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faul_sname comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 15, chapter 84 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: FAWS 11 April 2012 03:39AM

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Comment author: faul_sname 11 April 2012 11:54:58PM 4 points [-]

Particularly since there's almost certainly an easy spell for that.

Comment author: loup-vaillant 12 April 2012 10:14:52AM 6 points [-]

Which seems to be unknown to 7th year students of Hogwarts.

It was hard to muster a proper sense of indignation when you were confronting the same dignified witch who, twelve years and four months earlier, had given both of you two weeks' detention after catching you in the act of conceiving Tracey.

Sigh. Magical education is seriously lacking.

Comment author: moritz 12 April 2012 04:15:47PM 4 points [-]

Or maybe they simply wanted a child? That can happen at that age, even if it's not all that common in our societies.

Comment author: faul_sname 12 April 2012 07:16:53PM *  2 points [-]

True. It's not like having a child at that age will prevent them from going to college or have any particularly negative effects in the HPMORverse.

Edit: I accidentally a word there. Edit 2: And then I the put word in the wrong place.

Comment author: Alsadius 13 April 2012 02:33:24AM 0 points [-]

Yes, but you generally don't do the deed somewhere you can get caught if you're actually a serious couple of that sort.

Comment author: Percent_Carbon 13 April 2012 07:17:42AM 5 points [-]

Wanting a child does not necessitate responsibility.

Comment author: HonoreDB 13 April 2012 10:06:30PM 3 points [-]

Or you cast the spell after doing the deed, and that one time they were too busy fleeing/claiming this wasn't what it looked like/getting castigated/getting dressed.

...just how many pregnancies has McGonagall caused, anyway?

Comment author: Percent_Carbon 12 April 2012 10:50:51AM 1 point [-]

Perhaps it still has a drawback.

This being a Potterverse it wouldn't be something straightforward like the way a condom insulates against body heat or decreases sensation. It'd be that the semen is magically transported into a nearby container. If you don't have a proper container prepared it ends up somewhere inconvenient like someone's pocket, or outer ear, or mouth. Or that both parties must spend a moment beforehand concentrating on a blue sphere, or the smell of vomit, or the sound of breaking celery. Or maybe it just makes a lady's feet numb.

So some people in some situations skip the contraceptive because they aren't prepared or don't want to deal with the complication.

Comment author: Alsadius 13 April 2012 02:32:27AM *  0 points [-]

More likely, parents got offended by the thought of that spell getting taught officially, and the (edit)Davises just missed out on the unofficial version?

Comment author: Percent_Carbon 13 April 2012 07:18:48AM 1 point [-]

Have we heard of magical Britain being remarkably prudish in either MOR or canon?

Comment author: Alsadius 13 April 2012 02:46:13PM *  1 point [-]

"Remarkably", no. But at a school where kids as young as 11 go, it'll perhaps seem incongruous. And again, we have an example of a couple kids still in highschool conceiving a kid somewhere they got caught at it - if birth control was both easy and well-taught then that's unlikely to have happened.

Comment author: Percent_Carbon 14 April 2012 03:56:03AM 2 points [-]

I had sex ed at that age. I think it was a remarkably unproductive use of time for most of the people in there. But there was a least one girl who was pregnant the next year, so it's possible that it prevented further pregnancy.

Sex education does not prevent all pregnancy any more than driver's education prevents all accidents. Kids both fuck and fuck up.

Comment author: pedanterrific 13 April 2012 02:36:13AM 1 point [-]

(Davises.)

Comment author: Alsadius 13 April 2012 02:57:44AM 1 point [-]

Edited.