High karma seems to me to be about being on board with LW orthodoxy, articulating that clearly in posts and comments and supporting the aims of the group.
The criticism you proffer has been made independently several times. The usual answer is that cogent, intelligent criticism that shows familiarity with the premises and conclusions of LW "orthodoxy" (and clearly locates its criticism as a problem with either the plausibility of a premise or the validity of an argument, or both) tends to get upvoted. You just have to show you've done your homework.
The problem is that exactly what qualifies as "homework" is determined by the in-group. And, as I said, this is exactly how it works in the church.
Nevermind that though. My point was really that karma isn't tied to who is right, it is tied to who we like or who furthers our preferential ends. This karma-for-work deal is another example of that.
If karma is a popularity system, then fine. But there seems to be a lingering sentiment it is more about rationality, and how a given comment or commenter is in line with it. That's not the case when you are giving people points to do tasks.
MIRI is gathering a bunch of Eliezer’s writings into a nicely-edited ebook, currently titled The Hard Part is Actually Changing Your Mind. This book will ultimately be released in various digital formats (Kindle MOBI, EPUB, and PDF). Much of the initial work for this project is complete. What we need now are volunteers to review the book's chapters to:
This project has been added to Youtopia, MIRI’s volunteer system. (Click “Register as a Volunteer” here to sign up. Already signed up? Go here.)
LW Karma Bonus
For this special project, every point earned in Youtopia will also earn you 3 karma on LW!
Points are awarded based on the amount of time spent proofreading the book. For example, an hour of work logged in Youtopia earns you 10 points, which will also get you 30 LW karma. Karma is awarded by admins in a publicly-accountable way: all manual karma additions are listed here.
Questions about this project can be directed to alexv@intelligence.org or in the comments.