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Comment by ysleepy | Hacker News Reader

Harry Potter and the methods of rationality is so tainted by the author, his agenda and the weird cult that is less wrong, I cannot recommend it (I have read it).

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Would the story be fine if you just hadn’t heard of the drama? (If so, then bringing it up might not be the best thing you could do here.)

> If so, then bringing it up might not be the best thing you could do here

Why not?

The story is honestly a vehicle to convey a world view while borrowing plot from Harry Potter and Enders Game.

It is fun in the beginning, but it reeks of ayn rand and juvenile oversimplification of the world. This all might be ok, but the story is written with an agenda and its like reading scientology fiction or something.

I'd recommend just reading Enders Game instead.

I’m gonna need some more info about this cult and his agenda.

The author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky

Presumably the "cult": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LessWrong

Or maybe they mean specifically the subgroup of people on LessWrong who believe the creation of AGI would be the end of the world.

A rather successful AI researcher with a large fanfiction very weirdly tied into his craft, and his own discussion board/pseudo-cult who believe that unless his qualifications for “friendly AI” are followed the world will end?

And here I thought “My Immortal” was the weirdest Harry Potter fanfiction.

Thanks for the links!

See previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35064303

"The Real-Life Consequences of Silicon Valley’s AI Obsession

Sam Bankman-Fried made effective altruism a punchline, but its philosophy of maximum do-gooding masks a thriving culture of predatory behavior."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com