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

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Dalris Othaine: Oct 14, 2013; I think, therefore I am inevitable.

hello this is my extended essay on sexual politics in the urban fantasy series 'the dresden files', please read it even though i put it in the harry potter thread instead, thank you in advance and god bless

god loving dammit another page snipe

# ? Aug 10, 2018 21:55

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 14:24

Added Space: Jul 13, 2012; Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!

Could we please focus on one mysognistic, egotistical, overpowered wizard named Harry at a time please. :v:

# ? Aug 11, 2018 02:54

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

J. K. Rowling is actually a total antisemite and goblins are an intentional caricature of Jewish stereotypes and the Zionist Conspiracy to control the world's banking systems. You can tell by how their money exchange rates make no sense at all and are clearly defrauding their clients by exchanging their inherently valuable gold for petty amounts of worthless fiat currency. You heard it here first.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 05:30

Pieuvre: Sep 19, 2010

Cardiovorax posted:

J. K. Rowling is actually a total antisemite and goblins are an intentional caricature of Jewish stereotypes and the Zionist Conspiracy to control the world's banking systems. You can tell by how their money exchange rates make no sense at all and are clearly defrauding their clients by exchanging their inherently valuable gold for petty amounts of worthless fiat currency. You heard it here first.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 12:54

Stroth: Mar 31, 2007; All Problems Solved

Cardiovorax posted:

You heard it here first.

Sadly, not even close to the first place I heard it.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 17:33

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

Cardiovorax posted:

J. K. Rowling is actually a total antisemite and goblins are an intentional caricature of Jewish stereotypes and the Zionist Conspiracy to control the world's banking systems. You can tell by how their money exchange rates make no sense at all and are clearly defrauding their clients by exchanging their inherently valuable gold for petty amounts of worthless fiat currency. You heard it here first.

Is this a reference to something

# ? Aug 11, 2018 18:55

CountFosco: Jan 9, 2012; Welcome back to the Liturgigoon thread, friend.

The Shortest Path posted:

Is this a reference to something

Would you like to read some Ron Paul pamphlets, friend?

# ? Aug 11, 2018 19:52

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

The Shortest Path posted:

Is this a reference to something

"What isn't it a reference to," more like.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 20:54

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

I meant something specific, not just general libertarian drivel.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 20:59

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Just whatever I figure you'd hear from someone somewhere in that general neo-Reactionary "Dark Enlightenment" Nerdosphere & Assorted Hangers-on associated with either Yudkowsky specifically or his donation scam/cargo cult in general.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 22:13

Malah: May 18, 2015

Cardiovorax posted:

J. K. Rowling is actually a total antisemite and goblins are an intentional caricature of Jewish stereotypes and the Zionist Conspiracy to control the world's banking systems. You can tell by how their money exchange rates make no sense at all and are clearly defrauding their clients by exchanging their inherently valuable gold for petty amounts of worthless fiat currency. You heard it here first.

# ? Aug 11, 2018 23:27

90s Cringe Rock: Nov 29, 2006

CountFosco posted:

Would you like to read some Ron Paul pamphlets, friend?

ACTUALLY those were written by, uh, someone else, who did it and ran away, and was probably a liberal plant.

# ? Aug 12, 2018 06:52

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Chapter 101: Precautionary Measures, Pt 2

Harriezer is still throwing a tantrum in the forbidden forest when Firenze (?) trots along. Harriezer immediately assholes about astrology:

quote:

"The night sky speaks to centaurs. It is how we know what we know. Or do they not even tell wizards that much, these days?" A look of contempt crossed the centaur's face.

"I... tried to look up centaurs, when I was checking out Divination. Most of the authors just ridiculed centaur Divination without explaining why, wizards don't understand argumentative norms, to them ridiculing an idea or a person feels like casting that idea down just as much as bringing evidence against it... I thought the part about centaurs using astrology was just more ridicule..."

"Why?" the centaur intoned. His head cocked curiously.

"Because the course of the planets is predictable for thousands of years in advance. If I talked to the right Muggles, I could show you a diagram of exactly what the planets will look like from this spot ten years later. Would you be able to make predictions from that?"

The centaur shook his head. "From a diagram? No. The light of the planets, the comets, the subtle shifts in the stars themselves, those I would not see."

"Cometary orbits are also set thousands of years in advance so they shouldn't correlate much to current events. And the light of the stars takes years to travel from the stars to Earth, and the stars don't move much at all, not visibly. So the obvious hypothesis is that centaurs have a native magical talent for Divination which you just, well, project onto the night sky."

Which, you know, is slightly less dumb that his attitude towards other types of magic that fail to coform to his preconceived (and thus obviously correct) notions.

Anyways, Firenze attacks him.

quote:

"The other centaurs in this forest have stayed from your presence, for we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens' course. Because, in becoming entangled in your fate, we might become less innocent in what is to come. I alone have dared approach you."

"I... don't understand."

"No. You are innocent, as the stars say. And to slay something innocent to save oneself, that is a terrible deed. One would live only a cursed life, a half-life, from that day. For any centaur would surely be cast out, if he slew a foal."

The spear made a lightning motion, too fast for Harry's eyes to follow, and smashed his wand out of his hand.

Another powerful blow smashed into Harry's solar plexus, and he went gasping and retching to the forest floor.

Harry's hand reached up toward his robes, for his Time-Turner, and the spear-butt knocked his hand away, almost hard enough to break fingers, he reached with his other hand and that was knocked away too -

"I am sorry, Harry Potter," the centaur said, and then looked up with widened eyes. The spear spun about and came up, intercepting a red spellbolt. Then the centaur dropped the spear and leaped away desperately, a green flash of light went past him and another green flash of light followed in its wake, then a third green flash hit the centaur straight-on.

The centaur fell and did not move again.

It took a long time for Harry to catch his breath, to stagger to his feet, to pick up his wand, to croak, "What?"

By that time the sense of doom, of power almost tangible in the air, had approached once more.

"P-Professor Quirrell? What are you doing here?"

...

"You - you killed him, that was Avada Kedavra -"

"I do not always understand how other people imagine morality to work, Mr. Potter. But even I know that on conventional morality, it is acceptable to kill nonhuman creatures which are about to slay a wizard child. Perhaps you do not care about the nonhuman part, but he was about to kill you. He was hardly innocent -"

The Defense Professor stopped, looking at Harry, who had raised one trembling hand to his mouth.

"Well," the Defense Professor said then, "I have made my point, and you may think on it. Centaur spears can block many spells, but no one tries to block if they see that the spell is a certain shade of green. For this purpose it is useful to know some green stunning hexes. Really, Mr. Potter, you should understand by now how I operate."

quote:

The Defense Professor kneeled and pressed his wand to the centaur's head.

The wand stayed there for a time.

And the centaur rose, eyes blank, breathing once more.

"Remember nothing of this time," the Defense Professor commanded. "Wander away and forget everything about this night."

The centaur walked away, the four horse-legs moving in strange synchrony.

"Happy now?" the Defense Professor said, sounding rather sardonic about it.

Harry's brain still felt broken. "He was trying to kill me."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake - yes, he was trying to kill you. Get used to it. Only boring people never have that experience."

Harry's voice emerged, hoarse. "Why - why did he want to -"

"Any number of reasons. I would be lying if I said I'd never considered killing you myself."

quote:

"Do you believe," Headmaster Dumbledore said quietly to Harry, when all of it was done, and the two of them alone, "that the Hogwarts you have wrought is an improvement?"

Harry sat with his elbows on his knees, his face resting on his palms, in the conference room from which all the others had now departed. Professor McGonagall, who did not use a Time-Turner as routinely as the two of them, had departed swiftly for her bed.

"Yes," Harry answered after too long a hesitation. "From my perspective, Headmaster, things in Hogwarts are finally, finally normal. This is how things should be, when four children get sent into the Forbidden Forest at night. There should be a huge fuss, constables showing up, and the responsible party getting sacked."

"You believe it is good," Dumbledore said quietly, "that the man who you call responsible was, as you put it, sacked."

"Yes, in fact, I do."

"Argus Filch has served this institution for decades."

"And when given Veritaserum," Harry said tiredly, "Argus Filch revealed that he had sent an eleven-year-old boy into the Forbidden Forest, hoping something awful would happen to him, because he thought the boy's father had been responsible for the death of his cat. The three other students in Draco's company don't seem to have fazed him. I would have argued for jail time, but your concept of jail in this country is Azkaban. I'll also note that Filch was remarkably unpleasant to the children in Hogwarts and I expect the school's hedonic index to be improved by his departure, not that it matters to you, I suppose."

The Headmaster's eyes were impenetrable behind the half-moon glasses. "Argus Filch is a Squib. His work at Hogwarts is all he has. Had, rather."

"The purpose of a school is not to provide work for its employees. I know you probably spent more time around Filch than around any individual student, but that shouldn't make Filch's inner experiences loom larger in your thoughts. Students have inner lives too."

"You don't care at all, do you Harry?" Dumbledore's voice was quiet. "About those you hurt."

"I care about the innocent," Harry said. "Like Mr. Hagrid, who you'll note I argued should not be considered malicious, just oblivious. I was fine with Mr. Hagrid working here so long as he didn't take anyone into the Forbidden Forest again."

...

"Your mistake," Harry said, looking down at his knees, feeling at least ten percent as exhausted as he'd ever been, "is a cognitive bias we would call, in the trade, scope insensitivity. Failure to multiply. You're thinking about how happy Mr. Hagrid would be when he heard the news. Consider the next ten years and a thousand students taking Magical Creatures and ten percent of them being scalded by Ashwinders. No one student would be hurt as much as Mr. Hagrid would be happy, but there'd be a hundred students being hurt and only one happy teacher."

"Perhaps," the old wizard said. "And your own error, Harry, is that you do not feel the pain of those you hurt, once you have done your multiplication."

quote:

Maybe." Harry went on staring at his knees. "Or maybe it's worse than that. Headmaster, what does it mean if a centaur doesn't like me?" What does it mean when a member of a race of magical creatures known for Divination gives you a lecture on people who are ignorant of consequences, apologizes, and then tries to stab you with a spear?

...

"Ah." The Headmaster hesitated. "Centaurs have been wrong many times, and if there is anyone in the world who could confuse the stars themselves, it is you."

Harry looked up, and saw the blue eyes once more gentle behind the half-circle glasses.

"Do not fret too much about it," said Albus Dumbledore.

# ? Aug 12, 2018 10:40

Stroth: Mar 31, 2007; All Problems Solved

Xander77 posted:

Chapter 101: Precautionary Measures, Pt 2

Harriezer is still throwing a tantrum in the forbidden forest when Firenze (?) trots along. Harriezer immediately assholes about astrology:

Which, you know, is slightly less dumb that his attitude towards other types of magic that fail to coform to his preconceived (and thus obviously correct) notions.

Anyways, Firenze attacks him.

You know, out of all of that, I'll I can think is "If someone was trying to kill you with a spear, they probably wouldn't only use the blunt end. It's not a weapon for beating someone to death."

# ? Aug 13, 2018 01:43

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

Stroth posted:

You know, out of all of that, I'll I can think is "If someone was trying to kill you with a spear, they probably wouldn't only use the blunt end. It's not a weapon for beating someone to death."

I mean, it kind of is (a quarterstaff is just a spear with two blunt ends), but it�s at least a bit unusual to start by using it that way unless you�re in very close quarters.

# ? Aug 13, 2018 02:04

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Not that you couldn't use it for that just fine, mind you. A spear is really just a quarterstaff with pointy metal on one end, which is perfectly adequate for both the beating and the stabbing. The pointy bit is just far better than the solid hardwood beatstick bit at the "killing" part of it.

# ? Aug 13, 2018 02:15

Dalris Othaine: Oct 14, 2013; I think, therefore I am inevitable.

Eh, if you're not going to stab them first, disarming a wizard before stabbing them is probably the way to go about it. He'd have gotten there if Quirrelmort hadn't shown up.

# ? Aug 14, 2018 04:19

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

quote:

"Perhaps," the old wizard said. "And your own error, Harry, is that you do not feel the pain of those you hurt, once you have done your multiplication."

Thinking about it, I'm kind of surprised he allowed Dumbledore to make that argument, because it's probably the single strongest counter-argument to the whole "a million billion dust specks" thing (and utilitarianism in general) there is. It's a pure and total abstraction that basically willfully ignores that suffering doesn't work like financial damages, but is rather experienced singularly and individually by every person it affects. You can't add up a million eye-poked to get "torturing someone to death" from it, because every single poke only ever happens to one person and carries a hard ceiling limit of one poke's worth of suffering with it.

Same thing applies here, really. Firing someone because a million children might burn their fingers once, over their entire schooling, is straight up laughable.

# ? Aug 14, 2018 09:04

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

Their argument is extremely dumb but the actual case for firing Filch (and probably Hagrid too) given any kind of remotely reasonable safety precautions is totally okay.

# ? Aug 15, 2018 03:08

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Dunno. In this particular situation? Maybe. I'm general, I'm not so sure. Europe doesn't have 'at will' employment and teachers get special protection. It's not just expected that someone can and will eventually get hurt in shop class, it's a guarantee, no matter how many reasonable precautions you take. You don't fire people for minor accidents that effectively unavoidable in the long run.

# ? Aug 15, 2018 14:02

Dalris Othaine: Oct 14, 2013; I think, therefore I am inevitable.

Cardiovorax posted:

Dunno. In this particular situation? Maybe. I'm general, I'm not so sure. Europe doesn't have 'at will' employment and teachers get special protection. It's not just expected that someone can and will eventually get hurt in shop class, it's a guarantee, no matter how many reasonable precautions you take. You don't fire people for minor accidents that effectively unavoidable in the long run.

otoh, it's hagrid. we love the guy but he's the one who was like "yeah dragons get to be huge and destructive and also breathe fire but lookit 'is lil nose isn't he adorable i will keep him here and name him norbert "

e: also filch, but gently caress him tbh

# ? Aug 15, 2018 18:58

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Fair point. Still, only kid we know ever got hurt in one his classes is Malfoy, after actively insulting the animal he was just warned can understand and will kill you if you insult it. So I suppose he might just be a lot better at safety precautions for others than for himself.

# ? Aug 15, 2018 19:35

cogito ergo incommo: Apr 2, 2010

Cardiovorax posted:

Fair point. Still, only kid we know ever got hurt in one his classes is Malfoy, after actively insulting the animal he was just warned can understand and will kill you if you insult it. So I suppose he might just be a lot better at safety precautions for others than for himself.

Keep in mind he totally fell back on super safe options for the rest of the year (flobberworms) and next year he had his totally not-illegal-at-all Skrewts. They definitely caused more than a few burns and other damage.
Also the books are from Harry's perspective, who is super self-involved and hardly looks outside himself, his close friends and whatever his enemies are doing.

# ? Aug 16, 2018 01:06

Stroth: Mar 31, 2007; All Problems Solved

Cardiovorax posted:

Dunno. In this particular situation? Maybe. I'm general, I'm not so sure. Europe doesn't have 'at will' employment and teachers get special protection. It's not just expected that someone can and will eventually get hurt in shop class, it's a guarantee, no matter how many reasonable precautions you take. You don't fire people for minor accidents that effectively unavoidable in the long run.

Hagrid is a groundskeeper and Filch is a janitor.

# ? Aug 16, 2018 05:15

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Hagrid's problem as a teacher is he has a very poor time trying to translate his own durability and pain tolerance to that of children and adjusting things appropriately. You probably shouldn't be only handling the safest fluffiest magical creatures all 7 years in a class that's supposed to be about learning how to handle magical creatures safely, especially when even wizard herbology gets potentially dangerous with stuff like mandrakes, but you also shouldn't be bringing in illegal animals or stuff that typically only trained adults handle.

Like he'd be a fantastic zookeeper with the proper oversight but he's not a great teacher.

PetraCore fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Aug 16, 2018

# ? Aug 16, 2018 16:20

corn in the bible: Jun 5, 2004; Oh no oh god it's all true!

no the actual most hosed up thing hagrid does is when he shows them the invisible horse things and is like, raise your hand if you can see these, ok children, all of these people had their loving families die in front of them and maybe you didn't know that but now you do

# ? Aug 16, 2018 16:31

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

That said, this is just the author of this fanfic regurgitating criticism people who actually read the books have commented on without bothering to examine the context or decide if it's really valid. Are there a lot of legitimately kinda dangerous teachers in Hogwarts in canon? Yeah. Does that justify whatever this is? Not really. Harrizer isn't being smart here, he's being a mouthpiece for secondhand textual analysis the author doesn't even understand or appreciate in an effort to look smart. It's exactly like his criticisms of quidditch which completely skip over the sort of ridiculous sports stuff quidditch is making fun of, like how games can go for days in which case catching the snitch is definitely not the decider of who wins but because they're all just schoolchildren the snitch tends to be the most important thing because nobody else is really scoring that high.

Like, uuuuh... well, for one thing, wizarding society canonically treats physical injuries rather lightly because healing magic is so efficient. Wizards just typically aren't going to care about the argument that you should have the expectation that dangerous accidents can't happen in classes because if they do happen you're better in like, a day. They might care about minimizing those accidents, but magic is often pretty dangerous and I imagine they feel like it's better to learn how to manage that danger when you're young rather than being so sheltered you can't handle anything. A better argument can be made that Snape's brilliance with potions and long-game working with Dumbledore doesn't justify the level of psychological distress he willingly and repeatedly inflicts on small children, but if Harrizer went that route, he'd have to apply the same to his darling Quirrel.

EDIT: Actually if Harrizer is so concerned about school safety why isn't he more hard on Quirrel, oh right, because he likes him. Are unicorns sapient in this universe? Is Quirrel cannibalizing sapients for power and life? This will probably never be addressed because to the author avoiding death is the most important thing there is. Even if unicorns aren't sapient he's like, legit torturing them. How many unicorns are there? Are they endangered? Doesn't matter, he's dying so everything he does to avoid that is justifiable.

# ? Aug 16, 2018 16:39

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

PetraCore posted:

EDIT: Actually if Harrizer is so concerned about school safety why isn't he more hard on Quirrel, oh right, because he likes him. Are unicorns sapient in this universe? Is Quirrel cannibalizing sapients for power and life? This will probably never be addressed because to the author avoiding death is the most important thing there is. Even if unicorns aren't sapient he's like, legit torturing them. How many unicorns are there? Are they endangered? Doesn't matter, he's dying so everything he does to avoid that is justifiable.

Nah, Harriezer will ask Buttercup to communicate before murdering her in the next chapter, so as far as he knows, they're not.

# ? Aug 16, 2018 20:31

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Xander77 posted:

Nah, Harriezer will ask Buttercup to communicate before murdering her in the next chapter, so as far as he knows, they're not.

Maybe they just don't want to talk to you, Harriezer.

EDIT: Or rather, from a rational viewpoint, intelligence and sapience doesn't imply ease of communication. Unicorns could be sapient and not be able to understand what Harriezer is saying, for example.

# ? Aug 17, 2018 06:06

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004; коммунизм хранится в яичках

PetraCore posted:

Maybe they just don't want to talk to you, Harriezer.

EDIT: Or rather, from a rational viewpoint, intelligence and sapience doesn't imply ease of communication. Unicorns could be sapient and not be able to understand what Harriezer is saying, for example.

Given the mythological background of unicorns, they likely wouldn't talk to Harriezer even if he wasn't a legitimately evil person deep down because he's not female.

# ? Aug 17, 2018 06:38

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

PetraCore posted:

Are there a lot of legitimately kinda dangerous teachers in Hogwarts in canon? Yeah. Does that justify whatever this is? Not really. Harrizer isn't being smart here, he's being a mouthpiece for secondhand textual analysis the author doesn't even understand or appreciate in an effort to look smart.

That sums it up, really. The entire scene really just exists as an excuse so that Yudkowsky can soapbox about his psychopathic miscomprehension of utilitarianism, which already doesn't place much value on empathy and concepts of justice as most people would see them, even when you do it right.

Liquid Communism posted:

Given the mythological background of unicorns, they likely wouldn't talk to Harriezer even if he wasn't a legitimately evil person deep down because he's not female.

Does "My Little Pony" count as a mythological background here?

Cardiovorax fucked around with this message at 12:55 on Aug 17, 2018

# ? Aug 17, 2018 11:04

Pvt.Scott: Feb 16, 2007; What God wants, God gets, God help us all

PetraCore posted:

Maybe they just don't want to talk to you, Harriezer.

EDIT: Or rather, from a rational viewpoint, intelligence and sapience doesn't imply ease of communication. Unicorns could be sapient and not be able to understand what Harriezer is saying, for example.

The example of sapient ants trying to understand a human is a good one. How is a eusocial creature that communicates chemically even going to speak to a living god-being who communicates through sound, symbols and movement, let alone share any sort of commonalities in language concepts? Individuality would be a completely foreign concept, as an example. A human�s life-span would also be incomprehensible

E: this is a common metaphor for the relation of humans to Lovecraftian gods

Pvt.Scott fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Aug 17, 2018

# ? Aug 17, 2018 16:43

Dabir: Nov 10, 2012

Pvt.Scott posted:

The example of sapient ants trying to understand a human is a good one. How is a eusocial creature that communicates chemically even going to speak to a living god-being who communicates through sound, symbols and movement, let alone share any sort of commonalities in language concepts? Individuality would be a completely foreign concept, as an example. A human�s life-span would also be incomprehensible

E: this is a common metaphor for the relation of humans to Lovecraftian gods

In that case, wouldn't you be communicating with the colony rather than with any individual ant? They'd understand separate colonies, and what are we if not colonies of cells?

# ? Aug 17, 2018 16:58

Pvt.Scott: Feb 16, 2007; What God wants, God gets, God help us all

Dabir posted:

In that case, wouldn't you be communicating with the colony rather than with any individual ant? They'd understand separate colonies, and what are we if not colonies of cells?

I�m not entirely sure they are up on the separate colonies thing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm

# ? Aug 17, 2018 17:22

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Dabir posted:

In that case, wouldn't you be communicating with the colony rather than with any individual ant? They'd understand separate colonies, and what are we if not colonies of cells?

Not really. Science fiction types love that whole "hive mind" concept, but it's not really something that exists. People call ant hives superorganisms, but an individual ant isn't part of the hive the way a human cell is part of our own body. Every ant is a single, complete living being, simply born with a full instinctual knowledge of how contribute to the well-being of the group. It would be like trying to talk to a city. Not anyone actually in the city, but rather the entirety of the city itself. Doesn't really make any sense.

# ? Aug 18, 2018 20:50

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Cardiovorax posted:

Not really. Science fiction types love that whole "hive mind" concept, but it's not really something that exists. People call ant hives superorganisms, but an individual ant isn't part of the hive the way a human cell is part of our own body. Every ant is a single, complete living being, simply born with a full instinctual knowledge of how contribute to the well-being of the group. It would be like trying to talk to a city. Not anyone actually in the city, but rather the entirety of the city itself. Doesn't really make any sense.

do colonial organisms like slime molds or man'o'wars count?

# ? Aug 18, 2018 21:00

Dalris Othaine: Oct 14, 2013; I think, therefore I am inevitable.

Tunicate posted:

do colonial organisms like slime molds or man'o'wars count?

Men'o'war? :thunk:

also the real question is, do they still get shipped with Harry even if they're really gross

# ? Aug 19, 2018 02:50

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Tunicate posted:

do colonial organisms like slime molds or man'o'wars count?

A slime mold might. They work more like multi-cellular organisms, they just behave as if they were an over-sized amoeba instead. They've got an amazing ability to multitask for something that doesn't even have a brain.

# ? Aug 19, 2018 10:31

DACK FAYDEN: Feb 25, 2013; Bear Witness

Dalris Othaine posted:

Men'o'war?

Mans�o�war?

# ? Aug 19, 2018 15:46

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 6, 2024 14:24

90s Cringe Rock: Nov 29, 2006

mens't've-war.

# ? Aug 19, 2018 18:49

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

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