In article ,
Michael Grosberg wrote:
Strangely, this is the second "Less Wrong" article I ran into in the
last hour. The first was a piece of supposed Harry Potter fan fiction
(I think it's just using the HP-verse to explore some argument in
narrative form) I ran into in the comment section in Charles Stross'
blog.

No, your parenthesis is quite wrong. Yudkowsky is doing nothing less
than rewriting _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ from top
to bottom, changing things so that they're more pleasing to him.
("In what weird alternative universe would that girl not be Sorted
into Ravenclaw? If Hermione Granger didn't go to Ravenclaw then there
was no good reason for Ravenclaw House to exist.")

This means having a hero who's a rationalist. Having Harry Potter be
an 11-year-old who can plausibly be a rationalist creates other effects,
which in turn ripples through the whole plot, changing everything.

So while it is unabashedly propaganda for rational thought, it is
definitely fan *fiction*, not just exploring arguments. And
well-written, entertaining fiction at that. (It wouldn't have gone as
viral as it has, if it weren't.) Anyone who enjoys LWE's books
because they feature smart characters should check it out.

While on the subject, Yudkowsky wrote a brilliant story called "Three
World Collide" that explores moral relativism and rationality, through
a first encounter scenario in a far-future space opera setting. Very
thought provoking, and also very funny:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/y4/three_worlds_collide_08/

I'll have to have a look at that.

--
David Goldfarb | "LUM-ber. *heh!* *heh!*"
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| -- Scott McCloud, "Some Words Albert Likes"