What about an online group for high schoolers devoted to refining the art of human rationality?
Discovering LessWrong had a profound effect on me, shedding light on the way I study thought processes and helping me with a more rational approach. As a teenager in high school, I wish I could share LessWrong's teachings and philosophies with others at my level.
It would be awesome if we could create a list for the interests of LessWrong readers who are in their teens/in high school. I think this would allow a rational online community such as LessWrong to help develop more rationalists whether by outlining some plans to start rationality clubs in high school or discussing ways teenagers an approach rationality. I also think it would help more timid readers to express themselves and talk with other teenagers about common interests (adults could be allowed in to, if they are deemed appropriate for the community). Correct me if I'm wrong, but rationality training should start as soon as possible in the development process and what better age group to target than teenagers? Adolescence is a crucial transitional phase psychologically, biologically and culturally. I would love to see more collected articles on the evolution of rationality in the amazing, flexible mind of an adolescent. If the goal of this blog is to train humans to be rational-minded, more importance should be allocated to training teenagers. I do not think it hasn't happened yet for want of need among teenagers and if we concentrate some resources, gather a list of interested individuals and garner some interest we can make this work. This article is a good example of something that could be distributed in the proposed group:
For LW readers under 20: Note that the Thiel Fellowships (20 under 20) are now open for their next round of applications, and as they put it, "you have a huge readership of folk who would make great applicants". More info here. (from http://lesswrong.com/lw/f9r/weekly_lw_meetups_austin_berlin_cambridge_uk/)
There is also this LessWrong Highschoolers Facebook group created by Curtis SerVaas:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/201577993258819/
I recently Skyped (not officially a verb yet?) Anna Salamon who is the Executive Director of CFAR (Center for Applied Rationality). We had begun to develop this proposal. She is on the e-mail list and will be involved as a quasi-supervisor person. You can reach her at anna [at] appliedrationality [dot] org. Drop me a one-line e-mail with your name, age, and situation at [deleted] if you'd like to join the list. Speak up! Teenagers should be the subject of concentrated effort on LessWrong. We are the future, help us to reach the fruits of human rationality.
I agree. And the "total immersion" effect of LessWrong is really healthy for young minds, but I am not sure you have understood the purpose of this would-be project. If you were an English teacher, would you not be interested in a "rational thinking for teachers" group? I know that if I was an English teacher with access to the rationality training resources found on LessWrong I would spend a while thinking about "Guessing the Teacher's Password." I would want to iron out as many of the logical fallacies, teaching errors and understanding errors that can take place in a classroom, such as "Guessing the Teacher's Password." I would want to work in the best possible environment for learning and be the best possible teacher. I can still read Hobbes, Machiavelli and Rousseau. No one is going to stop me. But as a teacher I am particularly interested in making sure that I am doing my job in a way that trains thinkers and not answer-anticipating machines. Would it be helpful to have a rationality group devoted to helping me do my job rationally? Yes. I think most people would like to be able to know how to go about their jobs in a rational way. Would you?
The same goes for teenagers. Most of us are students. Many of us aspire to be musicians, some of us aspire to be rationalists. When you were 15, would you have been interested in understanding the inner-workings of a teenage brain through puberty? Would approaching college applications in a rational way be a useful tool for 15 year old ChristianKl? Maybe, maybe not. But it would be nice to be able to make that choice, to have the resources available to you. Being a teenager is a job, sometimes a tough job. Some of us would like to understand how to approach it rationally. What are some good thought-provokign ways to spend your summer vacation? What enrichment opportunities are there for teenagers? How to reason with parents? And as for doubting rational teenagers would join such a group, I am not sure but I think I have experimental evidence disproving that statement. A LessWrong Highschoolers Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/201577993258819/). You can check if they are really interested in rational thinking, but it is my understanding that they are. So, possibly, we can put your doubts at ease. You can cater to someone's needs without dumbing things down and continue to treat them as adults. Because even though we want to be treated as adults, we want to be rational adults and LessWrong can and (probably) should help us in that endeavor. Or does "A community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality" not apply if your under 20? It is possible to help someone without damaging their (admittedly inflated) self-esteem. And Hobbes, Machiavelli and Rousseau would be equally at home in a LessWrong for Teenagers section. Your teenager hood seems to have been full of beautiful philosophical readings, don't you want everyone to have that chance?
We could have "rational thinking for teachers", a "rational thinking for programmers", a "rational thinking for musicians", a "rational thinking for women" and a "rational thinking for teenagers" group. At the end you have 10 d... (read more)