Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

October 21st, 2010
fanfic, rationality
I haven't read much fanfic [1] unless you count star trek novels [2], but I've recently stumbled upon eliezer yudkowsky's hp fic harry potter and the methods of rationality. A while ago I read his intuitive explanation of bayes theorem and really liked it. I had tried to read more of his writing, but was lazy and found it insufficiently entertaining. Home sick from work today, though, I've just read the first ten chapters of the fic, and am enjoying it greatly. It's funny, so it can go in my "this is for fun" box, but it also makes me think some. I recognize it as an author tract probably written with the goal of spreading his logic (rationalism?) using a comical and accessible medium, but I don't hold that against it. I've not yet gotten to a point where it feels like a screed is holding up the story.


> [1] Not since high school when I was dating someone who shipped [redacted], anyways.

[2] Which I read far too many of ay one point. Somewhere on the order of 50 maybe?

Comment via: facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Variable fonts aren't universally supported

I make a lot of webpages. I also use Lockdown Mode on iOS and MacOS for a bit of extra security. Sometimes I realize that I forgot to test on Safari and it looks like crap, or I test and don’t notice that there’s been a problem for months (as was the case…

via Home June 27, 2026

Ozy in Asterisk on coping with AI doom

I wrote an article for Asterisk Magazine about people who believe in AI superintelligence soon, and who are chill about it.

via Thing of Things June 24, 2026

Fiddle Practice

For a while I wasn't learning how to play violin very well because whenever it was time to practice I didn't want to. I didn't really like practicing, because (1) it's boring, (2) I have better things to do, and (3) actually I guess there …

via Anna Wise's Blog Posts May 3, 2026

more     (via openring)