Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85

FAWS

The next discussion thread is here.

This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 85. The previous thread has long passed 500 comments. Comment in the 15th thread until you read chapter 85.

There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)

The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system. Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

As a reminder, it’s often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

The next discussion thread is here.

As a reminder, it’s often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

Let's recall the full quote:

I will make a bargain with myself, Harry said to within himself, to all his parts. I will follow the path of the superhero as far as I can. But if I can't - if anyone dies, not just an Important Character like Hermione or Professor McGonagall but a single nameless innocent bystander who catches a Cutting Curse - then the gloves come off and the villains die as fast as possible; and I won't pretend that real people in real life can go through a war without sacrificing anyone...

To be more concise: "if a single innocent bystander dies, then the villains die as fast as possible". Which itself simplifies to "the villains die as fast as possible", since it is assured that an innocent will die in a war.

If Harry can't be the superhero and save everyone, the intent to kill comes out and he kills bad guys as fast and efficiently as he can. I'll admit it's probably not the guillotine, since if he has them captured, he probably won't kill them. But owling hand grenades? Well, maybe not either. Collateral damage. But a sniper with a clear shot? Of course, as fast as he can get those clear shots.

I thought that was the point of this whole soliloquy - it's fine to oppose plots with plots, but you have to be prepared to admit that non-violent counter-plots might not be enough against someone who is willing to actually kill people to get the job done.

Harry has gone beyond that, however. He's not just willing to kill, it's the first option. "The villains die as fast as possible."

To be fair to Harry, he's obviously wrestling with the issue, and trying to find answers. I don't know that this answer is going to last too long. All or nothing, save everyone or be completely ruthless, are clearly not the only two options, and I'd expect him to figure that out in fairly short order.

Dumbledore was only as ruthless as he felt he needed to be to win. Harry is talking about being absolutely ruthless toward his enemies, and exterminating them like a roach infestation.

But presumably "villain" here means something like "enemies actually involved in fighting this conflict, in other words who are likely to kill someone." Doesn't include people who merely have despicable opinions, or even bystanders such as Narcissa (possibly) was.

7Xachariah14y

It is not assured that an innocent will die in war, nor is it assured that there will be a war in the first place. In a standard political disagreement, Harry shouldn't anticipate innocent deaths. The only reason Harry has to consider innocent deaths is that somebody targeted his friends. That still doesn't imply a war worth retaliating against, any more than any other random murder which occurs every day. You don't respond to a crazy murderer or an lone assassin with indiscriminate hand grenades against everybody who opposes you. Harry doesn't know if there's going to be a war. Right now, there's no reason for anyone except for Quirrell to expect for there to be bloodshed, and that'll only happen if Quirrell decides to start some.

2TheOtherDave14y

Second option. Given what you quote, he's willing to let an innocent die in order to try out his first option: "the path of the superhero." Whether that's a significant investment in the first option or not depends, I suppose, on how likely he thinks he is to prevent innocents from dying via his second option, and on whether spending an innocent life he could have saved is a significant cost.