this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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I grew up with the Harry Potter series and loved it as a kid, but I can't pretend it's actually good writing. It's full of all kinds of plot holes, the wizarding universe doesn't make a lot of sense, there's thinly veiled bigotry (particularly prominent in the naming of characters), and Rowling as a person is all sorts of problematic that I can't endorse giving money to.

But Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, or HPMOR for short, is a really unique and fascinating full length fan work for any fan of Harry Potter (and also anyone who read Harry Potter and just didn't get the fuss). Though you don't actually need to have read Harry Potter to enjoy HPMOR, as it mostly reuses characters and settings but is otherwise entirely original.

The premise is simple: what if Harry was actually smart? In fact, not just smart, but a child genius. The wizarding universe as a setting with all its flaws isn't changed, but Harry recognizes those flaws and takes advantage of them. You can think of this book like someone very smart nitpicked over the Harry Potter universe trying to identify everything that doesn't make sense or would be "overpowered". It admittedly does often have "I am very smart" vibes that can sometimes get a little cringeworthy, but it's overall extremely entertaining and a one of a kind work that I wish I could reexperience for the first time.

It's also not just Harry being smart, because that would be boring if it was just him. Voldemort is also recharacterized to be much more competent and intelligent. This sets up interesting conflicts that I won't elaborate on to avoid spoilers, but I can say that the way Voldemort is characterized is brilliant and far better than the actual Harry Potter books.

Overall, it's one of the most entertaining books I've ever read and a fascinating critique of sorts of the original Harry Potter series that many of us grew up with.

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[–] Serdan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just don't look up the author.

[–] Backspacecentury@kbin.social -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why not? Seems to be an AI researcher that’s known for warning of some of the many issues related to ai. What am i missing?

[–] Kranerian@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As far as I know he's not done anything specifically problematic. It's just that the LessWrong community he runs is entirely made up of the type of people who are convinced they're smarter than everyone around them and feel duty bound to say so.

[–] poplargrove@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He has no credentials (highest is being a high school grad) as an AI researcher and the issues he raises are just ai doomerist scenarios that belong in scifi books, written as blog posts.

Meanwhile actual AI ethicists work on realistic issues that either already exist or reasonably can be seen happening: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02094-7

Further: A thread on Yudkowski and a fun subreddit for following the antics of such people: /r/SneerClub

A few actually qualified figures in AI ethics critical of such doomerism: Emile Torres, Emily Bender, Timnit Gebru