Eliezer said he was writing Methods because he was having trouble writing his Rationality book.

Now, I find this confusing. If you're having trouble writing, the last thing you need is another book, competing for your attention. Perhaps if the second book had been more scholarly, he could have procrastinated from it by writing the rationality book, but this isn't the case here.

Equally, if it's rapid and constant feedback he needs, I'm sure we could find some, somewhere on the internet. -We'll all buy the book anyway, and a plausible pre-commitment should be easy with the aid of UDT/TDT.

So the only possible conclusion: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is the rationality book!

Consider:

• It introduces most of the major themes of LW-style rationality.
• it has a wide potential audience.
• it demonstrates how to use the Methods in an inconvenient world, where both the mechanics of the universe and the moral responsibility your knowledge gives are confusing and counter-intuitive.
• it makes the reader identify with rational characters.

Positive Proof. With the aid of magic, probably even p=1 now.

I look forward to the sequel; Eliezer Yudkowsky and the Unfriendly AI.