RolfAndreassen comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 10 - Less Wrong

11 Post author: Oscar_Cunningham 07 March 2012 04:46PM

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Comment author: RolfAndreassen 13 March 2012 07:23:43PM 4 points [-]

No, because the notebooks do not "contain" the work Einstein did, Einstein's brain contains it. So you'd need the living brain of a scientist as brilliant as Einstein. Which may not be that difficult; Einstein was good but he was also lucky - he glommed onto exactly the right Big Problem at exactly the right time. It's quite possible that there are any number of equally-brilliant scientists alive today who just happened never to find their Big Problem. The point remains, however, that paper and notebooks are not sufficient, you need the brain which actually contains the comprehension.

Moreover, since magic works by sensible-to-humans laws in the MoRverse, even if you copied the brain you'd have to use the original in the potion, and you only have one of those. The reason being, the copy hasn't "done the work" even though it contains the comprehension; and you can only get back out the work that was put in. This of course makes no sense, information should be information, but the laws of magic were apparently designed by a human.

Comment author: DanArmak 14 March 2012 04:05:44PM 5 points [-]

So you'd need the living brain of a scientist as brilliant as Einstein.

Not necessary living. And Einstein's brain just happens to be preserved.

In fact, it sounds very much like people quarreled over magical ingridients:

Harvey then removed, weighted and dissected into several pieces Einstein's brain; some of the pieces he kept to himself while others were given to leading pathologists. [....] Harvey also removed Einstein's eyes, and gave them to Henry Abrams.[2] He was fired from his position at Princeton Hospital shortly thereafter for refusing to relinquish the organs.

Comment author: DanArmak 14 March 2012 04:07:42PM 3 points [-]

the laws of magic were apparently designed by a human.

Or the same entity (not Azatoth) designed or modified both humans and the laws of magic.