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mindspillage comments on Yes, a blog. - Less Wrong
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And this is precisely why I haven't lost all hope for the future. (That, and we've got some really bright people working furiously on reducing x-risk.) On rare occasions, humanity impresses me. I could write sonnets about Wikipedia. And I hate when so-called educators try to imply Wikipedia is low status or somehow making us dumber. It's the kind of conclusion that the Gatekeepers of Knowledge wish was accurate. How can you possibly get access to that kind of information without paying your dues? It's just immoral.
I pose this question: if you had to pick just one essay to introduce someone to LW, which one would you pick and why? I'd like to spread access to the information in the sequences so that it can benefit others as it did me, but I'm at a loss as to where specifically to start. Just tossing a link to the list of sequences is.....overwhelming, to say the least. And I've been perusing them for so long that I can't remember what it's like to read with fresh eyes, and the essays that have the most impact on me now were incomprehensible to me a year ago, I think.
How much does that happen? It is my understanding that educators don't mind students using Wikipedia to gather information, as long as they use Wikipedia's references to validate that information, and then cite those references. That is, Wikipedia is a valid tool for finding sources and summaries of those sources, but it is not a source itself.
Well, the ones who rail against it are the ones who get most of the press time... "My school encourages using appropriate references to the extent that such use is appropriate for its purpose" doesn't attract much attention.
I give talks and workshops about Wikipedia. It is shocking how many people think they know how Wikipedia works and how to use it who really have no idea. The educators who forbid it aren't thinking of it as a jumping-off point for further research, and they don't actually know how the content is produced and maintained, or at least have never thought about the implications of their beliefs.
(My very favorite clever phrase describing my feelings comes from the name of a Facebook group: "Abolish abstinence-only Wikipedia education.")