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I'm currently trying to go through Jaynes:PTTLOS myself. As mentioned earlier in this comments: you hardly learn anything by reading alone, you need to discuss or solve exercises. So of course I would love to join a group!
I am currently in Manchester, UK, but will spend most of August and early September on the road, without regular internet access. After that I do not know for sure where I will live or how much time I can commit. But I am very interested!
I also do have a high-quality .pdf-version of the book. Apparently it is the first edition and has no links but it is not simply a scan of the pages of the book! That means the formulae and diagrams are all very high quality and you can do a full text search. I am not sure on the legal status though, probably it is an "only for private study use"-version that one is not supposed to make publicly available. What is the LW-policy concerning links to such content?
I have several similar experiences, often myself being the one who asked most of the questions. When teaching I always try to encourage asking questions as much as possible. I am well known for the many questions I am asking in class - even to the extend that others get quite annoyed by me.
But if i did not listen to the teacher for a single moment I do not think I am allowed to ask questions any more. I did not bother to listen, so why should my teacher bother to answer? Maybe I would already know the answer if I just had listened...
That is a bit how I feel here, not having read through the vast archives of LW...
Hi.
I came here following Eliezer when he left OB. I think the main reasons why I am not participating more are:
- I am an undergraduate student just starting to learn about rationality. I often struggle to understand the main posts and I am quite far from being able to contribute useful knowledge, new insights or a qualified opinion to any of the discussion here.
- But why not ask more questions? I usually consider asking questions an extremely important thing to do. The problem is, although I have pretty much read all of the current posts, I have not yet caught up with all the older material. So I think I do not have the right to ask questions and bother you with things that you might already have explained elsewhere in full detail. I feel like I should first do my part of the work before I can expect others to take the time and explain things to me.
- I am from Germany and not an English native speaker. Writing something in an environment with such high linguistic standards is additionally intimidating (I regularly come across words in LW posts that I have never seen before and have to look them up - to me a sign that my language skills are not appropriate to write here. Coming to speak of it: please excuse my bad language!)
- the karma-system clearly conveys the message that the community only wants the most qualified contributions - I simply do not feel fit to provide them.
By the way: I was a silent reader for quite a long time. Then I finally signed up a while ago to vote for a comment that I thought should get more attention. This did not work because as a newly registered user I did not have enough karma to vote and so I gave up. Apparently the community does not even consider me fit to vote, so I won't do it.
Thank you all who are contributing to this site, lurking here and knowing one is not alone is such a pleasure!