Let's Read: "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality"

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Nessus: Dec 22, 2003; After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

The difference is Rowling follows it with words that are uncommon and fanciful, which suggests a deeper intelligence and rich vocabulary of Dumbledore, in addition to his quirkiness.

Yudkowsky uses basic words (most of which are mono-syllabic) repeated in a weird off-putting cadence, making Dumbledore sound mentally retarded, or possibly five years old.

Well he has to be, doesn't he? He's not a Less Wrong poster.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 01:51

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# ? May 17, 2024 01:39

JosephWongKS: Apr 4, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

Chapter 17 � Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-One

quote:

Dumbledore once again reached into the same desk drawer he had accessed earlier, this time seeming to root around inside - at least his arm seemed to be moving. "I will remark," Dumbledore said while Harry was still trying to sort out how to reply to this completely unexpected rejoinder, "that it is a common misconception of Ravenclaws that all the smart children are Sorted there, leaving none for other Houses. This is not so; being Sorted to Ravenclaw indicates that you are driven by your desire to know things, which is not at all the same quality as being intelligent." The wizard was smiling as he bent over the drawer. "Nonetheless, you do seem rather intelligent. Less like an ordinary young hero and more like a young mysterious ancient wizard.

This is clearly intended to be a commentary on Eliezer himself, except I�m not sure he even has that �desire to know things�, given his total dismissal of the value of formal structured education and his valorization of natural talent over effort.

quote:

I think I may have been taking the wrong approach with you, Harry, and that you may be able to understand things that few others could grasp. So I shall be daring, and offer you a certain other heirloom."

"You don't mean..." gasped Harry. "My father... owned another rock? "

"Excuse me," said Dumbledore, "I am still olde]r and more mysterious than you and if there are any revelations to be made then I will do the revealing, thank you... oh, where is that thing!" Dumbledore reached down further into the desk drawer, and still further. His head and shoulders and whole torso disappeared inside until only his hips and legs were sticking out, as though the desk drawer was eating him.

Harry couldn't help but wonder just how much stuff was in there and what the complete inventory would look like.

Finally Dumbledore rose back up out of the drawer, holding the objective of his search, which he set down on the desk alongside the rock.

It was a used, ragged-edged, worn-spined textbook: [iIntermediate Potion Making[/i] by Libatius Borage. There was a picture of a smoking vial on the cover.

"This," Dumbledore intoned, "was your mother's fifth-year Potions textbook."

"Which I am to carry with me at all times," said Harry.

"Which holds a terrible secret. A secret whose revelation could prove so disastrous that I must ask you to swear - and I do require you to swear it seriously, Harry, whatever you may think of all this - never to tell anyone or anything else."

Harry considered his mother's fifth-year Potions textbook, which, apparently, held a terrible secret.

The problem was that Harry did take that oaths like that very seriously. Any vow was an Unbreakable Vow if made by the right sort of person.

Does Eliezarry lack pattern recognition? Given Dumbledore�s actions so far, the �secret� is likely to be something trivial or banal.

quote:

And...

"I'm feeling thirsty," Harry said, "and that is not at all a good sign."

Dumbledore entirely failed to ask any questions about this cryptic statement.

It�s cryptic to me too. Has Eliezarry�s thirst being an ominous sign been mentioned or hinted at in the story before?

# ? Jan 6, 2016 06:43

cptn_dr: Sep 7, 2011; Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies

JosephWongKS posted:

Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis
Part Twenty-One

It’s cryptic to me too. Has Eliezarry’s thirst being an ominous sign been mentioned or hinted at in the story before?

It's the comed-tea thing.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 07:25

Seraphic Neoman: Jul 19, 2011

For how quick LW is to shout "SHUT UP AND MULTIPLY", Harry's fallacy seems to fly completely against it. Also just take the drat rock. You have a trunk don't you? Keep it there.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 10:15

NihilCredo: Jun 6, 2011; iram omni possibili modo preme:
plus una illa te diffamabit, quam multæ virtutes commendabunt

SSNeoman posted:

For how quick LW is to shout "SHUT UP AND MULTIPLY", Harry's fallacy seems to fly completely against it. Also just take the drat rock. You have a trunk don't you? Keep it there.

Dumbledore insisted that even the pouch wasn't close enough and that Harry should have carried the rock at all times.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 14:00

inflatablefish: Oct 24, 2010

JosephWongKS posted:

This is clearly intended to be a commentary on Eliezer himself, except I�m not sure he even has that �desire to know things�, given his total dismissal of the value of formal structured education and his valorization of natural talent over effort.

I'm sure he has plenty of desire to know things, just zero desire to put any effort into learning them. He just wants to make poo poo up and for it all to be 100% correct because of his inherent super genius.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 21:14

Zonekeeper: Oct 27, 2007

The main thing I got from Dumbledore's explanation of Ravenclaws is that a complete idiot who highly prizes the pursuit of knowledge will get into that house even if they are the dumbest person enrolled in the entire school and never actually learn anything while in the house.

Which is the same logic behind Neville getting into Gryffindor in the books - despite being the least Gryffindor-ish person we see (for the first few books, anyway), he had a deep personal reverence of Gryffindor's values and those got him in despite not outwardly possessing any of those traits at the time of his sorting.

Using the same logic, an incredibly smart person who was humble and valued hard work and teamwork above the pursuit of knowledge (traits that Eliezer's version of Harry emphatically does not possess) would become a Hufflepuff that gives the best Ravenclaws a run for their money academically.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 22:27

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

Zonekeeper posted:

The main thing I got from Dumbledore's explanation of Ravenclaws is that a complete idiot who highly prizes the pursuit of knowledge will get into that house even if they are the dumbest person enrolled in the entire school and never actually learn anything while in the house.

Well, yeah. It's the traits you prize, not the traits you possess. Hence, Hermione and Luna.

# ? Jan 6, 2016 22:31

Test Pattern: Dec 20, 2007; Keep scrolling, clod!

Senerio posted:

Well, yeah. It's the traits you prize, not the traits you possess. Hence, Hermione and Luna.

And, sort of to drill it in, Neville. Neville isn't brave, but he values being brave, and he eventually becomes The Bravest. Part of the message of the books is anathema to Eliezer&Co, that if you work at what you value, you can develop it, even if you have no innate talent. It also suggest that Eliezer, who believes in a secret elite of superintelligent ubermenschen operating solely off first principals and ignoring actual empiricism, belongs in Slytherin, not Ravenclaw.

# ? Jan 7, 2016 02:44

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

Zonekeeper posted:

Using the same logic, an incredibly smart person who was humble and valued hard work and teamwork above the pursuit of knowledge (traits that Eliezer's version of Harry emphatically does not possess) would become a Hufflepuff that gives the best Ravenclaws a run for their money academically.

Yeah that's basically Cedric Diggory. Talented, brave and probably quite ambitious, but he goes to Hufflepuff, probably because above all else he recognized the work and dedication you have to put in to become talented, to be willing to face your fears and to actually accomplish your ambitions.

Side note, but what about Crabb and Goyle? Clearly they're not all that clever and probably not too ambitious- do they value those traits though (in other people)? Or did they beg for Slytherin due to the pure-blood association and the hat caved when they might have been better suited for another house?

# ? Jan 7, 2016 08:10

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; this shall be humorous

They don't have to think they're better than everyone. They just need to think they're better than those people. :v:

# ? Jan 7, 2016 08:23

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

Mazerunner posted:

Side note, but what about Crabb and Goyle? Clearly they're not all that clever and probably not too ambitious- do they value those traits though (in other people)? Or did they beg for Slytherin due to the pure-blood association and the hat caved when they might have been better suited for another house?

They do seem to value ambition though since they attach themselves to Draco, whose family is very powerful.

# ? Jan 7, 2016 09:01

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Mazerunner posted:

Side note, but what about Crabb and Goyle? Clearly they're not all that clever and probably not too ambitious- do they value those traits though (in other people)? Or did they beg for Slytherin due to the pure-blood association and the hat caved when they might have been better suited for another house?

What other house would they be suited for?

As an aside, Dumbledore should have been in Slytherin, for both in-universe (he was exactly the type when he was young) and metatextual reasons (Slytherin not being Evil House).

# ? Jan 7, 2016 09:47

there wolf: Jan 11, 2015; by Fluffdaddy

Doctor Spaceman posted:

What other house would they be suited for?

As an aside, Dumbledore should have been in Slytherin, for both in-universe (he was exactly the type when he was young) and metatextual reasons (Slytherin not being Evil House).

That assumes the tribalism that is clearly present in the Harry's era wasn't in Dumbledore's. The Sorting Hat obviously takes into account what people want as much, possibly even more so, than their individual characteristics which gives rise to a certain degree of self-selection in the houses. Whole families, generation after generation, end up in the same house, making friends and meeting future spouses there which reinforces the 'these are our kind' image, which get's passed onto their kids who project that into the Hat. The process was probably just that much more accelerated in Slytherin because of the value placed on pure-blood families.

# ? Jan 7, 2016 11:17

Hyper Crab Tank: Feb 10, 2014; The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation

Crabbe and Goyle always struck me as the kind of people who are entirely comfortable with the concept of power by association with someone more prestigious and powerful than themselves, and by that token attach themselves to the Malfoys. Doing their bidding is a way of ingratiating yourself with those who, at present, have more power than you, and in turn gaining some of that for yourself, much like the way Lucius sucks up to Voldemort despite having a great deal of personal ambition himself. They both tend to revel in hurting others, too, presumably as a means of establishing themselves as above others in the pecking order.

As for Eliezarry, wasn't the hat about to sort him into Slytherin and only under suspicious circumstances ended up jamming him into Ravenclaw?

# ? Jan 7, 2016 11:28

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

Mazerunner posted:

Yeah that's basically Cedric Diggory. Talented, brave and probably quite ambitious, but he goes to Hufflepuff, probably because above all else he recognized the work and dedication you have to put in to become talented, to be willing to face your fears and to actually accomplish your ambitions.

He went to Hufflepuff because he valued finding things.

Test Pattern posted:

And, sort of to drill it in, Neville. Neville isn't brave, but he values being brave, and he eventually becomes The Bravest. Part of the message of the books is anathema to Eliezer&Co, that if you work at what you value, you can develop it, even if you have no innate talent. It also suggest that Eliezer, who believes in a secret elite of superintelligent ubermenschen operating solely off first principals and ignoring actual empiricism, belongs in Slytherin, not Ravenclaw.

I was mostly referencing Ravenclaw there, as it was the house in question, but yeah. Neville.

# ? Jan 7, 2016 16:25

Curvature of Earth: Sep 9, 2011; Projected cost of
invading Canada:
$900

(Cross-posted to the Dork Enlightenment thread.)

SlateStarCodex, now rapidly descending into white nationalism:

quote:

What I want is a Harry Potter fanfic set in a world where blood purism is correct.

If I understand Jensen correctly, he claims that an isolated example of a high level of some polygenic trait in an individual drawn from a population otherwise low on that trait will regress to the mean in subsequent generations, whereas the same trait as a matter of course in a population high on that trait will not.

For example, suppose that the Dutch are genetically taller than the Pygmies. And suppose that both members of an average Dutch couple are 6′0, and both members of the tallest Pygmy couple in all of history are 6′0. We should expect the Dutch couple�s children to be on average around 6′0; we should expect the Pygmy couple�s children to be on average much shorter (although still taller than the average Pygmy). I think this is because everyone has recessive alleles that aren�t determining their own phenotype but might contribute to the phenotype of their children depending on what their partner brings to the table; regardless of random variation in an individual�s phenotype we should expect those recessive alleles to be on average the average for their population..

If this is true, and if magical ability is a polygenic trait, then we should expect the children of pureblood wizards to have on average the same ability as their parents, and the children of Muggleborns to have on average lower ability. So even if Muggleborns have to qualify at a certain level of magical ability to be allowed into the magical community, their children will have lower heritable magical ability. This means Wizard-Muggle breeding will gradually decrease the magical ability of the wizard race. It�s unclear what percent of wizards are Muggleborn, but the books make it sound pretty substantial. Since every generation new Muggleborns are being added to the gene pool, then assuming random intermarriage and no continued effect from whatever process positively selected magical ability in wizards in the first place, as long as marriage with Muggleborns is allowed wizarding ability should get gradually weaker with every generation.

The dirty secret of the magical community is that there is no such thing as the Interdict of Merlin. It�s a myth created by the liberal media at the Daily Prophet to explain why wizards can no longer live up to the magical deeds of their ancestors, with the reality being that the blood purists are 100% correct and every generation of interbreeding means less and less magical ability and soon it will die out completely.

A good exploration of this topic would treat it as the morally complex issue it is - can we really exclude brilliant wizards like Hermione from the community on purely statistical grounds? Is it possible to believe that Voldemort�s methods were unspeakably evil, but that it would be ethical to pursue the same goals by more �nudge� style methods like incentivizing pureblood wizards to only breed with one another? Is this why the Sorting Hat is under orders to stick so many of them together in Slytherin House?

As another Tumblr user points out, the "Interdict of Merlin" is fanfic-only bullshit made up by Yudkowsky for I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Methods of Rationality. But then again, Scott's an idiot.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 16:35

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Magical ability is canonically a dominant gene, as well.

Once I found out rowling deliberately made quidditch nonsense so she could troll diehard sports fans, a lot of her declarations about canon suddenly made a shitload more sense.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 18:29

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Tunicate posted:

Once I found out rowling deliberately made quidditch nonsense so she could troll diehard sports fans, a lot of her declarations about canon suddenly made a shitload more sense.

Really? My respect for her just went up a lot if that's true.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 18:32

Nakar: Sep 2, 2002; Ultima Ratio Regum

Tunicate posted:

Once I found out rowling deliberately made quidditch nonsense so she could troll diehard sports fans, a lot of her declarations about canon suddenly made a shitload more sense.

And yet not one bit of the impossibility of even correctly playing it, to say nothing of its nonsensical scoring rules, has dissuaded fans from trying.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 18:38

Soylent Pudding: Jun 22, 2007; We've got people!

Nakar posted:

And yet not one bit of the impossibility of even correctly playing it, to say nothing of its nonsensical scoring rules, has dissuaded fans from trying.

Way back my roommate was one of the founders of the Quidditch club at my University. Mostly because his response to a bunch of out of shape nerds wanting to pretend fly brooms was to request to be the Slytherin captain. He then recruited a ton of players from the IM Ultimate Frisbee team and made the snitch catching pointless because they were always ahead by 300ish points.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 19:12

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Tunicate posted:

Magical ability is canonically a dominant gene, as well.

Once I found out rowling deliberately made quidditch nonsense so she could troll diehard sports fans, a lot of her declarations about canon suddenly made a shitload more sense.

I always figured Quidditch was how it was to make it perfect for a YA novel sports scene, which would also be a perfectly acceptable explanation as well.

This one is way better, though. Where did you find it?

# ? Jan 8, 2016 19:15

Red Mike: Jul 11, 2011

Curvature of Earth posted:

As another Tumblr user points out, the "Interdict of Merlin" is fanfic-only bullshit made up by Yudkowsky for I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Methods of Rationality. But then again, Scott's an idiot.

http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/108797/does-the-interdict-of-merlin-appear-in-original-harry-potter-canon

Replied to by the almighty himself, saying:

quote:

The Interdict is an added plot device (though something like it must surely exist elsewhere in the vast reaches of already-written fantasy).

I don't regard my own answers as canon when they haven't been recorded in the text itself, but Opinion of God is that the Interdict of Merlin applies to magical secrets that can directly or indirectly lead to wide-scale catastrophes if revealed.

Emphasis mine, I have no clue what he means by opinion of god there, unless he means in his own fanfic which is besides the point. People will point out however that there is actual marginal evidence in the book for that not being a thing, including the Marauders learning the animagus form secretly. Moreover even in this fanfic, what would then be the point of keeping the unreadable books in the library, although I suppose that's just meant as a 'haha those wizards are so dumb and don't remove unreadable books from the library because tradition'.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 19:57

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

Tunicate posted:

Magical ability is canonically a dominant gene, as well.

Once I found out rowling deliberately made quidditch nonsense so she could troll diehard sports fans, a lot of her declarations about canon suddenly made a shitload more sense.

To be more precise, I think it's a parody of cricket. When a real-world sport has matches that can and do last for days with point-scores approaching the thousands and includes positions like 'cow corner', 'deep square leg', and 'silly mid-off', having a couple of Beaters launch Bludgers at their opponents while Chasers and Seekers desperately hunt for the Quaffle and Golden Snitch sounds positively normal.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 20:17

Nakar: Sep 2, 2002; Ultima Ratio Regum

The first time I saw cricket was on British TV while I was on a weeklong trip to London. India was playing the West Indies or something. The last day of the trip I saw the same match on TV again. It was not a replay or a second match. It was the same goddamn match.

At least a quidditch game might be over by the end of the afternoon.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 20:22

divabot: Jun 17, 2015; A polite little mouse!

Red Mike posted:

Emphasis mine, I have no clue what he means by opinion of god there, unless he means in his own fanfic which is besides the point.

I assume he's as irritated by authors issuing spurious Word of God that they didn't bother putting in the text as I am. Another actually-good point to Yudkowsky.

Curvature of Earth posted:

SlateStarCodex, now rapidly descending into white nationalism:

That's incredibly awesome. I hadn't flamed any LessWrongers on Tumblr yet today. Thank you.

�i want ~~white nationalist~~ ~~race realist~~ human biodiversity harry potter�

�of course i haven�t actually read any harry potter, but let me tell you all about jensen�

ssc is an intellectual blog. it was quoted in the atlantic, you know. and real-world intellectuals and public thinkers in 2016 go on about scientific racism all the time and how they can inject it into their transformative works of children�s stories

# ? Jan 8, 2016 20:31

Merdifex: May 13, 2015; by Shine

divabot posted:

�i want ~~white nationalist~~ ~~race realist~~ human biodiversity harry potter�

�of course i haven�t actually read any harry potter, but let me tell you all about jensen�

ssc is an intellectual blog. it was quoted in the atlantic, you know. and real-world intellectuals and public thinkers in 2016 go on about scientific racism all the time and how they can inject it into their transformative works of children�s stories

You're just letting your system 1 do the talking, my friend.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 21:12

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Night10194 posted:

I always figured Quidditch was how it was to make it perfect for a YA novel sports scene, which would also be a perfectly acceptable explanation as well.

This one is way better, though. Where did you find it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10065868/JK-Rowling-invented-Quidditch-after-a-row-with-her-boyfriend.html

"[Quidditch] was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend," she has written alongside the text. "I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport.

It infuriates men...which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it."

So yeah, 100% spite-written.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 21:21

Nessus: Dec 22, 2003; After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!

Tunicate posted:

Magical ability is canonically a dominant gene, as well.

And clearly have nothing to do with one's whiteness or whatever, given all the non-white wizardlings running round. If someone wanted to try to model how magi-genes work based on the evidence in the books I suppose that would be harmless fan nerding.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 21:55

GottaPayDaTrollToll: Dec 3, 2009; by Lowtax

There's a whole subreddit, r/rational, devoted to this sort of cargo cult Yuddery. There was a thread there recently about how to make wizard racism a good thing, so this article might not even be original craziness.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 22:36

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

Nessus posted:

And clearly have nothing to do with one's whiteness or whatever, given all the non-white wizardlings running round. If someone wanted to try to model how magi-genes work based on the evidence in the books I suppose that would be harmless fan nerding.

I thought one of the key points about magic was that it wasn't reliably hereditary (hence Mudbloods and Squibs), so Voldemort and other scientific-racist wizard-supremacists were completely full of poo poo? It's always treated as an innate talent (like being good at chemistry or having a great ear for music) that you can't breed for. A gift from God, if you want to tie it in with Rowling's Christian leanings.

# ? Jan 8, 2016 22:49

Nessus: Dec 22, 2003; After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!

Darth Walrus posted:

I thought one of the key points about magic was that it wasn't reliably hereditary (hence Mudbloods and Squibs), so Voldemort and other scientific-racist wizard-supremacists were completely full of poo poo? It's always treated as an innate talent (like being good at chemistry or having a great ear for music) that you can't breed for. A gift from God, if you want to tie it in with Rowling's Christian leanings.

Well it's kind of telling, isn't it, about their fascination with optimizing things so that no actual effort is needed. Or very little. Instead of putting some effort in to either figure something out, or perhaps figure out a way to save everyone hassle in the figuring-out process, you instead try to become a ~~Stand~~ Bayes User in order to be able to simply do everything instantly by magic. And what's the future God AI going to do? It's going to do everything instantly by magic. And if "reality" itself disagrees with you - you'll make a new universe, which works right, dammit! The way you want it to!

# ? Jan 8, 2016 22:54

i81icu812: Dec 5, 2006

Nessus posted:

And clearly have nothing to do with one's whiteness or whatever, given all the non-white wizardlings running round. If someone wanted to try to model how magi-genes work based on the evidence in the books I suppose that would be harmless fan nerding.

Someone has! http://web.archive.org/web/20150326...laining-how-the

Basically the most plausible way for a genetic component to make any sense. Rowling should really have left magic as magic and not pulled a George Lucas, but genes are a lot better than midiclorians.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 01:04

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

i81icu812 posted:

Someone has! http://web.archive.org/web/20150326...laining-how-the

Basically the most plausible way for a genetic component to make any sense. Rowling should really have left magic as magic and not pulled a George Lucas, but genes are a lot better than midiclorians.

Did she pull a George Lucas, though? I never kept up with her comments as an author, but the books themselves consistently defied that line of reasoning where magic was concerned. I mean, consider the parallels with racism she did. Voldemort and company's whole problem is with trying to breed for something so complex, unpredictable, and... well... magical that you can't breed for it, just like the whackjob eugenics programs of the twentieth century trying to 'scientifically' produce moral, brilliant �bermensch and eliminate the corrupting influence of the 'lesser' races.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 03:13

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Rowling's statements about this, from a fan site that collected them

Wizarding Genetics: More Complicated Than Mendel!

�A Squib is almost the opposite of a Muggle-born wizard: he or she is a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent. Squibs are rare; magic is a dominant and resilient gene.� � jkrowling.com

�Why are some people in the wizarding world (e.g., Harry) called 'half-blood' even though both their parents were magical?�

�The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents�. The Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda.� (Therefore, Half-blood would be defined as having one Muggle grandparent.) � jkrowling.com

�How does a Muggle-born like Hermione develop magical abilities?�

�Nobody knows where magic comes from. It is like any other talent. Sometimes it seems to be inherited, but others are the only ones in their family who have the ability.� � Barnes and Noble interview, March 19, 1999

�How can two Muggles have a kid with magical powers?�

�It's the same as two black-haired people producing a redheaded child. Sometimes these things just happen, and no one really knows why!� � Online chat transcript, Scholastic.com, 3 February 2000

# ? Jan 9, 2016 03:37

MikeJF: Dec 20, 2003

Tunicate posted:

“It's the same as two black-haired people producing a redheaded child. Sometimes these things just happen, and no one really knows why!” – Online chat transcript, Scholastic.com, 3 February 2000

That one's easy.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 07:55

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

MikeJF posted:

That one's easy.

Infidelity :smuggo:

# ? Jan 9, 2016 10:09

divabot: Jun 17, 2015; A polite little mouse!

Tunicate posted:

Infidelity

~~Date rape drugs~~ love potions.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 20:34

Red Mike: Jul 11, 2011

divabot posted:

I assume he's as irritated by authors issuing spurious Word of God that they didn't bother putting in the text as I am. Another actually-good point to Yudkowsky.

..What? So he was irritated by authors issuing Word of God statements, therefore he decided to issue a Word of God statement himself? I don't understand how that's in any way better.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 20:51

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# ? May 17, 2024 01:39

divabot: Jun 17, 2015; A polite little mouse!

Red Mike posted:

..What? So he was irritated by authors issuing Word of God statements, therefore he decided to issue a Word of God statement himself? I don't understand how that's in any way better.

... per his quoted words, which are in fact above, he was offering his opinion as the author, while explicitly disclaiming it as overruling other interpretations implicit in the work.

# ? Jan 9, 2016 20:52

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Let's Read: "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality"

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