March 14, 2015: possibly Harry Potter, possibly other things
Roxolan
HPMOR is more or less a recruitment tool for LessWrong, intending to teach some of the rationality techniques and discuss transhumanist themes. But it got quite a bit bigger than that. It's now the most-reviewed, possibly best-known (after My Immortal?) Harry Potter fanfic on the internet. It also happens to be a pretty awesome piece of fiction. Personally, for the last few days, I've been at the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter.
On Pi day, there's going to be wrap parties all over the world. Coincidentally, that's the second Saturday of the month, the date where LessWrong Brussels would have a meetup anyway. Now, LW Brussels is very small as LW groups go, and not all of us are even into HPMOR. So while I would very much like to do something to celebrate the wrap up, I'm not sure what, when, where or with whom.
There's a good chance we'll have a few LW people from outside Brussels coming. I have also contacted local Harry Potter fan clubs to see if there's any interest in the fic outside the LessWrong sphere. Possibly we could do some kind of joint celebration. This could be right after a regular meetup, or instead of the meetup, or even on Sunday. (To consider: in this time zone, the last chapter comes out at 5pm and will be about 10,000 words long.) I'm not really the party type, but this is not the occasion for the usual dryness of a LW Brussels meetup. Possibly games and so forth. I do still have a prototype game for Harry Potter storytelling I would like to try out. Possibly cosplay. La Fleur En Papier Doré is probably not the ideal location either.
Everything very much depends on how many people will be there and what they want out of this. If you're interested, please respond ASAP and we'll figure something out together.
About HPMOR:
>Main website: http://hpmor.com/
>Audio version: http://hpmorpodcast.com/
>TVTropes page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality
>Point of departure: Petunia marries a physics professor. Harry
grows up a child prodigy in a loving family. Now Rationalist!Harry
enters the wizarding world armed with Enlightenment ideals and the
experimental spirit.
>Covers Harry's first year in Hogwarts,
including most canon events. Just... A LOT more things happen in that
time-frame. By the time the fanfic ends, I'm not sure what will be left
of the HP world as we know it.
>Currently clocks in at over 6 million words, which is about six
times the length of the entire Harry Potter septology. Worth every word.
>Like all long-running works, it gets better over time. Everything prior to chapter 10 is a bit rough. But you should probably give up if you still don't like it after chapter 5.
>Attempts to be a "rationalfic", i.e. one in which the world is
coherent and every character acts for reasons that make sense from their
perspective, not just to serve the plot. The major characters also tend
to be frightfully intelligent. More explanations on http://yudkowsky.tumblr.com/writing/
>Also tries to teach useful lessons about how the human mind works, drawing in part from the material at http://lesswrong.com/
>Started the genre of rationalfics, as seen on http://www.reddit.com/r/rational/ and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RationalFic
Roxolan
To avoid the bystander effect, I randomly announce Hugo responsible for taking stance on this and either deferring responsibility or setting things into motion himself.
Aaaaaaaaa!
Okay. My current best approximation of a plan:
- We'll have a standard LessWrong Brussels meetup
at La Fleur en Papier Doré at 1am (no topic selected at this time),
since the second Saturday of the month is when we do our meetups anyway
and not everyone at LW Brussels is into HPMOR.
- Possibly a break. Then we'll follow up with a Harry Potter MOR themed event in a more appropriate venue or possibly at my place.
- I'm expecting about half a dozen people there. (Maybe more? Maybe less? Please respond.)
- Some might want to come in costume?
- We'll have on-topic discussion, possibly play an on-topic boardgame I'm working on, and munch on on-topic foods & drinks that I'll arrange. I don't suppose we'll have either the numbers or the temperament for e.g. dancing.
But this is all subject to how many of you there are and what your expectations are. Hell, if another city in the area wants to do this there instead, that's fine by me. The sooner you respond, the better.
- In this time
zone, the last chapter comes out at 5pm and will be about 10,000 words
long.
- That weekend is the Made in Asia convention. If some of you want to go there, we'll have to schedule accordingly.
PS: On the topic of HPMOR, if you're into it but haven't caught up with the last chapter, you might want to do that RIGHT NOW because there is a TIME LIMIT and aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
This is your final exam.
You have 60 hours.
Your solution must at least allow Harry to evade immediate death,
despite [RIDICULOUS constraints removed because spoilers]If a viable solution is posted before
*12:01AM Pacific Time* (8:01AM UTC) on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015,
the story will continue.Otherwise you will get a shorter and sadder ending.
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From: panis...@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 08:11:32 +0000
Subject: Utrecht, Essen, Brussels HPMOR Wrap party coordination
To: b.bak...@gmail.com; lachou...@gmail.com; d.scheft...@gmail.com; king....@gmail.com; rox...@live.frHey Everyone,You are all the people who have added themselves to the HPMOR wrap party map in the vicinity of either one of the three cities mentioned above.The date is approaching, and if either of you is interested in organizing a party, it's probably a good idea to collaborate, and then create a Facebook event soon! That will also quickly allow you to assess demand and plan accordingly. In your case it's probably a good idea to figure out who is willing to travel how far, and whether it makes sense to create multiple parties among all of you, or whether it's a better idea to pool together to create a single one.Hugo has created a Facebook page for the event in Brussels:Please tell me if I can help in any way.To avoid the bystander effect, I randomly announce Hugo responsible for taking stance on this and either deferring responsibility or setting things into motion himself. (No malice. I really just want to make sure something happens.)Best wishes,Oliver
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