You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

Eugine_Nier comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 27, chapter 98 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: Vaniver 28 August 2013 07:29PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (308)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 12 September 2013 04:51:49AM -1 points [-]

I think you are bringing "parents" into this unnecessarily. If there were Gryffindor noble chambers, I doubt anyone would deny one to Harry on the grounds that he was an orphan.

He's still inheriting their status. The fact that they're dead is immaterial.

Conversely, if a hypothetical Malfoy of lesser parentage (a cousin X removed, perhaps) were to enter Hogwarts, I doubt they would be denied noble chambers because their parents were low down within the Malfoy hierarchy.

Being a Malfoy is apparently higher status than being a commoner.

It's not about inheriting parents' status, it's about membership of a noble house. Membership of a noble house confers the right to noble chambers where they exist. It confers a bunch of legal rights, as we saw with the Wizengamot, which again are not restricted to adults. It apparently also confers the right to speak on behalf of the house.

One of these things is not like the others. Being a US citizen also confers a lot of rights. That doesn't mean you have the right to negotiate treaties on behalf of the US.