3 ms·

http://www.reddit.com/r/rational/ http://www.reddit.com/r/rational/ - a community discussing rational fiction (sort of like hard SciFi). This is one of the best

• tmaly 10y ago
  would this include works like Sherlock Holmes?
  • jswrenn 10y ago
    To quote rationalist fiction author Eliezer Yudkowsky: > But when you look at what Sherlock Holmes does - you can't go out and do it at home. Sherlock Holmes is not really operating by any sort of reproducible method. He is operating by magically finding the right clues and carrying out magically correct complicated chains of deduction. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that reading Sherlock Holmes does not inspire you to go and do likewise. Holmes is a mutant superhero. And even if you did try to imitate him, it would never work in real life. [0] A hallmark of rationalist fiction is that it invites the reader engage with the story by thinking rationally. A tactic employed by Yudkowsky is to pause just before the climax of the story and prompt online readers to use what they know to get the protagonist out of their current bind, or else, Yudkowsky promises, the protagonist will meet a less-than-ideal end. Yudkowsky's stories [1] are a great introduction to the genre. I'm particularly fond of "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality", which makes a habit of preying on the reader's sentimentality. [0] http://lesswrong.com/lw/3m/rationalist_fiction/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/3m/rationalist_fiction/ [1] http://yudkowsky.net/other/fiction/ http://yudkowsky.net/other/fiction/