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BlindIdiotPoster 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: BlindIdiotPoster 21 July 2013 09:42:42AM 1 point [-]

If AK/Dementors actually did destroy the soul, how would anyone know without direct access to the afterlife?

Comment author: Kawoomba 21 July 2013 10:02:22AM *  6 points [-]

There's a spell that doesn't reveal the true cloak of invisibility, but indicates that such an artefact is present. You could imagine a corresponding spell for souls, or a dog which only barks at soul-imbued creatures (may bark twice at soul-imbued postmen and once at soul-less postmen. In which case you'd need to ask "are you a postman" using veritaserum to distinguish false positives for souls.).

Comment author: Kindly 23 July 2013 01:21:04AM 3 points [-]

How would you distinguish this from a spell which merely tests if one has been exposed to the Dementor's Kiss?

Comment author: Atelos 23 July 2013 03:23:58AM 2 points [-]

If it gives a positive response to humans and some/all intelligent non-humans but a negative one to people made brain-dead through purely physical means and/or various animals?

Comment author: Kindly 23 July 2013 12:08:14PM 0 points [-]

We still have no way of knowing if it's testing for souls or brain activity.

Comment author: MugaSofer 29 July 2013 04:30:45PM -1 points [-]

If it gives a positive response to humans and some/all intelligent non-humans but a negative one to people made brain-dead through purely physical means and/or various animals?

Comment author: Kindly 29 July 2013 05:07:35PM *  0 points [-]

I may be being stupid, but my objection still makes sense to me, and the sentence fragment you have pointed out to me doesn't seem to change anything. Are you saying that brain-dead people don't have souls?

Edit: I think I finally figured out what this means. Sorry, I confused the meaning of "positive" and "negative" response.

Comment author: ChristianKl 21 July 2013 11:23:13AM 1 point [-]

Divination.