I believe the idea was to package the ideas in an approachable (and perhaps potentially more viral) format. The ideas are more succinctly expressed at http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences, but I can't see your average Harry Potter fan stumbling into those and sticking around.
The early chapters were much more ham fisted about the ideas from Less Wrong, almost Ayn Randian in their clunkiness. Eliezer has raised his game a lot over the course of the story.
