James_Blair comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 13, chapter 81 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: bogdanb 27 March 2012 06:07PM

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Comment author: James_Blair 30 March 2012 05:31:28PM *  2 points [-]

There's nothing to worry about. We were presented with the same challenge in Three Worlds Collide. If we don't succeed, we will just get a false ending instead of a true ending.

Comment author: Xachariah 30 March 2012 10:42:18PM 11 points [-]

A always thought the false ending was better.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for stories where everyone lives happily ever after. :-)

Comment author: Alex_Altair 02 April 2012 02:50:53PM 2 points [-]

I agree. The "false" ending definitely ranks higher in my CEV than the "true" ending.

Comment author: 75th 30 March 2012 07:47:44PM *  3 points [-]

…did you mean "along with a true ending"? Because "instead of" is precisely what I fear, but your links seem to indicate that we might get both endings? I don't understand, and Three Worlds Collide predates my awareness of Less Wrong so I don't have firsthand knowledge of exactly how that went down.

Comment author: [deleted] 30 March 2012 10:27:04PM *  4 points [-]

I think he meant that in case of failure, the happy ending will simply become the "false ending" instead of the "true ending". Since we get both either way, there really isn't a difference.

Comment author: 75th 31 March 2012 02:31:11AM 2 points [-]

Gotcha. As long as we do get to read the full, complete, unbesmirched and unabridged "good" ending, I can live with that.

Comment author: James_Blair 31 March 2012 01:19:17AM *  2 points [-]

Yes. The exact phrasing of the challenge was:

With a sudden motion, the Confessor's arm swept out...

  1. ... and anesthetized the Lord Pilot.

  2. ... [This option will become the True Ending only if someone suggests it in the comments before the previous ending is posted tomorrow. Otherwise, the first ending is the True one.]

Comment author: James_Blair 08 March 2015 08:25:43AM *  0 points [-]

So, after what happened.. turns out I was both wrong and right.

If a viable solution is posted before 12:01AM Pacific Time (8:01AM UTC) on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015, the story will continue to Ch. 121.

Otherwise you will get a shorter and sadder ending.

So failure would have just meant the end, and yet there was nothing to worry about: the much larger audience managed to figure out a space of much more effective solutions, along with a much more hilarious space of failures.

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