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Wei_Dai comments on Eliezer's Sequences and Mainstream Academia - Less Wrong
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Comments (153)
I think a valid criticism can be made that while you were trying to counteract these three effects (which is clearly an important and useful effort), you didn't take enough care to avoid introducing a new effect, of making some people think the Sequences are less original than they actually are. (For example you didn't ask Eliezer to double check your descriptions of how the Sequences posts relate to the academic works, and you didn't give some examples of where the Sequences are original.)
This is bad because in addition to communicating various ideas, the Sequences also serve as evidence of Eliezer's philosophy and rationality talents/skills, which is useful for potential donors/supporters to judge the likely future effectiveness of the Singularity Institute in achieving its goals.
I agree I could have spent a paragraph reinforcing the originality of The Sequences.
As for asking Eliezer to check the article before posting: I've sent Eliezer things for feedback before, and he usually doesn't give feedback on them until after I stop waiting and post them to LW. But as a result of this post, we've arranged a new heuristic: If I think Eliezer plausibly disagrees with a thing I'm going to post to LW, I'll give him a chance to give feedback on it before I post it.
From a donor point of view, the question is as much whether Eliezer has made relevant lessons a true part of him as whether he has done original work.
The Sequences are neither necessary nor sufficient to get funding to do actual research (although I hope they are helpful in obtaining funding for research).