So I've been trying to figure out (without much success) how to instill this kind of interest in others, and again, I'm not sure presenting a list of important unsolved problems is the best way to do it.
I'm not sure either. It would perhaps be a useful reference but not a massive motivator in its own right.
What I know works best as a motivator for me is putting up sample problems - presenting the subject matter in 'sleeping hitchiker terrorist inna box' form. When seeing a concrete (albeit extremely counterfactual) problem I get nerd sniped. I am being entirely literal when I say that takes a massive amount of willpower for me to stop myself from working on it. To the extent that there is less perceived effort for tackling the problem for 15 hours straight than there is for putting it aside. And that can be the start of a self reinforcement cycle at times.
The above is in contrast to just seeing the unsolved problems listed. That format is approximately inspiration neutral.
By the way, is that decision theory list still active? I was subscribed but haven't seen anything appear of late.
What I know works best as a motivator for me is putting up sample problems - presenting the subject matter in 'sleeping hitchiker terrorist inna box' form.
That seems like a useful datum, thanks.
By the way, is that decision theory list still active? I was subscribed but haven't seen anything appear of late.
It's still active, but nobody has made a post for about a month.
More and more, LessWrong's posts are meta-rationality posts, about how to be rational, how to avoid akrasia, in general, without any specific application. This is probably the intended purpose of the site. But they're starting to bore me.
What drew me to LessWrong is that it's a place where I can put rationality into practice, discussing specific questions of philosophy, value, and possible futures, with the goal of finding a good path through the Singularity. Many of these topics have no other place where rational discussion of them is possible, online or off. Such applied topics have almost all moved to Discussion now, and may be declining in frequency.
This isn't entirely new. Applied discussions have always suffered bad karma on LW (statistically; please do not respond with anecdotal data). I thought this was because people downvote a post if they find anything in it that they disagree with. But perhaps a lot of people would rather talk about rationality than use it.
Does anyone else have this perception? Or am I just becoming a LW old geezer?
At the same time, LW is taking off in terms of meetups and number of posts. Is it finding its true self? Does the discussion of rationality techniques have a larger market than debates over Sleeping Beauty (I'm even beginning to miss those!) Is the old concern with values, artificial intelligence, and the Singularity something for LW to grow out of?
(ADDED: Some rationality posts are good. I am also a lukeprog fan.)