HPMoR and the Limits of Rationality

Elisa takes the wheel for a special episode exploring a concept popular in rationalist/effective altruist circles: "Genomic Emancipation," or, depending on who you ask, how and why you should have superbabies, as quickly and in as large numbers as possible.

Content warnings: eugenics, ableism, audism.

Citations, sources, and further reading

... are TOO LONG for this text box! Please check out the full reading list here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/AMNWHDKCSC#YZMyHHMYjDr6

Below is a selection of some of the major stuff because clicking links is hard, I get it.

Podcasts & video essays

Molly Conger, "Weird Little Guys": https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-weird-little-guys-201395214/ 

The Bell Curve - Shaun on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=SrLDOAq_o1BlPLfo 

Polygenic screening

Are "Designer Babies" a scam? Can You Really Choose Your 'Best' Baby?" (New York Magazine): https://archive.is/iN83l 

Creating Baby Geniuses to Thwart the AI Threat? (Yes, Really.) (Mother Jones): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/gene-editing-optimization-thiel-altman-armstrong-andreessen-ai-iq/ 

Screening embryos for polygenic disease risk: a review of epidemiological, clinical, and ethical considerations: https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/30/5/529/7684172 

Ethical and social implications of implementing polygenic embryo screening into clinical care: A scoping review https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949774426009155 

What a Polygenic Risk Score Can and Can’t Tell You:  https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/what-polygenic-risk-score-can-and-cant-tell-you .

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2026/05/06/nx-s1-5704317/genetic-embryo-screening 

Pronatalism

First Natalism Conference: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338 

Simone wrote Trump's "mom medals" executive order: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/more-and-better-babies-the-dark-side-of-the-pronatalist-movement/ 

Pronatalist.org (Check out their Policy page!!)

Malcolm's LW post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ft9mpiX3RcisntrMN/malcolm-collins-s-shortform 

Talking about Aella: https://basedcamppodcast.substack.com/p/researching-a-gang-bang-made-my-wife

A sample of the Collins’ YouTube page: https://archive.org/details/screenshot-2026-10-12-183430 

Zvi’s interest in the population crisis, particularly re: the status of motherhood: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xJw5eetbzNNu9SiSZ/fertility-roundup-6-the-art-of-more-dakka   

Aella

A Faine Greenwood thread documenting various things about Aella, SlutCon, and the sex scene in the AI safety community in the Bay: https://bsky.app/profile/faineg.com/post/3mwjphbqsqs26 

Manifest

https://www.thenewcritic.com/p/manifest-man 

Tsvi

https://berkeleygenomics.org/ 

Chisme about Lighthaven's eugenics conference: https://undark.org/2026/04/08/genetics-artificial-inheritance/

"Genomic emancipation": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation.html

"Genomic emancipation contra eugenics": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation_contra_eugenics.html

IQ, genes, and environment

Is IQ Genetic? https://acisiq.com/is-iq-genetic-what-heritability-actually-means 

Ditch "g" factor: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10301777/ 

Penn State (2024): https://science.psu.edu/news/genes-or-environment-new-model-understanding-disease-risk-factors and (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03483-9 

Jonathan Anomaly

Source for Johnomaly's given name (and the picture of Cofnas, Yarvin, and Hanania): https://www.pinkerite.com/2025/03/jonathan-anomaly-files-slapp-lawsuit.html 

"Can 'eugenics' be defended?" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-021-00129-1 

"The Superbaby Factory" https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/superbaby-factory/ 

Disabilities!!!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network comments about germline editing: https://autisticadvocacy.org/2019/10/asan-comments-on-the-clinical-use-of-human-germline-genome-editing/ 

Parents do not regret their Down syndrome children! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3353148/ 

Iceland https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-01/iceland-prenatal-testing-down-syndrome-ethics/103781058 

Both and! https://www.science.org/content/article/implants-can-help-deaf-kids-hear-many-still-struggle-spoken-language 

Film and culture recs

Sound and Fury (2000) + 2006 followup short - 

A World Without Down Syndrome (2016) - Actress and BBC presenter Sally Phillips bounces from NHS offices to British living rooms to Iceland, all to investigate what is motivating people to terminate Down pregnancies. Phillips has a child with Down syndrome.

Stuff I read for this episode but didn't get to

"The New Eugenics" (is IVF): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5965496/

Jonathan Anomaly smuggling more race science in: https://altrightorigins.com/2020/07/03/guest-post-on-the-intellectual-dishonestly-of-recent-hereditarian-papers-part-three/ 

Herasight goes all in on eugenics https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/embryo-selection-company-herasight 

Stuff we mentioned

Jack Saint’s “Cultural Gen0c1d3”: https://youtu.be/dTfR4xjqeUM?si=fiYtvpYg79J9RPoq 

Australia’s history of cultural genocide in the Stolen Generations: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/stolen-generation/

OpenAI’s hack of Australia’s Medicare statistics portal (which Anthea mischaracterized as a hack into Medicare enrollment): https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/heres-what-actually-happened-in-openais-australian-govt-server-hack/ 

Elisa takes the wheel for a special episode exploring a concept popular in rationalist/effective altruist circles: "Genomic Emancipation," or, depending on who you ask, how and why you should have superbabies, as quickly and in as large numbers as possible.

Content warnings: eugenics, ableism, audism.

Citations, sources, and further reading

... are TOO LONG for this text box! Please check out the full reading list here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/AMNWHDKCSC#YZMyHHMYjDr6

Below is a selection of some of the major stuff because clicking links is hard, I get it.

Podcasts & video essays

Molly Conger, "Weird Little Guys": https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-weird-little-guys-201395214/ 

The Bell Curve - Shaun on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=SrLDOAq_o1BlPLfo 

Polygenic screening

Are "Designer Babies" a scam? Can You Really Choose Your 'Best' Baby?" (New York Magazine): https://archive.is/iN83l 

Creating Baby Geniuses to Thwart the AI Threat? (Yes, Really.) (Mother Jones): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/gene-editing-optimization-thiel-altman-armstrong-andreessen-ai-iq/ 

Screening embryos for polygenic disease risk: a review of epidemiological, clinical, and ethical considerations: https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/30/5/529/7684172 

Ethical and social implications of implementing polygenic embryo screening into clinical care: A scoping review https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949774426009155 

What a Polygenic Risk Score Can and Can’t Tell You:  https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/what-polygenic-risk-score-can-and-cant-tell-you .

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2026/05/06/nx-s1-5704317/genetic-embryo-screening 

Pronatalism

First Natalism Conference: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338 

Simone wrote Trump's "mom medals" executive order: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/more-and-better-babies-the-dark-side-of-the-pronatalist-movement/ 

Pronatalist.org (Check out their Policy page!!)

Malcolm's LW post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ft9mpiX3RcisntrMN/malcolm-collins-s-shortform 

Talking about Aella: https://basedcamppodcast.substack.com/p/researching-a-gang-bang-made-my-wife

A sample of the Collins’ YouTube page: https://archive.org/details/screenshot-2026-10-12-183430 

Zvi’s interest in the population crisis, particularly re: the status of motherhood: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xJw5eetbzNNu9SiSZ/fertility-roundup-6-the-art-of-more-dakka   

Aella

A Faine Greenwood thread documenting various things about Aella, SlutCon, and the sex scene in the AI safety community in the Bay: https://bsky.app/profile/faineg.com/post/3mwjphbqsqs26 

Manifest

https://www.thenewcritic.com/p/manifest-man 

Tsvi

https://berkeleygenomics.org/ 

Chisme about Lighthaven's eugenics conference: https://undark.org/2026/04/08/genetics-artificial-inheritance/

"Genomic emancipation": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation.html

"Genomic emancipation contra eugenics": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation_contra_eugenics.html

IQ, genes, and environment

Is IQ Genetic? https://acisiq.com/is-iq-genetic-what-heritability-actually-means 

Ditch "g" factor: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10301777/ 

Penn State (2024): https://science.psu.edu/news/genes-or-environment-new-model-understanding-disease-risk-factors and (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03483-9 

Jonathan Anomaly

Source for Johnomaly's given name (and the picture of Cofnas, Yarvin, and Hanania): https://www.pinkerite.com/2025/03/jonathan-anomaly-files-slapp-lawsuit.html 

"Can 'eugenics' be defended?" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-021-00129-1 

"The Superbaby Factory" https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/superbaby-factory/ 

Disabilities!!!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network comments about germline editing: https://autisticadvocacy.org/2019/10/asan-comments-on-the-clinical-use-of-human-germline-genome-editing/ 

Parents do not regret their Down syndrome children! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3353148/ 

Iceland https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-01/iceland-prenatal-testing-down-syndrome-ethics/103781058 

Both and! https://www.science.org/content/article/implants-can-help-deaf-kids-hear-many-still-struggle-spoken-language 

Film and culture recs

Sound and Fury (2000) + 2006 followup short - 

A World Without Down Syndrome (2016) - Actress and BBC presenter Sally Phillips bounces from NHS offices to British living rooms to Iceland, all to investigate what is motivating people to terminate Down pregnancies. Phillips has a child with Down syndrome.

Stuff I read for this episode but didn't get to

"The New Eugenics" (is IVF): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5965496/

Jonathan Anomaly smuggling more race science in: https://altrightorigins.com/2020/07/03/guest-post-on-the-intellectual-dishonestly-of-recent-hereditarian-papers-part-three/ 

Herasight goes all in on eugenics https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/embryo-selection-company-herasight 

Stuff we mentioned

Jack Saint’s “Cultural Gen0c1d3”: https://youtu.be/dTfR4xjqeUM?si=fiYtvpYg79J9RPoq 

Australia’s history of cultural genocide in the Stolen Generations: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/stolen-generation/

OpenAI’s hack of Australia’s Medicare statistics portal (which Anthea mischaracterized as a hack into Medicare enrollment): https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/heres-what-actually-happened-in-openais-australian-govt-server-hack/ 

Elisa takes the wheel for a special episode exploring a concept popular in rationalist/effective altruist circles: "Genomic Emancipation," or, depending on who you ask, how and why you should have superbabies, as quickly and in as large numbers as possible.

Content warnings: eugenics, ableism, audism.

Citations, sources, and further reading

... are TOO LONG for this text box! Please check out the full reading list here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/AMNWHDKCSC#YZMyHHMYjDr6

Below is a selection of some of the major stuff because clicking links is hard, I get it.

Podcasts & video essays

Molly Conger, "Weird Little Guys": https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-weird-little-guys-201395214/ 

The Bell Curve - Shaun on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=SrLDOAq_o1BlPLfo 

Polygenic screening

Are "Designer Babies" a scam? Can You Really Choose Your 'Best' Baby?" (New York Magazine): https://archive.is/iN83l 

Creating Baby Geniuses to Thwart the AI Threat? (Yes, Really.) (Mother Jones): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/gene-editing-optimization-thiel-altman-armstrong-andreessen-ai-iq/ 

Screening embryos for polygenic disease risk: a review of epidemiological, clinical, and ethical considerations: https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/30/5/529/7684172 

Ethical and social implications of implementing polygenic embryo screening into clinical care: A scoping review https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949774426009155 

What a Polygenic Risk Score Can and Can’t Tell You:  https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/what-polygenic-risk-score-can-and-cant-tell-you .

These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2026/05/06/nx-s1-5704317/genetic-embryo-screening 

Pronatalism

First Natalism Conference: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338 

Simone wrote Trump's "mom medals" executive order: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/more-and-better-babies-the-dark-side-of-the-pronatalist-movement/ 

Pronatalist.org (Check out their Policy page!!)

Malcolm's LW post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ft9mpiX3RcisntrMN/malcolm-collins-s-shortform 

Talking about Aella: https://basedcamppodcast.substack.com/p/researching-a-gang-bang-made-my-wife

A sample of the Collins’ YouTube page: https://archive.org/details/screenshot-2026-10-12-183430 

Zvi’s interest in the population crisis, particularly re: the status of motherhood: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xJw5eetbzNNu9SiSZ/fertility-roundup-6-the-art-of-more-dakka   

Aella

A Faine Greenwood thread documenting various things about Aella, SlutCon, and the sex scene in the AI safety community in the Bay: https://bsky.app/profile/faineg.com/post/3mwjphbqsqs26 

Manifest

https://www.thenewcritic.com/p/manifest-man 

Tsvi

https://berkeleygenomics.org/ 

Chisme about Lighthaven's eugenics conference: https://undark.org/2026/04/08/genetics-artificial-inheritance/

"Genomic emancipation": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation.html

"Genomic emancipation contra eugenics": https://berkeleygenomics.org/articles/Genomic_emancipation_contra_eugenics.html

IQ, genes, and environment

Is IQ Genetic? https://acisiq.com/is-iq-genetic-what-heritability-actually-means 

Ditch "g" factor: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10301777/ 

Penn State (2024): https://science.psu.edu/news/genes-or-environment-new-model-understanding-disease-risk-factors and (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03483-9 

Jonathan Anomaly

Source for Johnomaly's given name (and the picture of Cofnas, Yarvin, and Hanania): https://www.pinkerite.com/2025/03/jonathan-anomaly-files-slapp-lawsuit.html 

"Can 'eugenics' be defended?" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-021-00129-1 

"The Superbaby Factory" https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/superbaby-factory/ 

Disabilities!!!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network comments about germline editing: https://autisticadvocacy.org/2019/10/asan-comments-on-the-clinical-use-of-human-germline-genome-editing/ 

Parents do not regret their Down syndrome children! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3353148/ 

Iceland https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-01/iceland-prenatal-testing-down-syndrome-ethics/103781058 

Both and! https://www.science.org/content/article/implants-can-help-deaf-kids-hear-many-still-struggle-spoken-language 

Film and culture recs

Sound and Fury (2000) + 2006 followup short - 

A World Without Down Syndrome (2016) - Actress and BBC presenter Sally Phillips bounces from NHS offices to British living rooms to Iceland, all to investigate what is motivating people to terminate Down pregnancies. Phillips has a child with Down syndrome.

Stuff I read for this episode but didn't get to

"The New Eugenics" (is IVF): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5965496/

Jonathan Anomaly smuggling more race science in: https://altrightorigins.com/2020/07/03/guest-post-on-the-intellectual-dishonestly-of-recent-hereditarian-papers-part-three/ 

Herasight goes all in on eugenics https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/embryo-selection-company-herasight 

Stuff we mentioned

Jack Saint’s “Cultural Gen0c1d3”: https://youtu.be/dTfR4xjqeUM?si=fiYtvpYg79J9RPoq 

Australia’s history of cultural genocide in the Stolen Generations: https://australian.museum/learn/first-nations/stolen-generation/

OpenAI’s hack of Australia’s Medicare statistics portal (which Anthea mischaracterized as a hack into Medicare enrollment): https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/heres-what-actually-happened-in-openais-australian-govt-server-hack/ 

In chapter 8, Hermione Granger meets Harry Potter and is subjected to a series of tests. Our hosts are joined by Lesley, resident fandom person, to play a game, present deconstructed tropes to the Chopped judges, and court corporate sponsorships.

CONTENT WARNING: discussion of rape and racism from 15:43 to 39:56.

Citations and further reading

• Elisa's show notes: https://www.tumblr.com/ecc-poetry/tagged/hpmor%20and%20the%20limits%20of%20rationality 
• HPMOR, Chapter 8, Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/8 
• “Eliezer, the Person,” section “1.6: Falling out of school” and “1.7: ‘I can’t do anything.’” Eliezer Yudkowsky. The Low Beyond, 2000.  https://web.archive.org/web/20010205221413/http://sysopmind.com/eliezer.html#timeline_falling 
• HPMOR snapshot up to chapter 21. https://drive.proton.me/urls/9HBTQR7TA0#l2zIorSOyr7m 
• “I've also tried a rewrite on Ch. 7 which I don't feel is a literary improvement, but which does make it clearer that Harry is talking about the Enlightenment having mostly solved the problem of nobility rather than the problem of rape, and which eliminates the explicit reference to Saudi Arabia and the Congo as specific non-Enlightenment countries. Most readers, it's pretty clear, didn't take that as racist, but it now also seems clear that if someone is told to *expect* racism and pointed at the chapter, that's what they'll see. Aren't preconceptions lovely things?” Less Wrong (Yudkowsky)’s review explaining his rewrite of Chapter 7, Yudkowsky. Fanfiction.net, 30 June 2010.  https://www.fanfiction.net/r/5782108/27/1/
• “HPMOR: The (Probably) Untold Lore,” Gretta Duleba, Eliezer Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 25 July 2025. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FY697dJJv9Fq3PaTd/hpmor-the-probably-untold-lore 
• “Lotteries: A Waste of Hope,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 12 April 2007. https://www.lesswrong.com/s/FrqfoG3LJeCZs96Ym/p/vYsuM8cpuRgZS5rYB
• “New Improved Lottery,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 13 April 2007. https://www.lesswrong.com/s/FrqfoG3LJeCZs96Ym/p/QawvGzYWhqdyPWgBL 
• “The New Atlantis,” Francis Bacon. 1626: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2434/pg2434-images.html 
• To Relieve the Human Condition: Bioethics, Technology, and the Body, Gerald P. McKenny. State University of New York Press, 1997. https://archive.org/details/torelievehumanco0000mcke 
• “Irrational numbers,” Rod Pierce. Math Is Fun, retrieved 2025.: https://www.mathsisfun.com/irrational-numbers.html
• “Positive Bias: Look Into the Dark,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 27 Aug 2007.: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rmAbiEKQDpDnZzcRf/positive-bias-look-into-the-dark 
• “On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task,” P.C. Wason. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1960. https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/wason-qjep1960.pdf 

In the last part of chapter 7, Harry attempts to seduce Draco to the cause of Science via a moon landing picture. Unfortunately, that picture doesn't exist. The crew goes to the Sequences to learn how to actually change their minds.

CONTENT WARNING: this episode touches on eugenics and rape.

• HPMoR Science. https://hpmor.com/science/
• Phlogiston: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/rise-and-fall-phlogiston-theory-fire
• Nathaniel Branden: https://archive.ph/J8cQD
• Answer to Ayn Rand pt 1: https://www.barbarabranden.com/answer-nathaniel.html
• Twelve Virtues: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/waF2Pomid7YHjfEDt/p/7ZqGiPHTpiDMwqMN2
• “Religion’s Claim to be Non-Disprovable”: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/7gRSERQZbqTuLX5re/p/fAuWLS7RKWD2npBFR 
• “Leave a Line of Retreat”: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3XgYbghWruBMrPTAL/leave-a-line-of-retreat
• Belief in angels around 69%, AP-NORC, 2023: https://apnorc.org/projects/belief-in-angels-and-heaven-is-more-common-than-belief-in-the-devil-or-hell/
• Report they’ve personally encountered a spirit, around 30%, Pew, 2023: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spiritual-experiences/ 
• US adults who know a trans person around 41%, HRC, 2026: https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/documents/Trans-Visibility-One-Pager.pdf 
• Scott Alexander and HBD: https://reflectivealtruism.com/2024/10/31/human-biodiversity-part-4-astral-codex-ten/
• “Update Yourself Incrementally”: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/GSqFqc646rsRd2oyz/p/627DZcvme7nLDrbZu 
• CFAR handbook – I was looking at “Comfort Zone Expansion,” pg 121: https://www.rationality.org/files/CFAR_Handbook_2021-01.pdf   
• “The Importance of Saying ‘Oops’”: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/5bZZZJ5psXrrD5BGb/p/wCqfCLs8z5Qw4GbKS
• “What Makes This Song Stink: Try That In A Small Town”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeJXF55HXRI  
• Sociopathy and risk taking: https://youtu.be/gpjYtAB9i2w?t=3532&si=G9RTlYH6ieqJ4bTx 
• ASPD vs Psychopathy: https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychopathy-vs-sociopathy.html 
• Draco is tasked with assassinating Dumbledore because his father failed Voldemort: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Plot_to_assassinate_Albus_Dumbledore 

In part 2 of chapter 7, Draco tells Harry how to get away with sexual assault.

Oh, and there's a ~wacky fizzy drink~ to lift the mood. Are we still having fun?

CONTENT WARNING: this episode discusses rape.

RAINN Hotline: https://rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline/ 

Citations and further reading, pt 2

• HPMoR, Chapter 7. Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/7
• Elisa’s show notes: https://www.tumblr.com/ecc-poetry/tagged/hpmor%20and%20the%20limits%20of%20rationality
• “Draco in Leather Pants.” Wiktionary, accessed 21 July 2026. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Draco_in_Leather_Pants
• Influence, Robert B. Cialdini. HarperCollins, 2007. https://dn710600.ca.archive.org/0/items/ThePsychologyOfPersuasion/The%20Psychology%20of%20Persuasion.pdf 
• “EYudkowsky,” Yudkowsky. OKCupid, 2011; access 21 July 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20120904013510/http://www.okcupid.com/profile/Eyudkowsky 
• How to Be Perfect, Michael Schur. Simon & Schuster, 2023. https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-be-perfect-the-correct-answer-to-every-moral-question-michael-schur/397bc14a2c866e22?ean=9781982159320 
• “Effects of a Favor and Liking on Compliance,” Dennis T. Regan. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1971. https://www.scribd.com/document/981877189/Regan-1971-Reciprocity 
• “The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness,” Arthur Aron et al. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1997. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167297234003 
• “Silicon Valley’s Safe Space,” Cade Metz. New York Times, 13 Feb 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210213101345/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/technology/slate-star-codex-rationalists.html
• “"How are you coping with the end of the world?" journalists sometimes ask me, and I sometimes reply, "By remembering that it's not about me."  They have no hope of understanding what I mean by this, I predict, because to them I am the subject of the story and it has not occurred to them that there's a whole planet out there too to be the story-subject.  I think there's probably a sense in which the Earth itself is not a real thing to most modern journalists.
  
  “The journalist is imagining a story that is about me, and about whether or not I am going insane, not just because it is an easy cliche to write, but because personality is the only real thing to the journalist.” "Eliezer's Unteachable Methods of Sanity," Eliezer Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 6 Dec 2025. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/isSBwfgRY6zD6mycc/eliezer-s-unteachable-methods-of-sanity  
• “Effective Altruism Promises to Do Good Better. These Women Say It Has a Toxic Culture Of Sexual Harassment and Abuse,” Charlotte Alter. TIME, 3 Feb 2023.  https://web.archive.org/web/20230203133416/https://time.com/6252617/effective-altruism-sexual-harassment/ 
• “Belonging (Part 4: TIME’s up?),” David Thorstad. Reflective Altruism, 4 March 2023. https://reflectivealtruism.com/2023/03/04/belonging-part-4-times-up/ 
• “I think you are dramatically overestimating how difficult it was, back in the day, to accidentally or incidentally learn Scott's full name. I think this is the crux here.
  
  “It was extremely easy to find his name, and often people have stories of learning it on accident.” Alex Vermillion. LessWrong, 31 March 2024. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/oYnwTuxySiaZYDrur/my-interview-with-cade-metz-on-his-reporting-about-slate?commentId=xobBj8Lrf2LpfLRW6
• “Key Findings: Rethinking Serial Perpetrators,” Tharp et al. National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015. https://www.nsvrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/publications_nsvrc_key-findings_rethinking-serial-perpetration_0.pdf 
• “Offending Histories and Typologies of Suspected Sexual Offenders Identified Via Untested Sexual Assault Kits,” Lovell et al. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Flannery/publication/360873352_Offending_Histories_and_Typologies_of_Suspected_Sexual_Offenders_Identified_Via_Untested_Sexual_Assault_Kits/links/655274753fa26f66f4fde825/Offending-Histories-and-Typologies-of-Suspected-Sexual-Offenders-Identified-Via-Untested-Sexual-Assault-Kits.pdf 
• “Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists,” David Lisak and Paul M. Miller. Violence and Victims, 2002. https://storage.googleapis.com/dpss-uploads/2002-lisak-repeatrapeinundetectedrapists.pdf 
• “Three Worlds Collide: Interlude with the Confessor,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 2 Feb 2009. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bojLBvsYck95gbKNM/interlude-with-the-confessor-4-8 
• “Gentle Silent Rape,” Robin Hanson. Overcoming Bias, 30 Nov 2010. https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/gentlesilentrapehtml 
• “Are Your Enemies Innately Evil?”, Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 26 June 2007. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/28bAMAxhoX3bwbAKC/are-your-enemies-innately-evil 

In part 1 of chapter 7, Harry meets the Weasleys. The crew learn what a belief is, kind of, and about the "third most important project in the world."

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses eugenics.

Citations and further reading, Part 1

• HPMoR, Chapter 7. Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/7
• Elisa’s show notes: https://www.tumblr.com/ecc-poetry/tagged/hpmor%20and%20the%20limits%20of%20rationality
• “Rowling backs Potter fan fiction,” Darren Waters. BBC, 27 May 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3753001.stm 
• “Crisis of Faith,” Yudkowksy. LessWrong, 10 Oct 2008.  https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BcYBfG8KomcpcxkEg/crisis-of-faith
• “Making Beliefs Pay Rent,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 28 July 2007. https://www.lesswrong.com/s/7gRSERQZbqTuLX5re/p/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A  
• “Belief in Belief,” Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 29 July 2007. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CqyJzDZWvGhhFJ7dY/belief-in-belief  
• Breaking the Spell, Daniel C. Dennett. Viking Penguin, 2006. https://ia601503.us.archive.org/29/items/breaking-the-spell/Breaking%20the%20Spell.pdf
• “JK Rowling invented Quidditch after a row with her boyfriend,” Hannah Furness. The Telegraph, 18 May 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130519114811/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10065868/JK-Rowling-invented-Quidditch-after-a-row-with-her-boyfriend.html
• “Cricket,” Wikipedia. Accessed 15 July 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket
• “The Longest Cricket Match in History,” Matt Harris. It’s Only Cricket, accessed 15 July 2026. https://www.itsonlycricket.com/longest-cricket-match-in-history
• “The Longest Game in History.” MiLB.com, accessed 15 July 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20250306005814/https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-41224646 
• “Misfits & Magic: the M-word.” Original content by Dimension 20, 2021. Edit by geirawsm, 19 Nov 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-s3zcYfFis
• “Dath Ilan,” Yudkowsky et al. LessWrong, updated 13 June 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260711172420/https://www.lesswrong.com/w/dath-ilan 
• “How to Make Superbabies,” GeneSmith and kman. LessWrong, 19 Feb 2025. https://archive.ph/sqkXi
• “I hope somebody funds this, arguably the third most important project in the world,” Yudkowsky. Twitter, 20 Feb 2025. https://archive.ph/20250304075600/https://x.com/ESYudkowsky/status/1892374125089341444 
• “Marriage: An Address to the Deaf,” Alexander Graham Bell. Deaf Rare Books, 1898. https://ida.gallaudet.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=deaf_rare_books
• “There are of course always going to be some traits that are on the borderline of what we might consider ethically permissible,” GeneSmith. LessWrong comment, 2 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20260715230946/https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/k8pj8kMxotFGqn4mp/request-use-epilogenics-instead-of-eugenics-in-most?commentId=RZFpf6xHCNGiQqhBt 
• Jake is correct: IQ is ordinally scaled. “A test score equal to the average of one’s age group defined an IQ of 100. [...] Thus an IQ score on the [Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale] (a deviation IQ) is simply a reflection of an individual’s relative standing with respect to others of the same age. it is not an absolute score. In the jargon of psychological measurement theory, IQ is an ordinal scale, where we are simply rank-ordering people. There is no absolute zero for IQ, as there is for height or weight, and someone with an IQ of 150 is not twice as intelligent as another with an IQ of 75, in the sense that someone 6 feet (1.8 m) tall is twice as tall as someone of 3 feet (0.9 m). It is not even appropriate to claim that the 10-point difference between IQ scores of 110 and 100 is the same as the 10-point difference between IQs of 160 and 150 [...] To say that someone has an IQ of 130 is simply to say that their test score lies within the top 2.5 per cent of a representative sample of people of the same age.” IQ and Human Intelligence, N. J. Mackintosh. Oxfor University Press, 1998. https://archive.org/details/iqhumanintellige00mack/page/30/mode/2up 
• "The Eugenic Origins of IQ Testing: Implications for Post-Atkins Litigation," Ajitha Reddy. DePaul Law Review, 2008. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1270&context=law-review

In the second part of chapter 6, Harry descends into multiple black rages, Yudkowsky finally demonstrates a good example of the planning fallacy, and a plot twist is introduced. Anthea is dispirited, Jake and Elisa are unimpressed, and a dog makes a cameo.

This episode spoils a plot reveal from later in HPMoR.

Content warnings: this chapter mentions child abuse.

Citations and further reading, part 2

• HPMoR, Chapter 6. Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/6 
• Serial Podcast: The Preventionist, Dyan Neary. The New York Times, 15 Oct 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/podcasts/serial-productions-the-preventionist.html 
• “Occam’s Razor,” Philosophy Terms. Accessed 3 Jun 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260603191635/https://philosophyterms.com/occams-razor/ 

In the first part of chapter 6, Harry enlightens McGonagall about the planning fallacy via an incredibly maladaptive coping mechanism.  Elisa, Jake, and Anthea are forced to question the limits of authorial intent and why there are so many alleys in Diagon Alley. 

Content warnings: we touch on Alzheimer's; medically assisted suicide, cryonics, and other end of life considerations; suicide; and mortality/death from about 0:50:00 to 1:05:45.

Citations and further reading, part 1

• HPMoR, Chapter 6. Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/6 
• “Unpublished data from Stanley Milgram’s experiments cast doubt on his claims about obedience,” Eric W. Dolan. PsyPost, 17 Nov 2019. https://www.psypost.org/unpublished-data-from-stanley-milgrams-experiments-casts-doubts-on-his-claims-about-obedience/
• “Deception and Illusion in Milgram's accounts of the Obedience Experiments.” Gina Perry. Theoretical & Applied Ethics, January 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317914282_Deception_and_Illusion_in_Milgram's_accounts_of_the_Obedience_Experiments
• “Credibility and Incredulity in Milgram’s Obedience Experiments: A Reanalysis of an Unpublished Test,” Gina Perry, Augustine Brannigan, Richard A. Wanner, & Henderikus Stam. Social Psychology Quarterly, March 2020. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0190272519861952 
• “Replicating Milgram: Would People Still Obey Today?” Jerry M. Burger. American Psychologist, January 2009. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-64-1-1.pdf
• “Obedience to authority with an authentic victim,” Charles L. Sheridan & Richard G. King, Jr. Proceedings of the 80th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 1972. https://web.archive.org/web/20180127071012/http://www.holah.co.uk/files/sheridan_king_1972.pdf 
• LessWrong community surveys:
  • 2011: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/MKsuezdHmrHfbQCqT/p/HAEPbGaMygJq8L59k 
  • 2016: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FDaYqFW8ExjKNwkqa/2016-lesswrong-diaspora-survey-analysis-part-one-meta-and#Work_Status
  • 2024: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/MKsuezdHmrHfbQCqT/p/gpZBWNFxymsqnPB92 
• “Sir Terry Pratchett: coroner tribunals should be set up for assisted suicide cases,” Chris Irvine. The Telegraph, 2 Aug 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090805175425/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5960166/Sir-Terry-Pratchett-coroner-tribunals-should-be-set-up-for-assisted-suicide-cases.html 
• Terry Pratchett - Living With Alzheimer’s, BBC. 18 May 2009. https://youtu.be/KmejLjxFmCQ?si=Cze6ANh5zpqV5uA_ 
• “[LINK] Terry Pratchett is dead,” Baughn. LessWrong, 12 Mar 2015. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NqbSPsAHMTn7BTpFF/link-terry-pratchett-is-dead 
• “Yehuda Yudkowsky, 1985-2004,” Eliezer Yudkowsky. 18 Nov 2004. https://www.yudkowsky.net/other/yehuda 
• “Normal Cryonics,” Eliezer Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 19 Jan 2010. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hiDkhLyN5S2MEjrSE/normal-cryonics
• “It’s Embarrassing to Die: The Immortalist Story,” Atrocity Guide. YouTube, 1 Mar 2022. https://youtu.be/IZ2YEESTQUI?si=ik68Zn87acnQ1Fin  
• “Be Prepared,” Tom Lehrer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK75VeDeu_U 
• “Planning Fallacy,” the DecisionLab. Accessed 3 June 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260531110437/https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/planning-fallacy 
• Ministers of Propaganda, Scott M. Coley. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024. https://bookshop.org/p/books/ministers-of-propaganda-truth-power-and-the-ideology-of-the-religious-right-scott-m-coley/baf049d942871639

In chapters 4 and 5, Harry becomes fabulously wealthy and meets Draco Malfoy. Anthea, Elisa, and Jake are joined by Ernie to discuss effective altruism, the fundamental attribution error, and being built different.

Citations and further reading:

• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, chapter 4: https://hpmor.com/chapter/4
• HPMoR, chapter 5: https://hpmor.com/chapter/5
• "Eliezer's Unteachable Methods of Sanity," Eliezer Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 6 Dec 2025. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/isSBwfgRY6zD6mycc/eliezer-s-unteachable-methods-of-sanity
• "ELI5: What is arbitrage and how do arbitrageurs make money?" r/explainlikeimfive, 27 Nov 2012. https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/13wekw/comment/c77s5go/
• "Effective Altruism." Lesswrong, 2 May 2024. https://www.lesswrong.com/w/effective-altruism
• "Purchase Fuzzies and Utilons Separately," EY. LessWrong, 1 Apr 2009. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3p3CYauiX8oLjmwRF/purchase-fuzzies-and-utilons-separately
• "Can one person make a difference? What the evidence says." Benjamin Todd. 80,000 Hours, accessed 22 Apr 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260219151243/https://80000hours.org/career-guide/can-one-person-make-a-difference/
• "Sam Bankman-Fried on Arbitrage and Altruism (Ep. 145)," Conversations With Tyler. 9 Mar 2022. https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam-bankman-fried/
• "An excellent collection of Fermi problems for your class," Kevin Cummins. Innovative Teaching Ideas, 14 Aug 2023. https://innovativeteachingideas.com/blog/an-excellent-collection-of-fermi-problems-for-your-class/
• "Fundamental Attribution Error." Wikipedia, accessed 22 Apr 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260401065702/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error
• "Fundamental Attribution Error in Psychology," Saul McLeod. SimplyPsychology.com, accessed 22 Apr 2026. https://www.simplypsychology.org/fundamental-attribution.html
• "The attribution of attitudes," Jones and Harris. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, January 1967. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0022103167900340?via%3Dihub
• "The "Fundamental Attribution Error" is rational in an uncertain world," Walker, Smith, and Vul. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2015. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48d9b5qb#main
• "Don't Revere The Bearer Of Good Info," CarlShulman. LessWrong, 21 Mar 2009. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tSgcorrgBnrCH8nL3/don-t-revere-the-bearer-of-good-info