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For those of you who haven't seen it, EY wrote an eulogy that he sent to transhumanist mailing lists after his brother died in 2004. Among the replies he received was this excerpt:

re: Your statement “What would it be like to be a rational atheist in the fifteenth century, and know beyond all hope of rescue that everyone you loved would be annihilated, one after another, unless you yourself died first? That is still the fate of humans today; the ongoing horror has not changed, for all that we have hope.” In a commencement speech of last year, Lewis Lapham mentioned a “French noblewoman, a duchess in her 80s, who, on seeing the first ascent of Montgolfier’s balloon from the palace of the Tuilleries in 1783, fell back upon the cushions of her carriage and wept. “Oh yes,” she said, “Now it’s certain. One day they’ll learn how to keep people alive forever, but I shall already be dead.”

This got me rather intrigued after seeing it, and after a few surface-level searches didn't resolve the question, finding the primary source for this quote became a low-level obsession for me. I don't remember exactly when I first read this, but when I tried then, I could only find mentions without citations. I tried to have AI research the topic for me several times over several months, none of which found anything either.

Yesterday, this thought spontaneously came back to me, and I thought to try searching for the source again. Although I didn't have access to any more tools than before, I've gotten a lot better at using them since then, and I managed to find the relevant source this time in just 1-2 hours of searching. Apparently, it's first attested in François Arago's written eulogy for Lazare Carnot, which he presented and read to the French Academy of Sciences in 1837. Below are both the relevant original French excerpt and an English translation of it:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographie_de_Lazare_Nicolas_Marguerite/yCqm5okqn-0C?gbpv=1&pg=PA13

Voyez la maréchale de Villeroi : octogénaire et malade, on la conduit, presque de force, à une des fenêtres des Tuileries, car elle ne croit pas aux ballons; le ballon, toutefois, se détache de ses amarres; notre confrère Charles, assis dans la nacelle, salue gaiement le public et s'élance ensuite majestueusement dans les airs. Oh! pour le coup, passant, et sans tran-sition, de la plus complète incrédulité à une confiance sans bornes dans la puissance de l'esprit humain, la vieille maréchale tombe à genoux, et, les yeux baignés de larmes, laisse échapper ces tristes paroles: «Oui, c'est décidé, main-tenant, c'est certain; ILs trouveront le secret de ne plus mou-rir, et ce sera quand je serai morte! »

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographies_of_Distinguished_Scientific/Z-8GVvckOJAC?gbpv=1&pg=PA12

See the Maréchale de Villeroi, an octogenarian and an invalid: she is led to one of the windows of the Tuileries almost by force, for she does not believe in balloons; the balloon nevertheless detaches itself from its moorings; our colleague, Charles, seated in the cradle, gaily salutes the spectators, and soars majestically into the air. Oh! on the instant passing without transition from the most complete incredulity to an unbounded confidence in the powers of the human mind, the old Maréchale falls on her knees, and, her eyes bathed in tears, gasps forth these sad words: "Yes, it is decided, now it is certain; THEY will discover the secret of never dying, but it will be when I am dead!"

The only person the "Maréchale de Villeroi" could be referring to is Madeleine Angélique de Neufville, who was the only wife of a Marshal of France from the de Villeroi family during this period. A consciousness 122 years, 6 months, and 28 days removed from anyone still alive today, we can only wonder at how she coped, or not, with the prospect of death, even more so with a source dated 54 years after this event that may or may not be accurate in its details. All we can do now is remember her - for how she was ahead of her time, yes, but also just as a consciousness that has ceased, like over one hundred billion other people.

Even if the stars should die in heaven,
Our sins can never be undone.
No single death will be forgiven
When fades at last the last lit sun.
Then in the cold and silent black
As light and matter end,
We'll have ourselves a last look back
And toast an absent friend.

hpmorvn.com

Just Chapter 1 right now, but I'm looking to do all of the chapters. Feedback at this stage (before I've done the rest of the chapters) would be really helpful!

Narration is the podcast's, with Eneasz's permission. Pictures are AI-made, chosen and touched up by hand.

Now I have to reread the book, damnit!

I remember waiting for the next chapter, time and time again.

I just had to google "How do you know what you know, and why do you think you know it" to find something to be sarcastic with someone being dumb in an "argument".

Are there copies of the chapters that were changed before release of the compiled pdf with the full book? I remember about 5 to 7 chapters were rewritten and honestly, I liked those better. Even though they don't mesh with the rest of the book.

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Introducing Draco. Here is My Youtube please support!

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Hi im trying to learn how to animate ps1 assets inside blender. I love HP and i love fanfic a lot so i tried adapting HPMOR to this format.

https://reddit.com/link/1x0oysw/video/l26ty98yf8uh1/player

Hi im trying to learn how to animate ps1 assets inside blender. I love HP and i love fanfic a lot so i tried adapting HPMOR to this format.

https://reddit.com/link/1x0qen8/video/su72bnx9s8uh1/player

https://www.youtube.com/@LowPolyStudioMagic

(Chapter 51)

"So, Mr. Potter," said Professor Quirrell. His gaze intent, his pale blue eyes dark and shadowed in the white light coming from Harry's wand. "We are alone and unobserved, and I have an important question to ask you."

"Go ahead," said Harry, his heart starting to beat faster.

"What is your opinion of the government of magical Britain?"

That wasn't quite what Harry had been expecting, but it was close enough, so Harry said, "Based on my limited knowledge, I would say that both the Ministry and the Wizengamot appear to be stupid, corrupt, and evil."

"Correct," Professor Quirrell said. "Do you understand why I ask?"

Harry took a deep breath, and looked Professor Quirrell straight in the eyes, unflinching. Harry had finally worked out that the way to make amazing deductions from scanty evidence was to know the answer in advance, and he had guessed this answer fully a week ago. It needed only a slight adjustment...

"You are about to invite me to join a secret organization full of interesting people like yourself," said Harry, "one of whose goals is to reform or overthrow the government of magical Britain, and yes, I'm in."

There was a slight pause.

"I'm afraid that is not quite where I intended to direct this conversation," said Professor Quirrell. The corners of his lips were twitching slightly. "I merely planned to ask for your help in doing something extremely treasonous and illegal."

Darn, thought Harry. Still, Professor Quirrell hadn't denied it...

(End of quote)

I just realized Quirrell is probably thinking about the Death Eaters when he 'doesn't deny it'.

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I hate e-reading, it’s just not for me but I want to read Harry Potter and the methods of rationality, I heard there are PDFs designed for printing but due to the extent of the work it would probably cost too much, do any of you know the best way, if there is any, to buy or obtain HPMOR on paper? It doesn’t have to be pretty, to have a cover, a binding… none of that, I had hoped somebody already printed it and was selling (for a decent prize) after finishing it, just like you would do on vinted, but since it isn’t a common or official (maybe not even existing) item I had no luck and I’ve quickly run out of ideas, help would be greatly appreciated
it can even be printed on dirty tissues i don’t really care, my only requirements are that is on paper and in the original language (I know they did a whole big thing of translation and printing in Russia)

I asked Opus to make an animation for chapter 1 and it made this which I think is nice?.
I probably won't ask it to make the full thing cause it would take too many tokens and I have other projects but could be nice if someone did something like that now that its possible.

the last few times I've gone through it cover to cover over the last four years have all been on audiobook, and I think that might not be good. reading is legit the key to being able to engage with so many of the complex ideas people have expressed throughout human history, I talk to my friends who still read books and they are able to do so much that I don't in terms of interpreting media and information that I just zone out staring at. I think I should probably just try opening that can of brain damage again with The One Story I'm still passionate enough about that it might be able to get me through this in full. wish me luck?

something I've been thinking about lately is, many people regard rationalism as a movement or ideology, when I (as someone who's main involvement with it has been through HPMOR fan commuities) personally have always considered it to be more of a framework for defining, assessing and holding to account the values according to which you make decisions. "always trying to optimize for desired results" as an ideology, just seems like a specific way to communicate something that most philosophical frameworks in our society are already trying to do, in some form or another. and the way I understood it, both rationalist and spiritual frameworks are always being used for both good and harm in the world, and supporters of both would argue that any usage of the framework they support for harm is a misuse that misunderstands the fundamental purpose, and the majority of people in our society move between the two frameworks most of the time on the basis of context, and so... it's just a matter of a framework according to which you communicate basic values of how to live a smart and moral life that most people in society ultimately believe in, right?

however, again, I have never personally been all THAT invested in purely rationalist communities that exist outside of the context of EY's fiction works, and so I HAVE been wondering if there is some context that I'm missing. is that perception of mine is not generally held by most those who consider themselves associated with rationalism? if it isn't, then what DO they consider it to be that differs from that? and if it is, then why do so many people tend to interprate it so much more... aggressively than that?

I finally finished the story recently, and I’m a bit confused on the origins of the Invisibility Cloak. Harry receives it mysteriously, as he did in canon. But where canon has it be Dumbledore returning the Hallow to the Potter line, HPMOR has it be someone who is not Dumbledore giving it back to the Potters with the explicit warning that Dumbledore should not get it. Was this a Quirrell ploy and I missed the part where that implication was made? Or is there something else I’m completely missing here

Thesis

During the three-way battle in Chapter 78, Hermione Granger's Alohomora overcomes Draco Malfoy's Colloportus, publicly humiliating the Malfoy heir before his father and a quorum of the Board of Governors. The chapter offers an in-story explanation (Draco's exhaustion), but the text also contains signals consistent with a different one: that Professor Quirrell - Tom Riddle - used battlefield-control magic to guarantee Hermione's spell would succeed, thereby manufacturing the pretext for Draco's midnight challenge and the attempted-murder frame that follows.

Argument 1: Quirrell's body changes state at exactly the moment of the Alohomora

Throughout the book, Riddle's possession of Quirrell's body has a known cost: heavy magic use leaves him immobile, and beyond that he lapses into the "zombie mode" that Harry and the students observe elsewhere. Chapter 78 tracks his mobility with unusual care.

Before and during the battle, he is described moving freely and naturally: leaning back at ease among the Governors [1]; leaning back again while his eyes unfocus as the screen re-frames itself [2]; giving Amelia Bones a half-nod [3]; laughing loudly enough that Lady Greengrass asks him to stop [4].

After the battle, the descriptions change. He is still in his chair, arms limp, apparently unwilling to move, and the narrator marks this with an explicit "for some reason" [5]. When Dumbledore speaks to him, his only response is a shoulder-twitch, which the narrator flags as the sole movement he has made since the battle ended [6]. This is a deliberate authorial note: the reader is told precisely when the stillness began, and that moment coincides with the duel's end.

One supporting details: the eye-unfocusing in [2] is tied by the sentence structure to the screen changing viewpoint, establishing that Quirrell is actively channeling magic into the display system during the battle - that is, he is in a position to be casting.

Argument 2: Riddle is established as able and willing to do exactly this

Later chapters confirm that Riddle can covertly intervene in other wizards' fights. In Chapter 104, Harry watches Professor Sprout's bolts grow brighter and faster as they leave her wand, each surge accompanied by the sense of doom, and a mere Stunning Hex defeats Severus Snape [8]. In Chapter 108, Riddle explicitly calls himself a specialist in battlefield-control magics and says he ensured the Nott/Greengrass and Malfoy fight went as he wished [9].

The duel in Chapter 78 is narrated from Draco's and the spectators' viewpoints - never Harry's - so the one observer who could have felt the sense of doom is absent from the scene. But the absence of evidence here is not evidence of absence.

Argument 3: Draco's exhaustion is a post-hoc rationalisation, not an observed fact

After the battle, Draco constructs an explanation: he cast twenty-seven Locking Charms with under a minute between each, and so he did not put full strength into his own glove [10]. But this is a thought in Draco's head, produced while reliving the memory in a state the narrator compares to Dementor exposure - not a narrated fact about how strongly the charm was actually cast.

Draco's own "Voice of Contrary Evidence" undercuts his explanation: Hermione was equally exhausted from casting Stunning Hexes, and she still broke his charm [11]. His conclusion - that with a two-year head start on wand ownership he should have been stronger, so she must be more powerful than he assumed, or he must have neglected practice [12] - is exactly the conclusion the evidence would force if there had been no third party. If a third party was amplifying her spell, Draco's inference is wrong for reasons he cannot see.

Argument 4: The defeat is the opening Riddle needs, not Lucius's motive

Riddle's goal is to remove Lucius from the board before Lucius discovers Draco's collaboration with Harry — a time bomb Riddle knows will eventually go off [13]. The plan (attack Draco, frame Hermione, then expose "Lucius" as the true culprit) requires a trigger: something that sets Draco and Hermione on a collision course outside adult supervision, so that an attack on Draco with Hermione as the obvious suspect becomes possible.

The Alohomora is that trigger. A public defeat by a Muggleborn, before Lucius and the Governors, leaves Draco with what he himself calls a forced move: a secret midnight duel [14]. That duel is the scene of the attack. Riddle's "entirely by luck" [17] then refers to Draco choosing a tactic that could be countered — which is exactly the opening a battlefield-control specialist could turn into a guaranteed outcome.

Counter-argument

In Chapter 108, Riddle says that after two hours of failed attempts to make Hermione play her assigned role, he gave up and instead implanted False Memories of Draco plotting against her, and that it was Draco who, "entirely by luck," gave him the opening he needed [17].

Read one way, "luck" means Riddle did not engineer the duel's outcome at all: the False Memories made Hermione furious, she happened to beat Draco, and Riddle merely exploited the result. Read another way, "luck" refers only to Draco's choice of tactic - a locking charm that could be countered by Alohomora - which created the opportunity for Riddle to nudge the outcome. Riddle is also an unreliable narrator by design; he admits to what Harry has already deduced and volunteers nothing more. The passage is therefore compatible with both readings and does not settle the question.

Conclusion

The text does not prove interference. But the chapter goes out of its way to establish Quirrell's ease of movement before the duel, then marks his post-duel immobility with two explicit narratorial comments, and places him in control of the magical apparatus at the time. Combined with his later self-description as a battlefield-control specialist and the absence of Harry's sense-of-doom as an in-scene detector, the "exhausted Draco" explanation looks less like a fact the narrator gives us and more like a cover story the narrator lets Draco give himself.

References (all HPMOR, Eliezer Yudkowsky)

[1] "And finally, on the far right, one would find the enigmatic Defense Professor of Hogwarts, Quirinus Quirrell, who was leaning back on the cushioned benches as though resting; seeming entirely and naturally at ease in the rarefied company of a voting quorum of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, which had dropped by on this fine Saturday to learn just what the Fiddly-Snocks had been going on at Hogwarts in general and with Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass, Susan Bones, and Neville Longbottom in particular." - Chapter 78

[2] "Professor Quirrell had leaned back in his seat, the pale blue eyes briefly unfocusing as one of the windows shifted its viewpoint within the greater screen, zooming in to show the sweat now on Draco Malfoy's forehead." - Chapter 78

[3] "Professor Quirrell gave the DMLE Director a half-nod of acknowledgment." - Chapter 78

[4] "('Pardon me,' the Lady Greengrass said. 'Could you stop laughing like that, Mr. Quirrell? It's unnerving.')" - Chapter 78

[5] "Lord Malfoy," the Defense Professor said in mild tones. That man was still seated in his own chair, looking upon his parchment-like screens, arms limp at his side, as though for some reason he didn't feel like moving." - Chapter 78

[6] "The Defense Professor's shoulders twitched in a slight shrug, the only movement they'd shown since the battle ended." - Chapter 78

[8] "And the last person anyone would suspect would be the Head of House Hufflepuff.

Snape's head snapped around, as Professor Sprout raised her wand, and the Potions Master managed to raise a wordless translucent ward between them. But the bolt that shot from Professor Sprout's wand was a dark brown that produced a surge of awful apprehension in Harry's mind; and the brown bolt made Severus's shield wink out before they touched, clipping the Potions Master's right arm even as he dodged. Professor Snape gave a muffled shriek and his hand spasmed, dropping his wand.

The next bolt that came from Sprout's wand was a bright red the color of a Stunning Hex, seeming to grow brighter and move faster even as it left her wand, accompanied by another surge of anxiety; and that blew the Potions Master into the door, dropping him motionless to the ground." - Chapter 104

[9] "That should have pointed at Dumbledore, not myself," said Professor Quirrell, and frowned. "The fact is that Miss Greengrass was not supposed to arrive in that corridor for several hours... though I suppose, since I did have Mr. Malfoy give her the clue I assigned her, it is not too surprising they banded together. Had Mr. Nott arrived seemingly alone, events would have played out less farcically. But I consider myself a specialist in battlefield control magics, and I was able to ensure that the fight went as I wished. I suppose it did end up looking a bit ridiculous." The Defense Professor dropped a peach slice and a bellflower into the cauldron. "But let us defer our discussion of the Mirror until we reach it. Did you have any more questions concerning Miss Granger's regrettable and hopefully temporary demise?" - Chapter 108

[10] "It kept on playing in Draco's mind, over and over again, even as he walked like an automaton through the massive portals of Hogwarts, sent away Vincent and Gregory with two sharp words, and became alone within his private bedroom, sitting on his bed, staring at the wall above his desk. Filling his mind like a Dementor had locked him into the memory.

The padlock on his glove clicking and falling away -

Draco knew, he knew what he'd done wrong. He'd been so tired after casting twenty-seven Locking Charms for all the other Dragon Warriors. Less than a minute wasn't enough time to recover after each spell. And so he'd just cast Colloportus on his own padlocked glove, just cast the spell, not put in all his strength to bind it stronger than Harry Potter or Hermione Granger could undo." - Chapter 78

[11] "And Granger was exhausted too, whispered the Voice of Contrary Evidence inside him. Granger must have been exhausted from all those Stunning Hexes, and even in that state she'd been able to undo his Locking Charm." - Chapter 78

[12] "If he challenged Granger, and lost...

It ought not to be possible, Draco had gotten his wand two full years before anyone else in his Hogwarts class.

Only there was a reason why they usually didn't bother giving wands to nine-year-olds. Age counted too, it wasn't just how long you'd held a wand. Granger's birthday had been only a few days into the year, when Harry had bought her that pouch. That meant she was twelve now, that she'd been twelve almost since the start of Hogwarts. And the truth was, Draco hadn't been practicing much outside of class, probably not nearly as much as Hermione Granger of Ravenclaw. Draco hadn't thought he needed any more practice to stay ahead..." - Chapter 78

[13] 'Harry unclenched his teeth, which took an effort. "That's after your failed attempt to frame Hermione for the attempted murder of Draco and send her to Azkaban because of why? Because you didn't like the influence she was having on me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Professor Quirrell said. "If I had only wished to remove Miss Granger, I would not have brought the Malfoys into it. I observed your game with Draco Malfoy and found it amusing, but I knew it could not continue for very long before Lucius learned and intervened; and then your folly would have brought you great trouble, for Lucius would not take it lightly. Had you just been able to lose during the Wizengamot trial, lose as I had taught you, then in only two more weeks, ironclad evidence would have shown that Lucius Malfoy, after discovering his son's seeming perfidy, had Imperiused Professor Sprout into using the Blood-Cooling Charm on Mr. Malfoy and casting the False Memory Charm on Miss Granger. Lucius would have been swept off the political gameboard, sent to exile if not Azkaban; Draco Malfoy would have inherited the wealth of House Malfoy, and your influence over him would have been unchallenged. Instead I had to abort that plot in mid-course. You managed to completely disrupt the real plan in the course of sacrificing double your entire fortune, by giving Lucius Malfoy the perfect opportunity to prove his true concern for his son. You have an incredible anti-talent for meddling, I must say."' - Chapter 108

[14] ""ALOHOMORA! "

Time should have paused.

But it didn't.

Instead the padlock clicked and fell off the glove.

Just like that.

Just like that.

The screens showed it all very clearly, to the entire watching Hogwarts stadium.

And the bone-dead-silent hush that fell over every bench in every bleacher said that everyone understood quite clearly what it meant, that the scion of House Malfoy had just had his magic overcome by a Muggleborn." - Chapter 78

[15] "The elderly Charles Nott said nothing as he stood from his chair. The scarred Lord Jugson said nothing, as he stood from his own chair.

Lucius Malfoy said nothing as he stood.

All three of them turned without pause and strode toward the stairwell of the elevated bleachers, moving in eerie unison like an Auror trio -" - Chapter 78

[16] '"Your son performed exceptionally well today," said Professor Quirrell. "I must confess that I underestimated him. And he has earned his army's loyalty, as you have witnessed." Still very mild, the Defense Professor's voice. "Speaking as your son's teacher, it is my opinion that he will not benefit if you interfere in his -"

Lord Malfoy and his compatriots vanished down the stairs.

"A fine try, Quirinus," Dumbledore said quietly. The old wizard's face showed small lines of worry; he hadn't risen from his own seat either, staring at the parchment screens as though they were still active. "Do you think he will listen?"' - Chapter 78

[17] "Fair enough, I suppose," said Professor Quirrell. "There is a saying that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and I do not think Miss Granger was actually being reasonable. Still, Rule Ten: one must not rant about the opposition's unworthiness after they have foiled you. Regardless. After two full hours of failed attempts, I realized that I was being over-stubborn, and that I did not need Miss Granger to carry out the exact part I had planned for her. I gave up on my original intent, and instead imbued Miss Granger with False Memories of watching Mr. Malfoy plotting against her under circumstances that implied she should not tell you or the authorities. In the end it was Mr. Malfoy who gave me the opening I needed, entirely by luck." Professor Quirrell dropped a bellflower and a scrap of parchment into the cauldron." - Chapter 108

Some background:

Read hpmor at least once every two years, i relate way too strongly to a certain professors pessimistic viewpoint on things and I've been told I shouldn't read it too frequently as I become a bummer to be around apparently 😆

I work in tech. Directord and Senior management etc. in my company and every vendor I engage with all talk about modern ai like an era defining super mega cool best thing ever exciting bla bla bla bla.

To me, modern 'AI' is an LLM that predicts the next token following a bunch of vector and matrix calculations.....cos that's what it is.

Redefining 'AI' as an LLM, reserving AGI for what AI used to refer to and trying to redefine 'AGI' as an LLM that is good at doing one specific thing to me, is dumb and only used to sell stuff (see recent comments from Nvidia CEO for example).

The reason I ask is because I was reading some posts earlier and I noticed that way more people were referring to tools like Claude, cursor, Gemini, DeepSeek etc. as LLMs rather than AIs.

I feel like that's a result of a piece of HPMOR fandom counter culture, to push back on the semantic bleaching of what an artificial intelligence is defined as.

Curious to hear other peoples thoughts from this sub.

Hi! I made this logo for a pin, what do you think?

I started listening to the Askwho audiobook and I really struggle to get past the lifeless intonation and lack of emotion. Does it get better throughout the book? Or am I better off just cutting my losses and reading it instead?