army1987 comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 18, chapter 87 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Alsadius 22 December 2012 07:55AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 22 December 2012 09:11:19PM *  0 points [-]

OTOH, she was sorted into Ravenclaw, so she ought to be a top-quartile 11-year-old. (My model of real-world 11-year-olds is very vague, though, so I dunno. OTOH, IME there are plenty of adults exhibiting as much silliness as Hermione did in this chapter, so...)

Comment author: Desrtopa 23 December 2012 04:06:58AM 11 points [-]

MoR canon points out itself that Ravenclaws aren't necessarily the cleverest, they're selected mainly for the virtue of scholarship and curiosity.

Dumbledore was a Gryffindor, and Riddle and Snape, and in the present generation, Draco, are all Slytherins, and they certainly don't seem like they could be outside the top quartile.

Comment author: Alsadius 23 December 2012 06:06:05AM 8 points [-]

The top quartile of 11 year olds is not really an impressive group. Even the top percentile(assuming as a handwave 100 kids per class)...well, they're still 11. I was in the top percentile at that age by most Ravenclawish metrics, and I was painfully stupid until at least my mid teens(and probably later, truth be told).