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gwern comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: NancyLebovitz 25 July 2013 04:36AM

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Comment author: chasingbutterflies 25 July 2013 07:25:03AM 4 points [-]

I find myself confused by why Harry's interpretation of "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" is the logical one. The use of the word "last" in conjunction with Harry's interpretation either makes the statement pessimistic - that death is clearly more intractable than all our other problems, and thus will be last to be defeated - or implies that death logically takes the backseat to all other problems. I feel like the quote makes much more sense in the context of death being the final obstacle for each individual to grapple with and accept.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the sentiment of the chapter, and I found the incorporation of the Peverells to be especially clever, but the aforementioned line brings with it a great deal of friction.

Comment author: gwern 25 July 2013 11:04:57PM 9 points [-]

There's another reasonable interpretation: that once you've solved death, that's the last real problem you have, and everything else can be fixed given enough time, and there is no need to destroy one's enemies ('do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?').

With enough time, even Satan can be redeemed (which is, of course, a serious heresy).