Nick Whitaker

• Nick WhitakerMar 8, 2022, 3:58 AM

  12 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: HaydnBelfield’s comment on: We’re an­nounc­ing a $100,000 blog prize

  I see them as compliments! I expect blogging encouraged by the prize will on average require less context to read, and will often be done by people who aren’t members of the EA community. I hope that as authors and readers think more about these topics, they will find their way here.

• Nick WhitakerMar 8, 2022, 3:56 AM

  12 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Ramiro’s comment on: We’re an­nounc­ing a $100,000 blog prize

  Hypotheses:

  1. We have strong models for how to do a popular blog about progress (Tyler Cowen, Anton Howes, Jason Crawford, etc). We have fewer of those sorts of models for EA.

  2. Progress studies, as it exists, sort of only is blogging, so all intellectual effort is channeled to it. EA encourages people to do lots of other things.

  3. Progress studies is innately better suited for blogging. This seems unlikely to me. But I do believe some subjects (philosophy stands out) are harder to blog about. Related: History seems especially easy to podcast about.

• Nick WhitakerMar 8, 2022, 3:52 AM

  11 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Steven Byrnes’s comment on: We’re an­nounc­ing a $100,000 blog prize

  Good to hear that you are writing on LessWrong. We are all big fans. But one of our guiding principles for this project has been to incentivize getting content in venues where they get beyond a core in-group. From the outside, it’s easy to see LW as for rationalists (and EA Forums only for EAs). Standard blogs feel more neutral to outsiders. And while standard blogs don’t require a different tone and context assumptions, they often have them. So we view blogging and LW (and similar venues) as complementary but distinct things.

  So we ask that qualifying blogs are not on LessWrong, though crossposting every post would be permissible. And I would also encourage others to do prizes for LessWrong posts, etc.