Psy-Kosh comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 6 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Unnamed 27 November 2010 08:25AM

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Comment author: Psy-Kosh 05 January 2011 10:29:36PM 2 points [-]

Would veritaserum allow you to remain in a state in which you are capable of deliberately misleading, even if by strict reading of what you say, it's true from a certain perspective?

(I guess we'd have to in part know something about the mechanism of its operation, and why it is that in the MoRverse, being an occulamens makes you immune to it, before we could guess at that)

Comment author: Nornagest 05 January 2011 10:50:37PM 0 points [-]

why it is that in the MoRverse, being an occulamens makes you immune to it

Given what we know about how other magic in the setting works, my guess would be that it works partly by doing some mechanical Legilemency and keying off of intent to deceive, whereupon it triggers some sort of inhibitory condition. Seems in line with Eliezer's explanations for other apparently inexplicable effects, like the Comed-Tea.