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gwern comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 5 - Less Wrong
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Being a relatively weak move doesn't preclude it being effective against an opponent incapacitated by both fatigue and rules that preclude all the most appropriate responses. In the same way it would work against an untrained opponent, a baby that you were trying to steal candy from or someone who was kneeling down and bound hand and foot. It remains trivially true that trying to kick that far above the waist sacrifices much of your power.
The one feature avada kedavra has could be seen as analogous to a roundhouse to the head is a high syllable count; it is vulnerable to a stupify interrupt..
I think you're equivocating on 'weak' and 'strong'. Your first comment clearly was using it in a sense of physical or mechanical force measure, which struck me as deeply implausible given the length of the leg-lever and the long time period in which one can power up a roundhouse kick, and given my own personal experiences with being kicked in the head. But now you seem to be using it in some sort of strategic or game-theoretic sense and claiming a roundhouse to the head is dominated by other moves in most situations.
On that you are mistaken (and there is nothing that I have said that implies such meaning). Of course, I did also discuss strategic relevance - because that was the whole point of the analogy.
You appear to be leaving off the to the head part, which is precisely what ensures that the move is not a strong one. I am surprised that this is even remotely controversial, particularly among those who profess personal expertise. Every instructor I have trained under has taken care to point out how much power is lost when trying to kick so high and I have no particular qualms in suggesting that if you have been advised to the contrary you need a better instructor.
I refrained from mentioning my own experience being kicked in the head because I didn't consider it particularly strong evidence. I had a saw jaw for days after I won that bout. I'm lucky he didn't hit me in the head with a solid punch instead, I would quite probably have been hospitalised or worse!
I think we have gone as far as we can here, and there's no point discussing it further without citations.
That had been my conclusion.
But now that you mention it, I took a glance at the old faithful reference. Brief, but it seems well balanced. This part in particular seemed spot on:
Buyer beware.