First, HPMoR introduced me to certain new ideas in ways I found pleasant to learn, such as “learning how to lose”, and I would like to read more fiction that does similar things—even if I have to write it myself.
Second, if such stories are written well, and do present rationalist ideas in ways readers find pleasant, and, perhaps, they introduce such ideas to new communities (eg, the furry subculture) in ways compatible with those communities’ standards, then it might help nudge up the sanity waterline a teeny bit.
Why do you think that rationality helps a story?
Other way round. The story helps rationality.
I hope for the day when “stupid characters” is seen as being as fatal to a story as “and it was all a dream.”
Two main reasons come to mind.
First, HPMoR introduced me to certain new ideas in ways I found pleasant to learn, such as “learning how to lose”, and I would like to read more fiction that does similar things—even if I have to write it myself.
Second, if such stories are written well, and do present rationalist ideas in ways readers find pleasant, and, perhaps, they introduce such ideas to new communities (eg, the furry subculture) in ways compatible with those communities’ standards, then it might help nudge up the sanity waterline a teeny bit.