Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107

b_sen

Two new short chapters! Since the next one is coming tomorrow and we know it'll be short, let's use one thread for both.

This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 105 (and chapter 106, once it comes out tomorrow). EDIT: based on Alsadius' comment about thread creation for MOR chapters, let's also use this thread for chapter 107 (and future chapters until this nears 500 comments) unless someone objects to doing so. Given that this is the final arc we're talking about, thread titles should be updated to indicate chapters covered.

There is a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

Two new short chapters! Since the next one is coming tomorrow and we know it'll be short, let's use one thread for both.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

It is too complicated, and also my knowledge of HPMOR is suboptimal. (I forgot many parts, didn't read it again, and I have read other fanfics meanwhile. Also in the discussions about HPMOR I regularly read insights that I have completely missed.)

"You know, boy," Professor Quirrell whispered, "I had thought... to teach you everything... the seeds of all the secrets I knew... from one living mind to another... so that later, when you found the right books, you would be able to understand... I would have passed on my knowledge to you, my heir... we would have begun as soon as you asked me... but you never asked."

This also contradicts my theory, unless Quirrell is planning to yet give Harry a last-minute ultra-compressed lesson.

By the way, how much human education is necessary to overcome the Interdict of Merlin? Because the students still have to study the books, don't they? Could teachers just give 1% in speech and let them learn the remaining 99% from books? Could Quirrell give Harry the 1% of everything in this final lesson? His flaunting of overpowered magic could be an introduction to this lesson. Also he made sure they have enough time.

Okay, here are a few silly numbers:

Quirrell is Riddle's non-destructive copy, Harry is the destructive copy -- 10%
Quirrell "wants" his body to be killed by Harry, without possessing Harry in turn -- 50%
there is a spell/curse/oath (other than prophecy) that forces Quirrell to decide suboptimally for his survival -- 10%
Quirrell could not kill Harry (with gun) and survive, if Harry now refused to obey him -- 30%
the mirror (or the room with the mirror) contains Riddle's memories -- 30%
Dumbledore suspects that Harry is Riddle, and expects him to reach the mirror -- 70%

Those all sounds like reasonable estimates: too bad. I was hoping to possibly make a few quick bucks out of a conjunction fallacy bet. But given that it is you I shouldn't be surprised that the actual calibration level looks pretty sane.

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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107

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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107

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