Ask HN: A matching site for intellectual/study partners?
A matching/partnering service for intellectuals, or people with those interests. For example, let's say I want to read a big/hard/long book, on any topic, with someone else. I could create a pitch for some reading project or course of study: create a post where I discuss what I want to get out of it, disclose any prior knowledge or training, etc..--then let anyone who's interested propose to read/study/research with me.
I know book clubs are a thing. I found https://bookworm.club, a reader matching service posted here[1] less than a year ago, but what I am thinking about is a little different. It would be broader matchmaking service than just book reading, applicable to any project involving committed study or research. Maybe I'm good at math, and I'm looking for someone who's interested in doing a self-guided intro to quantum mechanics. Or I'm interested in learning more about early US colonial history, and I want someone to help me pick the five most important books on King Philip's War to skim and synthesize. Or I have an idea for a robotics hobby project, and I want to find someone with a technical background that's complementary to my own. Or I've always gotten stuck on the fourth book of Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and I want to find someone to go through it with me and discuss every two weeks. Anything--you define the terms.
I know formal classes and education are an approximate solution here, but I think that a person's commitment and interest are often higher in cases of self-study, because your motivation comes from being clear with yourself about what you want to get out of your efforts. Self-studiers are a special group. There are also a lot more niche interests than formal classes.
My guess is there are actually a good number of smart people who want to do these things, but they give up because the chance of finding a suitable partner is low. The people with the same interests are often irregularly distributed. and feel isolated. A service that would work at internet scale, especially with more people willing to do this over Zoom, would help to match a lot of these ardent intellectual loners on the long tail of interests.
My initial sense is that a good match between prospective partners would be hard to discern algorithmically, since so much about intellectual fit depends on the nuances of what they want to do. So the actual matching would involve pitching, conversation back and forth, negotiation, etc.
Anyways, can someone point me to previous efforts in this area? General thoughts are of course welcome too.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29230283