I use the dark lord potter forum as follows: I go to the different categories, sort by review count and read the story which has the most reviews.
=> That tactic never failed to lead me to the best stories out there.

I don't know what causes the wanks some of you disguise as reviews (envy?), but in the hindsight it's really ridiculous who you tread some of the best stories out there (p.e. Miranda Flairgolds). I'm sure if Nonjon and Jbern wouldn't be such a nice guys and part of the forum you would flame their genius too.

This story, my friends, is a CLASSIC => 5/5

It's the most believable genius!Harry out there (yes I read them all winks@Chipmonkonspeed spits@self_righteous_uber_wanker aka Perfect Lionheart). I love the way Harry rides himself into the shit, not by being dumb, but by being to smart.

(sorry my english is crab)

 

What the fuck is this shit?

 

I think this sentence is the only part of that post that needed to be read. It gives us all a clear view of your concentrated fail.

Miranda flairgold's story is shit. No one here is envious of the author, though I do feel pity that she fucked up her original fiction by including Harry Potter in it and calling it fanfiction. I feel that the only way the story could have been salvaged is if she listened to Pers and used his suggestion of Gum Magic.

 

So close, yet so far. Jeconais actually writes decent stories. I think the correct subtly insulting analogy here is to the guy writing Partially Kissed Hero.

 

I like this story and I liked Jeconais' stories. Partially Kissed Hero is completely insane. Next you're going to compare this to the Witches' Secret. Please don't.

 

Oh, Really?

I am a fan of this story, but I must say I'm disappointed with the turn in the latest chapter. The author is basically endorsing secrecy as policy for a scientific discovery. Madness.

To quote Sir Isaac Newton:

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Imagine the utter lack of progress humanity would make if people kept their discoveries to themselves. Every generation would have to rediscover the tools of the past because some schmuck decided to keep it "secret."

Even his version of Harry has benefited from the sharing of knowledge. He did not invent Time Turners and they are certainly a potent object, which has benefited him.

It is a concept that has more holes than swiss cheese.

Included for evidence:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1990836,00.html


Humanity has artificially made life. This is dangerous and the potential hazards are vast. According to Methods, Craig Venter should keep his discovery secret. But I think this is nonsense. If we don't share what we learn, we do a disservice to future generations. And it assumes that all outcomes are foreseeable; that something bad will happen. But what riches would be lost?

The concept of scientific secrecy is toxic, and I could not remain silent. By letting other minds apply themselves and utilize these new developments, the possibilities of what can be achieved by humans, as a species, grows.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703691804575254533386933138.html

A recent essay summarizing the recent Theory of Collective Intelligence, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

 

Afaik the author said, that Harry represents his 18 year old self; very intelligent and knowledgable, but still with some serious errors in thinking. So I wouldn't necessarily conclude, that every speech in the story is author tract.


But specifically on that subject: we have had it pretty easy until now, because there aren't many scientific discoveries that actually were dangerous (except nuclear weapons), so we didn't really have to think about that yet.
But we're slowly exploring more and more areas that could potentially wipe out all humanity if something goes wrong. If the stakes are that high, could you really just go on as usual and hope for the best?

 

It is pretty obvious that Voldemort manipulated Harry towards valuing secrecy by focusing on the dangers of nuclear armageddon.

You have to remember that Voldemort is in a pretty good position to manipulate Harry, given how predictable Harry's uber-rationality makes him, and given how smart Voldemort is.

 

pretty much what Catamount said. In this Story we have had Harry usually dominating his age peers when it came to intelligence, but even then his wisdom is lacking, and when it comes to older people he has been schooled and manipulated quite a bit.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Voldemort is trying to distance Harry from science and Muggles.

 

I recently discovered this story, found this forum via google, read the entire damn 16 pages of reviews and I'm frankly shocked at the depth of misunderstanding that's occurring here. It's pretty clear from just the story itself what the author is trying to achieve.

The *only* distinguishing factor that separates out the universe of fiction from that considered real is that fictional universes to not have to submit to the laws or rationality. In the real world all things behave rationally (note: I did not say all people behave rationally. I am using rationality in the very precise way the author is. That is, all things can be subjected to analysis via the laws of rationality).

Only in fictional universes could something like the sport of Quidditch really exist. Not because it contains any physical impossibilities, but because the scoring system just plain would not make it a viable game in the real world. Only in fictional universes could silver be traded for gold at 17:1 in one world and 50:1 in another and for that arbitrage opportunity not to be exploited. Because in the fictional universe, nobody has to submit to the laws of rationality unless they choose to.

For a certain subset of people, this aspect of fiction bothers them immensely. They are completely unable to "suspend their disbelief" and enjoy a piece of fiction that contains holes in rationality. They don't enjoy movies like Independance Day, not because they can't believe giant alien spacecrafts cannot come to earth, but because they cannot believe alien computers can be infected with a mac virus. Alien spaceships are unreal but conceivable. Alien spaceships that have inadequate computer security are not.

For a certain subset of *those* people, "fixing" flawed works of fiction becomes a hobby. This is known, within the community as "fanwank". Fanwank is the art of interposing back stories and interpretations onto a known set of facts to bring them back within the laws or rationality, even though they don't have to be, because it's a wonderfully fun game. This is what you have to view this story as.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is the greatest fanwank ever written.

The goal of the story is to try and bring as many elements of the Harry Potter universe into existence as possible, while still remaining scrupulously within the boundaries of the laws of rationality. Everything else is nice to have but is completely secondary to that purpose.

And, as it turns out, a surprising amount *can* be brought in. Magic can be brought in, time travel can be brought in, Quidditch can be brought in, sorting hats and magic bags and all the assorted miscellanea of the HPVerse can be brought in in some form or another. All while scrupulously adhering to the laws of rationality.

Now, whether you enjoy what's happening or not is a completely separate issue. You're well within your rights to not enjoy the genre or believe the writing is sub par or just be plain bored by it. But I think it's important to understand what the author is trying if you want to give a genuine, informed critique.

Disclaimer: I don't personally know the author and have not ever communicated with him in person. I am aware of his other work and I am familiar with 90% of the scientific stuff that is contained in the story.

 

The author's an unrepentant asshat who is incapable of accepting criticism from those who know aspects of his field better than he. And he has questionable skill in writing a story and not an amalgam of sketches from which to spout his gospel; his fiction work reminds me of Ayn Rand's, a podium from which to pontificate. Meh.

By the by, I'm quite certain that fellating someone constitutes "knowing" them in at least most of the lower 48.

Welcome to DLP, shalmanese. Hope you enjoy your stay.

 

It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is, Perspicacity. LOL.

 

It's amazing how you have negative opinions about all these academic figures, pers. First Feynamn, now Yudkowsky. How wide does it extend? I'm tempted to start asking you for your opinion on others...

As for the story: It's bipolar, and just in the sense that it has had some brillian moments and some really questionable ones... The tone is horribly inconsistant. Despite all that, I'm really enjoying it. This may be in part because I enjoy the technical/rational discussions, though I can see how they could be irritating...

Another thought: The story has been, fairly overtly, an attempt to promote Rationality. It's interesting to look at it from that perspective... I wonder what the referall stats for the lesswrong link in Yudkowsky's profile is...

 

Worked on me...
His story about baby-eating aliens was pretty awesome.

 

Stoopid me. I thought the purpose of writing fiction was for the enjoyment of the reader...

 

I don't hold negative feelings toward Feynman. He was a brilliant physicist who happened to spend a lot of time cultivating his public persona and was a bit of a bastard to his colleagues (hardly uncommon in theoretical physics). One cannot fault his success: last month's Physics Today had yet another feature on him, this time on his art.

I wasn't aware that Mr. Yudkowsky was an academic figure. He doesn't write academic papers, hasn't a Ph.D., and it's not clear that he's done anything more noteworthy than run a web site and pen a few essays and pieces of fiction. As a popularizer of his pet fields, he seems a somewhat less well known version of Bill Nye the Science Guy.*

* This isn't entirely fair to Nye, who was a professor at Cornell University for five years.

 

Oh, burn. But also totally accurate, as far as I can tell.

With regards to the story being "the greatest fanwank ever": I don't think it succeeds in this aspect. If the aim of the story is to "fix" Harry Potter, then it fails. This story has only the appearance of being more rational. If you think about it for a while, it's just as irrational at its core. (E.g. the transfiguration has greater costs and limits to power - which does not necessary make it more rational, and when you think about his new transfiguration rules more, you find that they're just as problematic as those of canon, if not more so).

 

Anyone else note the odd number of one post guys coming in to defend this story? Funny stuff.