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JoshuaZ comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 24, chapter 95 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: palladias 18 July 2013 02:23AM

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Comment author: JoshuaZ 18 July 2013 04:59:44AM *  5 points [-]

I find this interesting, considering that non-magical Italy didn't exist as a unified nation until 1861. It seems odd that the magical political map so closely mirrors the non-magical.

He may be referring to a subarea that was roughly what is modern day Italy. Out of universe what is there's a more likely set of explanations: Transylvania is a natural spooky/magical thing (hence Rowling's decision to include it as separate), and Eliezer doesn't know much history, so things like the unification of Italy aren't on his radar screen.

Comment author: Alsadius 20 July 2013 06:48:01PM 0 points [-]

Eliezer not knowing stuff is generally low on my list of possibilities. Italian unification isn't terribly obscure. And Italy was always a unified geographic and cultural area, even in the period where it was politically disjoint.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 20 July 2013 09:06:12PM 4 points [-]

Eliezer not knowing stuff is generally low on my list of possibilities.

History is very far from his areas of expertise, and it is an area where he's demonstrated gaps before (in particular, when talking about phlogiston as an example of a theory that didn't pay rent, and when using heliocentricism/geocentricism as an example). This isn't a very high priority area for him.

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