thomblake comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2 - Less Wrong

13 Post author: dclayh 01 August 2010 10:58PM

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Comment author: Larks 07 August 2010 12:37:59AM *  5 points [-]

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.

Comment author: thomblake 09 August 2010 03:27:57PM 6 points [-]

Now, I find this confusing. If you're having trouble writing, the last thing you need is another book, competing for your attention.

When Feynman came back from work on the Manhattan project, he felt fatigued and found he had no interest in physics or math anymore. He could hardly work. Then he noticed some interesting lights in the cafeteria and started trying to describe their shape mathematically. After spending a couple of days on it, he was excitedly telling his friends about the interesting work he'd been doing; they were confused as to why he was doing anything quite so useless. He insisted that was the point; he was doing something fun and it got him back into working on interesting physics problems again.

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