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skeptical_lurker comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, January 2015, chapter 103 - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: b_sen 29 January 2015 01:44AM

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Comment author: solipsist 30 January 2015 02:44:19PM 0 points [-]

Assuming those are horcruxes, not like parts of the Philosopher's stone or something (but Horcruxes are more likely).

Totally-not-going-to-happen reason for Hogwarts to stop playing with a snitch: the "air" horcurx is a snitch. Dumbledore realizes that Snitches are dangerous, and bans touching them. (Much more likely: Mcgonagall becomes headmistress).

Comment author: skeptical_lurker 30 January 2015 03:00:26PM 1 point [-]

The entire world plays with a snitch. It seems very unlikely that any one school would stop playing with a snitch (and thereby ruin their preparation for games against other schools, adult competition etc).

But, if the whole of Hogwarts stops playing altogether, perhaps because the school has been destroyed, then technically they have stopped playing with a snitch.

The last act of whoever is the head (Dumbeldoor might have died) is to declare that in the last year of Hogwarts, all houses won the cup, as a symbolic act of unity in the face of tragedy.

Comment author: MathiasZaman 30 January 2015 06:24:44PM 0 points [-]

But, if the whole of Hogwarts stops playing altogether, perhaps because the school has been destroyed, then technically they have stopped playing with a

Harry's wish was for quidditch to be played without a snitch. Not playing quidditch doesn't fulfill the wish.

Comment author: AnthonyC 02 February 2015 10:36:28PM 0 points [-]

Is the present king of France bald? I'm not sure where Quirrell and Harry stand on the truth of vacuous statements- if Hogwarts plays zero games of quidditch, all of them do not involve the snitch.

Also, technically Harry wished that "in Hogwarts we should play quidditch without the Snitch." Should can mean "will" but it can also mean Quirrell will somehow make it a moral fact that quidditch should be played that way, not a factual matter of actually playing that way.