com)

Distributed blind re­view site for papers

Jonas KgomoApr 21, 2022, 10:51 PM
2 points
1 comment1 min readLW link

In­tu­itions about solv­ing hard problems

Richard_NgoApr 25, 2022, 3:29 PM
105 points
23 comments6 min readLW link

An aca­demic jour­nal is just a Twit­ter feed

David Hugh-JonesMay 27, 2022, 11:14 AM
13 points
4 comments2 min readLW link
(wyclif.substack.com)

Episte­molog­i­cal Vigilance for Alignment

adamShimiJun 6, 2022, 12:27 AM
66 points
11 comments10 min readLW link

Levels of Pluralism

adamShimiJul 27, 2022, 9:35 AM
37 points
0 comments14 min readLW link

[Question] What are some Works that might be use­ful but are difficult, so for­got­ten?

TekhneMakreAug 9, 2022, 2:22 AM
10 points
5 comments1 min readLW link

Please (re)ex­plain your per­sonal jargon

Nathan Helm-BurgerAug 22, 2022, 2:30 PM
23 points
4 comments4 min readLW link

Method­olog­i­cal Ther­apy: An Agenda For Tack­ling Re­search Bottlenecks

Sep 22, 2022, 6:41 PM
54 points
6 comments9 min readLW link

Epistemic stan­dards for “Why did it take so long to in­vent X?”

jasoncrawfordMar 2, 2020, 6:58 PM
91 points
16 comments6 min readLW link
(rootsofprogress.org)

Why did ev­ery­thing take so long?

KatjaGraceDec 29, 2017, 1:00 AM
34 points
17 comments1 min readLW link
(meteuphoric.wordpress.com)

Blog posts as epistemic trust builders

Adam ZernerSep 27, 2020, 1:47 AM
18 points
7 comments2 min readLW link

[Question] Is LW mak­ing progress?

zulupineappleAug 24, 2019, 12:32 AM
21 points
11 comments1 min readLW link

Miss­ing fore­cast­ing tools: from cat­a­logs to a new kind of pre­dic­tion market

MichaelLatowickiMar 29, 2023, 9:55 AM
14 points
3 comments5 min readLW link

Pro­lifer­at­ing Education

Haris RashidDec 20, 2022, 7:22 PM
−1 points
2 comments5 min readLW link
(www.harisrab.com)

When An­thro­po­mor­phism Be­came Stupid

Eliezer YudkowskyAug 16, 2008, 11:43 PM
56 points
12 comments3 min readLW link

Peter Thiel warns of up­com­ing (and cur­rent) stagnation

SilasBartaOct 4, 2011, 5:30 PM
36 points
121 comments2 min readLW link

Pre­serv­ing our her­i­tage: Build­ing a move­ment and a knowl­edge ark for cur­rent and fu­ture generations

rnk8Nov 29, 2023, 7:20 PM
0 points
5 comments12 min readLW link

[Question] How far along Metr’s law can AI start au­tomat­ing or helping with al­ign­ment re­search?

Christopher KingMar 20, 2025, 3:58 PM
19 points
21 comments1 min readLW link

Paradigms and The­ory Choice in AI: Adap­tivity, Econ­omy and Control

particlemaniaAug 28, 2023, 10:19 PM
4 points
0 comments16 min readLW link

Build­ing Some­thing Smarter

Eliezer YudkowskyNov 2, 2008, 5:00 PM
26 points
57 comments4 min readLW link

If Van der Waals was a neu­ral network

George3d6Jan 28, 2020, 6:38 PM
18 points
3 comments11 min readLW link
(blog.cerebralab.com)

That You’d Tell All Your Friends

Eliezer YudkowskyMar 1, 2009, 12:04 PM
8 points
53 comments1 min readLW link

An­tag­o­nis­tic AI

XybermancerMar 1, 2024, 6:50 PM
−8 points
1 comment1 min readLW link

[Question] The tech left behind

LeafcraftMar 12, 2019, 2:47 PM
25 points
22 comments1 min readLW link

Kevin Sim­ler’s “Go­ing Crit­i­cal”

habrykaMay 16, 2019, 4:36 AM
56 points
1 comment1 min readLW link
(www.meltingasphalt.com)

Chat­bots as a Publi­ca­tion Format

derek shillerDec 30, 2022, 2:11 PM
6 points
6 comments4 min readLW link

Cul­tural accumulation

KatjaGraceDec 6, 2020, 6:20 AM
93 points
53 comments3 min readLW link
(meteuphoric.com)

A con­cep­tual pre­cur­sor to to­day’s lan­guage ma­chines [Shan­non]

Bill BenzonNov 15, 2023, 1:50 PM
24 points
6 comments2 min readLW link

How to co­or­di­nate de­spite our bi­ases? - tldr

Ryo Apr 18, 2024, 3:03 PM
3 points
2 comments3 min readLW link
(medium.com)

Align­ment’s phlo­gis­ton

Eleni AngelouAug 18, 2022, 10:27 PM
10 points
2 comments2 min readLW link

Why Academia is Mostly Not Truth-Seeking

Zero ContradictionsOct 16, 2024, 7:14 PM
−7 points
6 comments1 min readLW link
(thewaywardaxolotl.blogspot.com)

Is Progress Real?

rogersbaconJan 10, 2023, 5:42 PM
5 points
14 comments14 min readLW link
(www.secretorum.life)

[Question] What do you think should be in­cluded in a se­ries about con­cep­tual me­dia?

PolytoposDec 31, 2020, 1:40 AM
2 points
5 comments1 min readLW link

Your posts should be on arXiv

JanBAug 25, 2022, 10:35 AM
156 points
44 comments3 min readLW link

Values Darwinism

pchvykovJan 22, 2024, 10:44 AM
11 points
13 comments3 min readLW link

Where Utopias Go Wrong, or: The Four Lit­tle Planets

ExCephMay 27, 2022, 1:24 AM
15 points
0 comments11 min readLW link
(ginnungagapfoundation.wordpress.com)

Why Weren’t Hot Air Bal­loons In­vented Sooner?

Lost FuturesOct 18, 2022, 12:41 AM
115 points
52 comments6 min readLW link
(lostfutures.substack.com)
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