[embwbam]

I don’t identify with the religious zeal around bayes theorem, but can you elaborate on your criticisms of Yudkowsky? I’ve loved Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and read some of his essays, and Less Wrong’s coverage of cognitive bias helped me escape religion. I don’t agree with everything I’ve read of his, but I’m very curious at what point he becomes a crackpot.

[_Algernon_]

I gave up halfway through MoR, but to me it read as a self-insert nerd power fantasy.

All non main-characters always end up agreeing with the all knowing MC even though there are obvious gaps in the reasoning.

[PaulHoule]

"Sequences" and other Yudkowksy writings are long and incoherent not by accident but by design.

The point is to drive away anybody who has faculties of critical thinking. It's like those ads you see on the internet where they tell you that "TINNITUS IS DESTROYING YOUR BRAIN" or tell you what intermittent fasting plan is right for your shoe size and then send you to some two and a half long video that is there to weed out anybody who isn't incredibly credulous and after all that you find out it is some lame-ass supplement. Or it is like those poorly spelled letters that tell you the widow of some African dictator wants to to send you $15 million by Western Union.

Someone who's gotten through all that really is someone vulnerable who can be wrapped around someone's finger. People who are good at critical thinking aren't looking for the secret to become good critical thinkers.

[embwbam]

Woah, that's a very cynical take! He made them obtuse on purpose? You're not wrong that I found the Sequences extremely challenging, and didn't get through all of them. But I thought he wrote HPMOR to make the lessons more accessible, and I found that much easier to read.

Isn't it simpler to explain the situation by assuming he just got better at writing over time, and that stories teach lessons better than essays? It doesn't require a conspiracy to explain what you see.

[stuartjohnson12]

Do you have any evidence that this is true other than the fact you SuperDisagree with the text as written?