Well of course if I wanted real contribution I would have written a far more specific research proposal, but in our institute there are no statisticians I know of:)
I was wondering, actually, what difference is there between posing a problem to a statistician and to a broadly educated 'rationalist'. If rationalists think they should win, then why do they only win in some narrow lanes of life? There's plenty about fighting akrasia on LW, which is, however much impact it might have in one's life, a small-scale issue. There's plenty of AI discussion, which is giant-scale. Examples of middle-scale things I can remember without looking are Meal squares and something about one LWer setting up a business to help others find work in Australia. Thus the strange post:)
I was wondering, actually, what difference is there between posing a problem to a statistician and to a broadly educated 'rationalist'.
If the statistician is competent, he has a specialized toolset and the necessary skills to use it -- something that a generalist usually lacks.
The question is similar to "what's the difference between complaining about some pain to a doctor and to a broadly educated rationalist".
Moreover, stats is one of those fields where "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" applies in spades...
This is a place for matchmaking researchers with research ideas in applied sciences that have a sizeable impact on human condition.
Edit: let there be janitors.
What are the so-called adult problems in your field and who, in your opinion, is needed most to solve them?
Add reasons why you are not working on them yourself. (I, for example, am in a PhD program very remote from practical applications and might have a chance to do some research on useful stuff if I survive that long.)