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Macaulay comments on [FINAL CHAPTER] Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 122 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (162)
If the "tear apart the stars" prophecy just refers to Harry harvesting the stars for resources, then Voldemort looks really stupid for misinterpreting it.
Star-lifting isn't well known even among sci-fi fans in 2015. In 1991 you would have to be a fairly serious space-geek/sci-fi fan to know about it.
And a far more serious one (certainly moreso than I) to think that it's a terribly likely thing in our future rather than just a fun notion.
Off course, in-universe, Star-lifting seems absolutely doable, once you know about the concept.
Admittedly, probably more difficult than saying "Accio sun."
Without going back to The Good Book, it was perfectly clear to Harry at the end "tear apart the stars" prophecy could just refer to Harry harvesting the stars for resources.
ok, I'll peak.
Does that mean that Quirrell knew the exact prophecy? And Dumbledore knew it too.
Were Quirrell and Dumbledore basing his worries about Harry destroying the stars on the prophecy?
Shouldn't they just have asked? "Hey, what could it mean if someone is supposed to "tear apart the very stars in heaven"?
But Dumbledore then tells it to him in his letter anyway. And Quirrell discusses his apprehension that Harry will destroy the sun, but doesn't mention the prophecy at the time. It seemed like there was a lot of heartburn over something Harry could have cleared up in a minute.
The text admittedly doesn't give us any reason to think V considered the star-lifting interpretation. It also gives us no reason to think he would care. If the prophecy has two possible interpretations (each of which may be genuinely possible, depending on V's actions) and he has no real interest in a star-lifting civilization but great fear of his own death, then he should rationally try to prevent the latter.
The real question is why he thought he could prevent the prophecy from happening in any form. And I'm willing to accept that as in-story knowledge from Salazar and other sources, plus ignorance or incomplete knowledge of Dumbledore's role. (The latter seems interesting in that he knew D had knowledge of the future - maybe he failed to consider that D might be trying to protect everyone except the two of them? Or maybe this was just arrogance.)