>For this reason, Carrot Problems greatly increase the value fo being an "insider".
>There's some fields where it really might be true that you can learn everything you need to know by reading books at the public library. But anytime people are succeeding for reasons they won't admit in public, it's hard to get a grasp on the situation unless you have private back-channels.
I feel this is a natural response when you're in a low-trust low-signal-to-noise-ratio environment. You have to keep things close to the chest and limit access, or else you'll spend all your time sifting through the noise. For example, the best way to reach me is by phone. But it's not enough to know my phone number to successfully reach me; you have to be in my private circle for me to pick up and respond. Everyone else is likely just scammers and telemarketers.
It's also often the case that a lot of the hands-on day-to-day practical things are simply not very prestigious and can't be published in a way that they will appear in the "public library" or academic journals. It's not even necessarily that people want to withhold that knowledge to reduce competition, but simply the effort of writing it all up properly is not worth it. The same time could be spent working on something that results in a prestigious publication. Of course sometimes people will altruistically draft up such things in blog posts. But then again, anything people write passes through their own internal filter of "will this make me look good?" so ultimately, you can only see the real tips by closely working with and watching with successful people.
For example many of these people may work ridiculous hours and sacrifice on their personal relations. Now try posting that on Twitter and you'll be crucified that you are encouraging unhealthy culture and you are a bad person for posting this. So most people don't bother.
>There's some fields where it really might be true that you can learn everything you need to know by reading books at the public library. But anytime people are succeeding for reasons they won't admit in public, it's hard to get a grasp on the situation unless you have private back-channels.
I feel this is a natural response when you're in a low-trust low-signal-to-noise-ratio environment. You have to keep things close to the chest and limit access, or else you'll spend all your time sifting through the noise. For example, the best way to reach me is by phone. But it's not enough to know my phone number to successfully reach me; you have to be in my private circle for me to pick up and respond. Everyone else is likely just scammers and telemarketers.