convince you that friendly AI is imperative, and that he can probably deliver on it.
I'm already convinced of the first part, so that doesn't help him; as for the second part, I'll merely reply "Ok, I've given you a research environment with no distractions, thus solving akrasia for you; get cracking". Presumably if he genuinely does come up with a Friendly AI (that runs on the laptop I gave him for writing HPMOR on) then the AI will convince me to let them both out of the box. Or alternatively, if he says that he needs tool X, I can respond "Alas, I am unable to reprogram my brain to value distant friendly-AI advances over near-term HPMOR updates. Sorry, I can't help being a hyperbolic discounter. If you want X, the best way to get it is to produce enough HPMOR that I let you out."
How delightfully irrational of you to prefer fanfic over a deus ex machina solution to all of our problems.
PS: Actually, Eli could theoretically release HPMOR as a real book, if he made it some kind of satire of the original. A certain kind of derivative work is allowed by the standards of copyright protection, so Perry Hotter and the Methods of Rationality would be awesome... can't wait for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodies_of_Harry_Potter
If you want X, the best way to get it is to produce enough HPMOR that I let you out.
Liar! You'd never let him go ;)
I've just noticed when searching for "rationality" with Google, HP:MoR is the second hit. Wikipedia is top, which is both good and expected - but I was suprised to see HP:MoR so high up.
I think it's a good thing, anyone looking for info about rationality seems likly to be suprised by Harry Potter being mentioend, and then have a look at it.
The first mention of Less Wrong is on the second page of results, but I wouldn't expect "Less Wrong" to be as attention grabbing as "Harry Potter" when you've just searched for "rationality"