
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - ssdsa
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality/UPDATE
======
alexpeake
Also, if you don't know, the author of Methods is Eliezer Yudkowsky,
(<http://yudkowsky.net/>) research fellow of Singularity Institute
(<http://www.singinst.org>) and a founder of Less Wrong
(<http://lesswrong.com>), a community advancing applied rationalism. If you
live in the Bay Area, the SingInst community is excellent.

~~~
MBlume
Also a HN poster -- <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Eliezer>

------
aw3c2
I was very spectical about this. It sounded like a typical "atheist
misantropic know-it-all" thing. I gave it a try reading on my mobile phone on
train rides. As it turns out this is a very well written (!), entertaining,
witty different take on the whole Harry Potter universe. Harry Potter actually
is the "atheist misantropic know-it-all" (yes, I am using wrong words, sue me)
but the story is not. It actually evolves around his struggles with himself
because of those character traits. It is very exciting, funny and as I said,
professionally written. Highly recommended!

The epub is missing some formatting and paragraphs (as in empty space) though,
I read it in fbreader. Nothing too bad but you might stumble on them.

~~~
zyfo
That's the reason I didn't give it an honest chance. Nice to hear that was a
misconception!

The other problem I have with it is the length. It seems as if its ideas
could've been expressed a lot more succinctly. Is this another misconception?
Or perhaps one isn't supposed to read it for the ideas themselves, but rather
for the lit-wrapping? If so, is it of any interest for a non-HP reader?

~~~
Kisil
I believe the idea was to package the ideas in an approachable (and perhaps
potentially more viral) format. The ideas are more succinctly expressed at
<http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences>, but I can't see your average Harry
Potter fan stumbling into those and sticking around.

~~~
msg
The early chapters were much more ham fisted about the ideas from Less Wrong,
almost Ayn Randian in their clunkiness. Eliezer has raised his game a lot over
the course of the story.

------
phamilton
This seems to crop up on HN every 6 months or so.

~~~
vijaydev
Earlier Discussions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1385932>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1898783>

~~~
Mathnerd314
And <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1319971>

It's interesting how the karma/post changes over time... it goes up quickly,
peaks somewhere, and then goes back down. Someone should write a script to
analyze these duplicates and how they curve.

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cypherpunks
This is one of the few things that occasionally made me happy when I was
depressed a few months back. I wish there was some way for this to see wider
circulation.

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JoshCole
Some new chapters have come out since the last time this hit the front page.
So it could be argued that this is new content.

~~~
zem
i've hit the point where i'll read it when he finishes it.

~~~
paolomaffei
how do you know when he'll be done?

~~~
cycojesus
<http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong> has links to rss feeds, I'll
use that as a bookmark/reminder and maybe one day a "Ok all done" entry will
show up.

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Tichy
Is there a way to download the whole book? Train journey coming up...

~~~
rflrob
<http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong>

The PDF is even nicely typeset in, if not the Official Harry Potter font, a
close facsimile.

~~~
epochwolf
Wow, there are ePub and mobi versions too. I'm sticking that on my iPad.

------
flashgordon
In some countries I am pretty sure it is illegal to laugh at work as much I
did while I was reading it. Was it just me or did anybody else hear the voice
of the nerdy kid from Inbetweeners while reading this?

But really really well thought out and well written.

------
chrisfarms
Harry Potter played by Sheldon Cooper

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hugh3
This makes me sad. I feel like the author is a smart guy who should probably
be finding something better to do with his time than to write Harry Potter fan
fiction.

~~~
epochwolf
Producing something other people can freely enjoy is hardly a waste of time.
Would you considered Steve Yegge's blog a waste of his time? I don't. I have
had a great many hours of enjoyment reading his words. I only wish I had such
talent (and drive) for writing.

------
alexpeake
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality was recommended to me at
Ephemerisle (<http://ephemerisle.org>) by a Singularitarian
(<http://singinst.org>) because I was relating a curious fact about my own
childhood. I grew up in a cupboard under the stairs in a school of witchcraft
and wizardry and have a funny birthmark scar on my face, but I studied science
in my cupboard to become a rationalist who uses games to re-enchant people
with science, making me a sort of reverse Harry Potter rationalist and making
me the precise target audience of this particular fanfic.

I have been recruiting Singularity Institute people ever since, including one
of my cofounders.

