Having read half of the sequences first and then Dune later I have the impression that 80-90% of Eliezer’s worldview (and thus a big part of the LW zeitgeist) comes directly from the thoughts and actions of Paul Atreides. Everything LW from the idea that evolution is the driving force of the universe, to the inevitability of AGI and it’s massive danger, conclusions on immortality, and affinity for childhood geniuses who rely on bayesian predictions to win are heavily focused on in Dune. Sure Eliezer also references Dune explicitly, I don’t think he’s hiding the fact that Dune inspires him or plagiarizing ideas. I share this connection I found because for me it was a big revelation. I never really knew how much of this community’s behavior is based on Dune. I assume the feeling is similar when somebody reads The Hobbit after reading Lord of the Rings or watches Star Wars III after sitting through VII.
I’m left with the vague idea that people in general form most of their worldview from literature they find inspiring. Most of my personal differences with Eliezer clearly stem from me having read Heinlein instead of Herbert as a child. I think it’s the same for many Christian people and The Bible or other Christianity-inspired texts.
I’m also left with some questions for people who read Dune before they found LessWrong: are the parallels and close inspiration immediately apparent to you? Do you see HPMOR Harry as a young Paul Atreides? Or do you think I overemphasize the connections between Eliezer’s writings on rationality and Dune?
I think you overemphasize the connections. The ideas you mention are indeed present in HPMOR and also in Dune, but that isn’t surprising. Say there are 100 not-mainstream ideas in HPMOR and 100 in dune; it is surprising that 4 of them overlap? No. Even if there are only 10 not-mainstream ideas, if 4 overlap that isn’t surprising either. After all, it’s rare for any book to have even one idea that has literally never been explored before.
That said, I like your list of connections, and I do think it is evidence that Dune influenced EY, and I do think that people form a lot of their worldview from literature they find inspiring—but also which literature they find inspiring depends on their worldview.
When EY started the Singularity Institute he didn’t believe in the massive danger. He only started believing in the danger once he thought more deeply about AGI. I don’t think that Dune is a cause of him starting to believe AGI’s danger.
The abilities of a Mentat to compute seems to be very different from the kind of reasoning that Harry employs.
The search for immortality is one of the main archtypes that you find in plenty of different fiction and sagas.
Having read half of the sequences first and then Dune later I have the impression that 80-90% of Eliezer’s worldview (and thus a big part of the LW zeitgeist) comes directly from the thoughts and actions of Paul Atreides. Everything LW from the idea that evolution is the driving force of the universe, to the inevitability of AGI and it’s massive danger, conclusions on immortality, and affinity for childhood geniuses who rely on bayesian predictions to win are heavily focused on in Dune. Sure Eliezer also references Dune explicitly, I don’t think he’s hiding the fact that Dune inspires him or plagiarizing ideas. I share this connection I found because for me it was a big revelation. I never really knew how much of this community’s behavior is based on Dune. I assume the feeling is similar when somebody reads The Hobbit after reading Lord of the Rings or watches Star Wars III after sitting through VII.
I’m left with the vague idea that people in general form most of their worldview from literature they find inspiring. Most of my personal differences with Eliezer clearly stem from me having read Heinlein instead of Herbert as a child. I think it’s the same for many Christian people and The Bible or other Christianity-inspired texts.
I’m also left with some questions for people who read Dune before they found LessWrong: are the parallels and close inspiration immediately apparent to you? Do you see HPMOR Harry as a young Paul Atreides? Or do you think I overemphasize the connections between Eliezer’s writings on rationality and Dune?
I think you overemphasize the connections. The ideas you mention are indeed present in HPMOR and also in Dune, but that isn’t surprising. Say there are 100 not-mainstream ideas in HPMOR and 100 in dune; it is surprising that 4 of them overlap? No. Even if there are only 10 not-mainstream ideas, if 4 overlap that isn’t surprising either. After all, it’s rare for any book to have even one idea that has literally never been explored before.
That said, I like your list of connections, and I do think it is evidence that Dune influenced EY, and I do think that people form a lot of their worldview from literature they find inspiring—but also which literature they find inspiring depends on their worldview.
When EY started the Singularity Institute he didn’t believe in the massive danger. He only started believing in the danger once he thought more deeply about AGI. I don’t think that Dune is a cause of him starting to believe AGI’s danger.
The abilities of a Mentat to compute seems to be very different from the kind of reasoning that Harry employs.
The search for immortality is one of the main archtypes that you find in plenty of different fiction and sagas.