Viliam_Bur comments on Open Thread, May 16-31, 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 16 May 2012 07:36AM

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Comment author: Viliam_Bur 17 May 2012 03:03:53PM 4 points [-]

Now let's try it differently. Even if you feel that 20 articles is too small subset to describe the richness of this site, let's push it even further. Imagine that you can only list 10 articles, or 7 articles, 5 articles, 3 articles, or just 1 single best articles of the LessWrong. It will be painful, but please do your best.

Why? Well, unless one of us puts their selection of 20 articles on the wiki ignoring the others, the resulting selection will be a mix of something that you would select and something that you wouldn't. The resulting 20 articles will contain only 10 or maybe less articles from your personal "top 20" selection. So let's make it the best 10 articles.

However I ask you to avoid using strategies like this: "I think articles A and B are good. A is better than B, so if I have to choose only one article, I should have chosen A. But article A is widely popular, and most other people will probably choose it too, therefore I will pick B, which maximizes the chance that both A and B will be in the final selection." Please avoid this. Just pretend that the remaining articles will be chosen randomly (even if other people have already posted their choices), so you should really choose what you prefer most. Please cooperate on this Prisonner's Dilemma.

Also, please explain your reason behind selecting those articles. Maybe you see an aspect others are missing. Maybe others can suggest you another article which fulfills your goal better. (In other words, if you explain yourself, others can extrapolate your volition.)

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 17 May 2012 04:00:46PM *  2 points [-]

My choice, the most important three articles:

  • Why truth? And... -- it contains motivation for doing what we do, and explains the "Spock Rationality" misunderstanding
  • An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem -- a biology/medicine example focusing on women, and an interactive math textbook (great to balance the LW bias: male, sci-fi, computers, impractical philosophy, nonstandard science)
  • Why Our Kind Can't Cooperate -- a frequent fail mode of unknowingly trying to reverse stupidity in real life, important for those who hope to have a rational community

then these:

  • How to Be Happy -- a lot of low-hanging fruit for a new reader, applying science to everyday life; bonus points for being written by someone else
  • Something to Protect -- bringing the motivation to the near mode; the moral aspect of becoming rational
  • Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism -- a frequent fail mode of online communities; explanation of the LW moderation system

and then these:

Note: I think that each these articles can be read and understood separately, which in my opinion is good for total newbies. People are expecting short inferential distance, and you must first gain their attention before you can lead them further. If they will enjoy the MicroSequences, they will more likely continue with the Sequences. I also think these articles are not controversial or weird, so they will give a good impression to an outsider. The selection includes math, instrumental rationality, social aspects of rationality.

Funny thing, it was rather painful to reduce my suggested list to only 10 articles, but now I feel happy and satisfied with the result. Please make your own list, independently of this one. (Imagine that you have to select 10 or less articles for your friend.)

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