Post by @davidgerard@circumstances.run

2026-08-24 21:53 UTC

@mxchara@cyberpunk.lol If you do read HPMOR, read chapters 1-30 then start again at chapter 100. you'll miss a few things, but mostly you'll miss 70 chapters of complete shit. worse books have been published by real authors. it's better than atlas shrugged. it won't really educate you as to yudkowsky's crazy though. it will allude to it, but it's not the secret. if you go back and read ch 31-99, it will not really elucidate what is not present in the rest, it will just make you think "what a fucked up weirdo who did a fic with not one but *two* Mary Sues" perhaps the sequences will do that, one million words of blog posts over three years. but that's where all the crazy that HPMOR is an allusion to actually lives. i read through the sequences three times because i dunno i had too much time on my hands. I can definitely say that to read yudkowsky is not to be convinced. if you do wish to set about this tedious abyss dive, read the original blog posts and the *comments*, which often take apart yud's dumb shit. you will need to show the heavily downvoted comments because the cultists have dutifully attempted to obscure them. before reading either i suggest Neoreaction A Basilisk by Elizabeth Sandifer, which is actually enjoyable and written by a nice person, who will introduce you to all this much better than the primary texts. and i'm not just saying that because my name is in the first sentence.

Replies (6)

@mxchara@cyberpunk.lol 2026-08-24 21:53

@davidgerard@circumstances.run excuse me "Chapter 100"

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@mxchara@cyberpunk.lol 2026-08-24 21:57

@davidgerard@circumstances.run oh and I can't imagine that even if I do have a peep at this shit, it'll last long. I've made too many other mistakes of slogging it out through bad writing that never pays off

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@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk@mastodon.social 2026-08-24 22:56

@davidgerard@circumstances.run @mxchara@cyberpunk.lol I have the sequences downloaded and have never managed to get more than a few words in. Kudos to you sir for your persistence.

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@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange 2026-08-25 06:55

@davidgerard@circumstances.run @mxchara@cyberpunk.lol worse books have been published by real authors. it's better than atlas shrugged. I remain quite impressed by Atlas Shrugged. I have definitely read it, cover to cover, but for some reason by brain deleted all recollection of it almost immediately after I finished. I couldn’t tell you a single major plot point or even the protagonist’s name. I’ve never had any other work of fiction so thoroughly fail to leave a lasting impression. I can even remember plot points of Kevin J Anderson books I read 20 years ago, which surely approach the nadir of publishable writing.

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@DerivativeThoughts@mastodon.social 2026-08-25 07:01

@davidgerard@circumstances.run @mxchara@cyberpunk.lol do you mean the acknowledgements or preface because "Let us assume we are fucked." Is my favorite opening line in any book ever?

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@iinavpov@mastodon.online 2026-08-25 10:01

@davidgerard@circumstances.run You read the sequences? Wow. I've never seen such insane drivel written so poorly. Truly, you must like punishment. @mxchara@cyberpunk.lol

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