Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Rational fiction does not depend on the entire world being rational, only the main characters. Choosing to make the main characters unusually rational is no worse a sin than making them the "prophesied heroes of destiny," or any of the other special abilities usually given to protagonists. The rest of the world is free to be crazy—many plot points in Methods of Rationality, for example, develop as a result of thinking critically about the canon irrational magical world. (Magic itself isn't irrational, but the lack of characters exploiting overpowered artifacts like Time Turners and the Philosopher's Stone is.)



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: