Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 11

Oscar_Cunningham

EDIT: New discussion thread here.

This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky's Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. With two chapters recently the previous thread has very quickly reached 500 comments. The latest chapter as of 17th March 2012 is Ch. 79.

There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author's Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)

The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system. Also: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

As a reminder, it's often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it's fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that "Eliezer said X is true" unless you use rot13.

EDIT: New discussion thread here.

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it's fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that "Eliezer said X is true" unless you use rot13.

I was thinking about Harry's four sides: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. He's already tried Ravenclaw (presenting logic and rationality, thinking through his options) and Slytherin (plotting against Lucius Malfoy in front of the Wizgov.-"you do not want me as your enemy") But his Hufflepuff (strong loyalty to Hermione as a friend) refuses to allow him to give up, and I think his Ravenclaw and Slytherin sides will shout down the Gryffindor option (destroy the dementor with his patronus). However, E.Y. said "figure it out from there" so that implies we already have enough information. So, if we analyze it this way, we can observe:

Harry is not the only person with these four house sides

Dumbledore is not pulling anything out of a hat OR Dumbledore lied to Harry

Lucius is sane, according to Harry, but seems to be beyond reason

the Wizgov. is biased due to bloodlines

Quirell is detained

McGonagall is sitting next to Harry and is afraid/not powerful enough/not desperate enough (yet) to help

We have not heard from Snape in quite awhile

Therefore, we can conclude that any one of these given possible outcomes has some chance of possibility, but some are more probable than others.

Draco, Snape, or Quirrell will turn to one of their other house sides (Gryffindor or Hufflepuff rather than Slytherin or Ravenclaw-Draco catching Hermione, Draco's loyalty to Harry, Snape's love for/loyalty to Lily, Quirrell escaping to help Harry (he awarded those points to Hermione) )

Dumbledore is lying to Harry and will save her at the last minute OR Dumbledore is not powerful/rational enough

Quirrell is unable to help OR Quirrell will overcome the Auror (perhaps with use of the Killing Curse? losing some of Harry's trust)

McGonagall loves Harry and Hermione even though they are not in her house, so she is either unable to help OR so desperate that she will save the day

Snape will step in out of love for Draco, fear/respect for Harry, love for Lily, aid of Dumbledore, or respect for Hermione, which means that Snape was either brainwashed when yelling at Hermione in the Great Hall or it was part of a larger Slytherin plot

Snape is behind it, and unlike canon is actually evil, and Harry and/or Quirrell exposes him

I am very long winded. My apologies.

Lucius is sane, according to Harry, but seems to be beyond reason

This is standard game theory. Read some Schelling.