HPMoR and the Limits of Rationality

The ideal audience of this podcast is probably someone who has heard about or lightly read the HPMOR fanfic, is fascinated by its importance to many current AI bigwigs, and was a “gifted kid” in school who has felt the allure of Rationalism, effective altruism, skepticism movements, etc. So, realistically, a neurodivergent person (sorry if you were checking boxes and haven’t been diagnosed yet lol). That person will find a lot of joy and companionate thinking from listening to other probably/definitely neurodivergent people go way down a rabbit hole talking about this weird fanfic and these weird ideas (Anthea has done the Wikipedia deep dive you were about to do for you and then some! Lots of background research). It’s at its best when it’s talking about and responding to the writing, whether why it might be personally relatable or what weird baggage/implications it could carry with it (ie Episode 1), like book club with an English major who already has answers for all the context questions that will arise, and at its worst when the conversants get pulled into struggling to explain the same science that the story itself (and its notes) purport to explain (ie Episode 2). I actually enjoy the balance it strikes between reading excerpts and summarizing, though if you’re looking for an audiobook of HPMOR itself or are reading the fic yourself before each episode and don’t want to return to passages, you may be less satisfied. I would recommend you read up on the Rationalist movement and affiliated cult before starting this podcast, because it does not cover those things in detail although their existence shapes most of the questions asked here. This is not an ultra-polished professional podcast, which is both a pro and con. After some wobbles in the first 10 minutes of the first episode, the audio quality is fine (some respondents come through with a tiny bit of Mouth Noises—Misophonia-havers be warned—but this isn’t an issue with the main host). Scripts and outlines are clearly used—very important with these types of thinkers!—but it could realistically benefit from a little more editing down and constraints preventing rambling/long-windedness. Anthea, Elisa, and Jake have a natural conversational chemistry that keeps this mostly in check, but in episodes with a different guest list the problem emerges more. Another potential route for similar improvements could come from announcing the goal/intended topic of various sections of each episode, both to help the listener track and to reorient the conversants to the desired central thread. (I say this with empathy and recognition as someone for whom these things are always true.) That relatability is why the lack of pro-level production and scripting is also a positive. You’re really listening to other relatable people sharing their honest thoughts and reactions, rambles and asides included. It feels like a conversation with friends. Edit: ok I do feel obligated to add that based on the discussion time of HPMOR chapter 7 (like 5 hours? ish?) and chapter 8 (3 hours), if the podcast covers all the chapters of HPMOR with this light of a hand on editing and direction (and drinking is involved) it will take 488 hours of podcast. That’s setting this up to be a great podcast for people with a lot of empty time to fill, but a problem for people like me who can only occasionally listen as a treat. And realistically, some of the asides and friend banter could be cut without losing what makes it good.

Even if you haven’t tried to read the fanfic this is critiquing, this is really worth your while. The hosts are smart, funny, well-read, and fundamentally kind. While they have a…jaundiced view of the Rationalists, they are quite good at noticing where Yudkowsky or the movement are correct, and extremely good at analyzing when they aren’t. Also, it’s well-structured, which is not what you’d expect from the length of some of the episodes.

Appreciate y’all taking one for the team, even with the summarization the fanfic sounds so exhausting! Thank you for making it enjoyable!

Partway into episode 3 realized this is a review of a summary of the story with some quotes rather than of the story. If you want to be concise with time, have the other hosts read each chapter before each episode. If you want to read it to them during to go through each line for their first read through do that. I don’t get the point of this if 2/3 of the hosts are reviewing cliff notes.