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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

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Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#33

Post by sowhatquestion »

As a philosophy grad who finds this stuff mildly interesting, I wish the "rationalists" had chosen a different name for their movement. While "rationality" brings to mind Plato or Descartes, this movement appears to be a kind of hyper-empiricism informed by cognitive psychology, AI research, and Bayesian statistics. In any case, if you're going to be an empiricist, it strikes me as a pretty decent way to go.

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#34

Post by gwillen »

Amezarak wrote: post #13
ajuc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also allows selecting text while reading. Seriously, what were the fanfiction.net guys thinking?

It's implemented for copy-protection purposes. Yes, seriously. http://blog.fictionpress.com/2013/10/11/languages-for-naviga... You can get around it by disabling Javascript, but then all the text becomes annoyingly center-aligned.

You can also get around it, at least in Chrome, by going to the console and entering:

  $('div#storytextp.storytextp').css('-webkit-user-select', 'inherit');
If that doesn't work, I would also try:

  $('div.nocopy').removeClass('nocopy');
I have no idea what the 'nocopy' class actually does (in Chrome it seems to do nothing), but it seems like something to try.

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#35

Post by atondwal »

Amezarak wrote: post #13
ajuc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also allows selecting text while reading. Seriously, what were the fanfiction.net guys thinking?

It's implemented for copy-protection purposes. Yes, seriously. http://blog.fictionpress.com/2013/10/11/languages-for-naviga... You can get around it by disabling Javascript, but then all the text becomes annoyingly center-aligned.

Switching to the mobile version s/www/m/ also does the trick

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#36

Post by calibraxis »

Splendor wrote: post #24
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #19

I read a bunch of chapters a few years ago and thought it was remarkably horrid.

Your comment could be more valuable if it included your reasoning or suggestions for improvement.

I did enjoy HPMOR, but there's many reasons why people wouldn't.

Take one in common with the Harry Potter franchise — consider that "J.K." Rowling's publisher asked her to hide her gender. [1] Obviously there's many absurdities in such a system. Unicorns and horcruxes are perfectly fine — but god forbid you have a lead character who's (say) a black girl. Whites and males can't be expected to empathize with her!

I can enjoy a product while acutely aware of such things, since our backwards culture leaves little else to conveniently enjoy otherwise. But decided not to go to the local Wrap Party, given: the sort of people most likely to know about HPMOR, lesswrong.com posts, and what I researched of the local organizers. Better things to do with my day.

[1] http://www.harrypotterspage.com/2010/10/03/transcript-of-opr...

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#37

Post by saraid216 »

andolanra wrote: post #29
Splendor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment could be more valuable if it included your reasoning or suggestions for improvement.

I have been following someone's critical chapter-by-chapter criticism of HPMOR for some time now, which might be illustrative. It is admittedly quite long: http://su3su2u1.tumblr.com/tagged/Hariezer-Yudotter/chrono Among other things, I've often seen people try to sell HPMOR as, "Harry Potter fanfiction in which Harry applies the scientific method to the magical world of Harry Potter!" And that shows up a little [^1]…

While I think the line you were fed about its premise was incorrect, I don't think you read as far as chapter 28, did you?

The thing is... HPMOR isn't about the scientific method. It's about rationality. It's not a story about distilling a universal theory of magic or triumphing over death; it's a story about a kid who's had a rationalist education fumbling his way through a world that refuses to actually make sense.

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#38

Post by riffraff »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #11

For those who start reading and wonder when Harry stops being an insufferable little jerk... I'm on chapter 57, now, and he's getting better.

I got to the end and I think he doesn't actually get better than what you see there :)

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#39

Post by alanh »

Amezarak wrote: post #13
ajuc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also allows selecting text while reading. Seriously, what were the fanfiction.net guys thinking?

It's implemented for copy-protection purposes. Yes, seriously. http://blog.fictionpress.com/2013/10/11/languages-for-naviga... You can get around it by disabling Javascript, but then all the text becomes annoyingly center-aligned.

I made a bookmarklet that allows text selection on most websites which prevent it. Please give it a try: https://alanhogan.com/code/text-selection-bookmarklet

Re: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality finished today

#40

Post by saraid216 »

riffraff wrote: post #38
pavel_lishin wrote: post #11

For those who start reading and wonder when Harry stops being an insufferable little jerk... I'm on chapter 57, now, and he's getting better.

I got to the end and I think he doesn't actually get better than what you see there :)

Well, Harry did stop giving mini-lectures on rationalist concepts. :P At least, out loud.
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