Eliezer Yudkowsky

“But I really am Ravenclaw, you know, not Slytherin. I don't want to rule the universe. I just think it could be…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“‎If you regard evidence as a constraint and seek to free yourself, you sell yourself into the chains of your whims. For…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“I am not sure how to explain it, except that - truth matters to us.”

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

I see little hope for democracy as an effective form of government, but I admire the poetry of how it makes its…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“He really really really shouldn't have done that. Amazing how much more obvious that became one second after it was too late.”

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

I'm wondering if there's a spell to make lightning flash in the background whenever I make an ominous resolution.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“There’s a technique we use in our local rationalist cluster called “Is That Your True Rejection?”, and it works like this: Before…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

Lonely dissent doesn't feel like going to school dressed in black. It feels like going to school wearing a clown suit.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“Knowing that Draco's hopeful face had probably been drilled into him by months of practice did not make it any less effective,…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

The strength of a theory is not what it allows, but what it prohibits; if you can invent an equally persuasive explanation…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

It is triple ultra forbidden to respond to criticism with violence. There are a very few injunctions in the human art of…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

The human species was not born into a market economy. Bees won't sell you honey if you offer them an electronic funds…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“Frigideiro! " said Hermione again from the desk next to him. Her water was solid ice and there were white crystals forming on…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“And then Harry Potter had launched in to a speech that was inspiring, yet vague. A speech to the effect that Fred…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“And I know that I'd just make myself unhappy by comparing that reality to... something perfect that I built up in my…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“One last time, Akon thought of all his fear, of the sick feeling in his stomach and the burning that was becoming…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

Why does any kind of cynicism appeal to people? Because it seems like a mark of maturity, of sophistication, like you’ve seen…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

A burning itch to know is higher than a solemn vow to pursue truth. To feel the burning itch of curiosity requires…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow was the Final Dawn, the last sunrise before the Earth and Sun are reshaped into computing…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“And you threaten to abandon us to Voldemort if we do not comply with your wishes." Harry's voice was razor-sharp. "I regret…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“When we are young we believe that we know everything, and so we believe that if we see no explanation for something,…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“Not for the first time, the thought occurred to Hirou that if he'd actually known he was going to be transported into…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“The golden coins might have been his, but they were still stolen - self-stolen? Auto-thieved?”

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“Then again, it'd taken more than two hundred years after the invention of the scientific method before any Muggle scientists had thought…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

“I never understood the Prisoner's Dilemma until this day. Do you cooperate when you really do want the highest payoff? When it…

— Eliezer Yudkowsky