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emp17344 • today at 10:17 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

Seems like a terrible idea in the first place to build an entire organization around a single pop-sci book, but that’s just me.


Replies

glial • today at 3:01 PM

System 1/2 is the pop version, but the fast/slow distinction is prevalent in both RL and computational cognitive science, sometimes going under different names: procedural/deliberative, model-free/model-based, automatic/controlled, associative/rule-based, autonomous/algorithmic, etc.

TeMPOraL • today at 10:25 AM

It's indeed a terrible idea - as in, it's great. You get benefits of cross-marketing: you ride on a popularity of a well-known book, and as you also drive more sales of it, even if you don't have a deal and don't benefit from that directly, you strengthen the loop and solidify your brand.

This choice doesn't really constrain what the organization can do, either. Pop-sci books have plenty of wiggle room in interpretation, and afford a lot of "you're holding it wrong" dismissals of criticism, that with a bit of clever copywriting, the organization can do absolutely anything and still claim it's embodying the framework/theory of the book.