MinibearRex comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 22, chapter 93 - Less Wrong

5 [deleted] 06 July 2013 03:02AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (354)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: ikrase 07 July 2013 02:54:12AM 1 point [-]

Although, arguably full vampires are not very undead either.

Comment author: MinibearRex 08 July 2013 12:36:17AM 1 point [-]

Their hearts stop beating, and they stop needing to breathe during the turning process.

Comment author: gjm 08 July 2013 07:50:16AM 0 points [-]

The same would be true of a real-world medical procedure that replaces the heart and lungs with support-reliable mechanical equivalents. (There are "heart and lung machines" but I believe they're cumbersome and greatly inferior to the natural organs they substitute for. I'm envisaging something much better than that.) Would you consider someone "undead" merely for having been through such a procedure?

Comment author: ikrase 08 July 2013 08:06:50AM 0 points [-]

My interpretation of 'undead' is that it is based on some form of vitalism....

Comment author: Velorien 08 July 2013 09:45:48AM 1 point [-]

Could you then give an example of what you would accept as a legitimate undead creature?

Comment author: ikrase 09 July 2013 12:23:24AM 2 points [-]

That's... actually complicated.

Frankly, the cyborg zombie beetles of Professor Mahrabiz seem more undead than Twilight vampires. Decaying zombies are probably undead, and Harry Potter Inferi are definitely undead, as are Dungeons and Dragons undead (where the vitalistic dualism is very explicit.)