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

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

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Comment author: [deleted] 28 March 2012 05:09:24AM 3 points [-]

Right, and what I'm saying is make the puzzle hard enough that nobody figures the whole things out, spoiling the chapter when I actually read it. It's okay if people think of partial solutions, but when the whole chapter is basically posts A, B, and C glued together then it's a disappointment.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 28 March 2012 05:11:03AM 1 point [-]

If part can't be figured out then it falls into that category, doesn't it? I'm confused by what you are saying and wonder if there's some set of terminological differences here. Perhaps we should carefully define our terms?

Comment author: [deleted] 28 March 2012 05:28:42AM *  1 point [-]

I don't think this argument is worth it, it looks fairly silly in retrospect. Really, how to classify the puzzle isn't the important part; what's important is the outcome I consider favorable. That outcome involves plenty of discussion and theories (I have no complaints in that regard) and then a solution that is better than any of them.

And really, come to think of it, this chapter did deliver on this in some ways. If only because the events of the chapter consisted of several moves, while the theories only tried to predict Harry's first move. So I feel more content now having thought things over than I was initially. And you are probably right that most ways to "fix" the problem would end up making things worse: most puzzles that people write are bad because they are too hard, not because they are easy.

Anyway, it strikes me that there are more interesting things to discuss, like wondering whether Mr. Hat-&-Cloak is actually Imperiused Flitwick polyjuiced into Lucius Malfoy. So hopefully there is not too much confusion left over on your end.