I tried reading HPMOR and didn’t like it. As a vehicle for rationality, it’s definitely conveying its message wholeheartedly, but I really don’t understand the decision to disguise it as a Harry Potter fanfiction, especially when the fanfiction element feels strangely written and empty. That being said, I am absolutely in the minority here, so it’s likely I’m simply missing something. Since I’m only a few chapters in I’ll try and continue it—but my hopes are not up at all.
MPG
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MPG’s Shortform
Biting my nails writing this as the welcome and FAQ made this site sound quite intimidating… I hope this is the right place for this...
Hi, I’m MPG. I’m a little younger than the main demographic for this forum skews, but I figured now was as good a time as any to get into rationality and the like. As a concept, rationality has interested me for a while, even before I knew it had a name. I first discovered LessWrong whilst reading a Gwern article and decided to create an account out of curiosity.
As the new user guide suggested, I will lurk for a while (whilst slowly, slowly trudging through The Sequences) before actually raising any points or engaging in any discussion, unless something specifically strikes my fancy.
I don’t dislike the decision to make it Harry Potter fanfiction; I agree with everything you’re saying about the original series and I think it fits with Yudkowsky’s goal. My gripe is with how diluted the fanfiction element is in HPMOR. So far, the dialogue is stiff and uninteresting, the pacing is unbelievably dull, the story moves in sudden stops and starts, and our protagonist is insufferable. It seems as though the fiction part of the project was a hand-waved afterthought, which is strange because it’s the thing that houses the thought the series is meant to inspire in the first place.
Looking online, it seems like most members of the rationalist community adore HPMOR and most members of the fanfiction community despise it. That makes sense; Yudkowsky’s goal does not seem to be to write an effective piece of fiction, but rather to communicate personal philosophy… but if he was going to use the medium of fanfiction at all, I don’t see the point in forgetting about its standards entirely. If he wasn’t going to adapt to the medium he chose, why use it at all?