Conversation

QC (in Berlin 7/29-??? w/ COVID

· Feb 24, 2021

HPMOR when you haven’t read anything on LessWrong: man what a cool nerdy reimagining, very on-point deconstruction, Ender’s Game With Wizards HPMOR when you’ve already read the sequences: wait this is propaganda? wow this is propaganda good propaganda tho

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@QiaochuYuan

Feb 25, 2021

would love to see a psychoanalytic read of HPMOR. the space scene with quirrellmort stands out in my mind, as a kind of schizoid fantasy. that’s the fantasy of a man incapable of and horrified by relating to other human beings. and harry eats it up!

QC (in Berlin 7/29-??? w/ COVID

Feb 25, 2021

aw i like that scene

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@QiaochuYuan

it's a lovely scene tbf! and, it's extremely relevant (from my current pov) that it involves quirrell getting literally as far away from other people as he knows how to get

yeah i think the book takes for granted a perspective of being alienated from the world by some combination of intellect, personality and foreignness of life experience. A lot of its conflict is about consciously choosing humanity over the pull of detachment, but the pull is real

that resonated with me as it probably does with a lot of people in the potential-rationalist demographic. Finding yourself overintellectualized and undersocialized in a society that's mostly built for the inverse, that pull to just retreat to beautiful abstraction

EY's moral response to this seems to be "take on the mantle of the hero, use your powers for good", which also seems like the general rationalist approach. It's probably a less healthy approach than "maybe focus on developing that undersocialization; healing is possible!"

EY seems well aware of this. There's a *lot* in HPMOR about hero's burden, Gryffindor having been a great hero but an unhappy man, etc. it's very "choose between your comfort and your mission". probably isn't a very healthy way to live but also i can't claim to know it's wrong

QC (in Berlin 7/29-??? w/ COVID

there's a good argument that it's impossible to optimize for 2 things.. optimize for good of the world? sacrifice happiness OTOH you do have sustain your own well-being to do *anything*. Forget that and you break down is that what tends to happen to rationalists?

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@QiaochuYuan

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