this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2025
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SneerClub
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Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.
AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)
This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.
[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]
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Yeah. I think the "uninterested in world building" comment came off harsher than I meant it. Not every fantasy author is going to be Tolkien and exhaustively craft the mythologies, languages, and cultures that make up their secondary world ahead of time. That kind of extensive detail should be able to answer at least some of the kind of questions Yud brings up here, even if they're not relevant to the narrative. HP is more interested in getting into the action of the scene rather than the overarching design of the world, and so the world building plays out the same way. We learn about the kinds of snacks available on the train or the specific wand motions Harry practices in charms class, but not the details of how space folds around platform 9 & 3/4, or through what theoretical underpinnings wizards are able to contradict the otherwise-applicable laws of physics.
My biggest point of disagreement with Yud is that this choice isn't actually a weakness of the story, even if it means it doesn't meet this one particular form of scrutiny.
I've read some SF/F where the author is way more into worldbuilding than their readers are...