Comment author:Curiouskid
03 December 2012 07:00:17PM
5 points
[-]
I imagine the less technical the subject matter the more likely it is to be useful to listen to as a podcast. I only listen to podcasts when I'm out on errands and so I don't want to or have to devote much mental energy to get something out of the podcast.
So, by this heuristic, I think the quantum physics sequence is probably out and Yudkowsky's coming of age is probably in.
Comment author:Indigo
14 December 2012 10:41:51PM
0 points
[-]
Just to counter your anecdote, I (almost) only listen to podcasts when I'm in an idle waiting situation, or doing routine tasks that require insignificant mental energy. I love to listen to things that make me think, so my mind is as far away from the tedious routines as possible.
That said, the content here is "designed" to be read, not listened to. Content that tends to provoke a lot of going back and forth for references and rereading crucial bits multiple times isn't going to work in direct text to audio conversion because of the differences of the media.
But forcing the listener to think isn't a problem to me - and I do think (even after trying to compensate for possible cognitive biases) that I represent a significant base of listeners.
= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
I imagine the less technical the subject matter the more likely it is to be useful to listen to as a podcast. I only listen to podcasts when I'm out on errands and so I don't want to or have to devote much mental energy to get something out of the podcast.
So, by this heuristic, I think the quantum physics sequence is probably out and Yudkowsky's coming of age is probably in.
Just to counter your anecdote, I (almost) only listen to podcasts when I'm in an idle waiting situation, or doing routine tasks that require insignificant mental energy. I love to listen to things that make me think, so my mind is as far away from the tedious routines as possible.
That said, the content here is "designed" to be read, not listened to. Content that tends to provoke a lot of going back and forth for references and rereading crucial bits multiple times isn't going to work in direct text to audio conversion because of the differences of the media.
But forcing the listener to think isn't a problem to me - and I do think (even after trying to compensate for possible cognitive biases) that I represent a significant base of listeners.