linkhyrule5 comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong

9 Post author: palladias 02 July 2013 02:13AM

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Comment author: linkhyrule5 04 July 2013 06:44:32AM 0 points [-]

... Yes?

Just because it was "done in the old days" doesn't mean it's the right thing to do...

Comment author: Desrtopa 04 July 2013 07:08:00AM 6 points [-]

I think the issue is more that it's not a very compelling reason to kill a newborn even by ancient standards.

I suspect it's more to do with two identically-minded people being fundamentally creepy and/or dangerous.

If everyone else ultimately acts primarily in their own self interest, but identically minded twins value each other equally to themselves and always cooperate, and see themselves as an in-group of two to which everyone else is an out-group (which may be a natural result of being able to compare all those different-from-you people to someone who's completely the same as you,) then they might be a nuisance ranging to a major hazard to the rest of society.

If Fred and George's mischief making is typical for wizarding twins, it would explain why ancient society wanted fewer of them.