All of Anubhav's Comments + Replies

Anubhav00

As one of the downvoters, haven't we always downvoted bad jokes?

Somehow I haven't seen that happen in the ~3 months I've been here.

I'll take your word for it, though.

1faul_sname
Things with negative karma get downvoted even more. You hadn't noticed? Edit: perhaps not. It actually took longer to go from -2 to -3 than 0 to -2. I think we need more data points.
4thomblake
I've been here since the beginning, and yes, good jokes get upvoted, bad jokes get downvoted. 'good' and 'bad' are of course highly subjective.
Anubhav00

Why on earth is this in the negative? We downvote bad jokes now?

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We downvote bad jokes now?

As one of the downvoters, haven't we always downvoted bad jokes?

This was a bad joke, not in the sense of inappropriateness (a similar but better joke at http://lesswrong.com/lw/ams/harry_potter_and_the_methods_of_rationality/61ew was heavily upvoted), but in the sense of being strained, weak, and largely unfunny.

Anubhav30

The Atlantis thing was proposed in a chapter titled "Hold Off On Proposing Solutions".

1Percent_Carbon
That doesn't mean, "Don't Propose a Solution."
Anubhav30

And why Voldie'd lay low for TEN YEARS waiting for a hero.

(Still... see Chris Halquist below. '73 to '81? He must've had some plan going.)

2buybuydandavis
He's patient? I believe he intends to upload into Harry after arranging for Harry to "kill" Voldemort and take power. He showed up just in time for Harry's first year at Hogwarts - first year in public. Then creates the whole army business which propels Harry to leadership. Also, even though he "was winning" the war, finishing off Dumbledore, holder of the Elder Wand, is non trivial. Much better to become Harry and have Dumbledore pass on his power to you.
3Percent_Carbon
Yeah. He did. And yeah, that's odd. There's probably something else going on there that we don't know about.
Anubhav70

I didn't foresee this being a plausible interpretation, and have just now edited the birthdate to 1927 to avoid further confusion. It was intended as a bit of an, "Oh no, is she about to identify Voldemort?" moment, to be contradicted soon after by the Gaunts not exactly being on the Wizengamot or having a patroness grandmother. But as it's plausible-to-the-reader that the Gaunts are different in this fic, I feel like I need to do something to cut down plausible misunderstandings I didn't foresee. (I've also edited Ch. 53, fyi.)

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky

Anubhav20

Eliezer has jossed this. Page 118 or so of the TVTropes discussion.

9Vaniver
A link would be very helpful.
Anubhav00

Duplicating the page, maybe, but he absolutely can't forbid quoting it or linking to it; those actions'd fall under fair use in most cases.

(That is, if you care about copyright law at all.)

Anubhav10

If he wanted to write sequels, the obvious way to do it would be to continue the fic.

Anubhav00

Does anyone have any ideas on how to implement one?

Yes, many people do. Many others just need to google it.

For the record: I've been trying, on and off, to set up a development environment for PB for a while now, but always kept getting error'd because of version inconsistencies. But that was before I knew of Bundler. I'll try again in the near future.

Then again, I'm just starting out with rails and I have other things to do with my time, so don't expect any miracles.

EDIT: Retraction was accidental.

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0Jayson_Virissimo
Yeah, I'm more busy with my start-up than I had anticipated (retarded, huh?) and had to put my study of Ruby on hold. Let me know if you need any testing help or other grunt-work.
Anubhav100

So is this some sort of glitch in predictionbook which falsely records me editing the prediction, when in reality it was edited by some moderator?

Yes, that was gwern. The site doesn't keep track of who changed the prediction, so it just assumes the author of the prediction ( = you) did it.

(The sheer amount of "they just didn't care" inherent in the site design boggles the mind.)

1roryokane
Though rarely updated, PredictionBook is open source. So at least you don't have to wait for the creators to fix it, if you know how to code. I wrote up an Issue for this bug, describing some starting points for fixing it.
1gwern
Correct. I edited all the predictions to read 'HP MoR: ' for uniformity and searchability (once Google re-indexes them).
Anubhav30

"ELF!" [said the Sorting Hat]

Huh? Harry remembered Draco mentioning a 'House Elf', but what was that exactly?

Judging by the appalled looks dawning on the faces around him, it wasn't anything good -

Chapter 11.

Anubhav00

Maybe he got it from you?

That is correct.

0see
Vagrerfgvat.
Anubhav40

I would be very surprised if there were a grand total of 0 voice-changing charms in existence.

And besides, it's a whisper. That's probably significant in some way.

5Xachariah
You're multiplying hypothesises unnecessarily. Every member of Hogwarts could actually be Dumbledore with polyjuice and a time turner. Remember we only know about the 6 hour limit from him (or people that could be him, or forged by him). There's no reason it couldn't be so, just like there's no reason that the person Harry was having a conversation with couldn't have changed out by a an invisible man with a 'changemyvoiceio' spell. But it's way more reasonable to assume that people are who they think they are, and that the person that starts a conversation is the same one that finishes it.
7Benquo
Anubhav00

doesn't a squib child of a wizarding couple imply that Mom was getting some on the side?

Accurate deduction! Here, have a cookie.

Anubhav40

Seconded. 2 threads in 3 days = BAD IDEA.

(Not that these comments will make a difference; someone or the other's gonna notice the comment-count and instinctively think "Over 500!! Ah, there's my chance to be of service! ...... HEY GUYS NEW THREAD HERE!")

Anubhav00

Pop quiz: What percentage of Muggles have ever heard the word "arbitrage"?

(Retracted because reply makes sense)

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9Xachariah
I'm thinking more "Go magic that banker and we'll be rich." Or "Hey can you use that wicker spinmaster thingy to get us the lotto numbers?" I presume if the witch/wizard owned one they'd figure out what it does eventually. They'd have to after a long enough time living together.
Anubhav50

Secondly, I noticed that Harry's first Transfiguration lesson includes a photograph of a Dementor. What would that look like?

Probably just a cloaked and hooded figure.

Next you'll be wondering why the robes in the picture don't decay.

2pedanterrific
That seems like it must be it, but it still doesn't make much sense. Page 5 has a woman with horribly discolored skin screaming in agony, page 6 has... a guy in a cloak! Oh no!
Anubhav140

Being in debt is probably not the same thing as being a vassal, even temporarily.

(Well, maybe... Dumbledore still hasn't told us what rights Lucius now has over Harry.)

1GeeJo
Also, I'm pretty sure Harry has succeeded in terrifying Lucius enough that the latter isn't going to try pushing his luck too far.
Anubhav90

For that matter, why didn't Dumbledore mention the Imperius debt when they were talking about debts?

Dumbledore's being awfully incompetent... Wonder why that would be.

Alsadius300

I suspect that everyone discounts the "I was Imperiused!" claim for being an obvious lie, and thus discounts the implications of it being officially true. It's certainly a plausible hole in worldview - ignoring the implications of a false statement being "true" is an easy mistake to make.

kilobug180

I think Dumbledore is more into the "general wanting to win a war" mindset. In that mindset, you don't spend a trump card like a blood debt from one major enemy just to save one life. So he shouldn't (in his pov) speak about that issue to Harry.

5anotherblackhat
He also didn't get Hermione pregnant.
2Blueberry
Well, if it were Draco, he would never have agreed to be in service, so it would have had to be marriage. Besides, we know he's hot for Harry but doesn't want to admit it, so it gives him an excuse to marry Harry.
0Alsadius
Nah, that'll probably be the clever solution in the next series.
Anubhav10

If you had to look on the internet for all your original fiction, you'd have the same problem.

Kindle Store

Or so I heard, at least.

Anubhav30

... Now I want a Death Note fanfic where Ryuk is a Totoro.

Anubhav210

Or just that he's pissed with Harry for putting himself in Malfoy's debt.

Or for painting a giant bulls-eye on himself.

The icy glare could really mean anything.

2FiftyTwo
OR for doing a stupidly flashy solution when an easier one was available, which he will now berate harry about in the next chapter....
0[anonymous]
There's a seven-year fic named Self-Actualization?
Anubhav-30

Well, Sturgeon's Law for a start, combined with the fact that people who don't bother to create their own universes are statistically going to be less-motivated, less-experienced, and/or less-competent programmers. There's a reason that the stereotype of hackers is 13 year old script kiddies. I'm glad for the exceptions, but they are exceptions.

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7Percent_Carbon
I'll see your credential challenge and raise you the inevitable creation of immortal boredom.
8pedanterrific
They're from this.
Anubhav00

Rather, what I'm saying is: [stuff you're saying]

In which case, I totally misunderstood what you were saying. Never mind.

Anubhav20

Your explanation of the Groundhog Day attack is the only one I've seen so far that makes sense.

3Alsadius
You don't buy the trial-and-error argument?

Alternatively it could have been a way to determine the right memory charm to achieve the desired effect without using legilimency

The Potions Master was frowning thoughtfully, eyes intent. "The reaction to a False Memory Charm is hard to predict in advance, Mr. Potter, without Legilimency. The subjects do not always act as expected, when they first remember the false memories. It would have been a risky ploy. But I suppose that is one way Professor Quirrell could have done it.".

Anubhav30

Implying that fanfiction is not written in the real world.

Anubhav10

if I saw legions of ridiculous, cockamamie theories about my story get treated with absolute seriousness on web forums and TV Tropes, I might purposely spoil the ending in my sarcasm-dripping condescension

That clinches it; 75th is my alter ego. You know, a la Tyler Durden or something.

-50ericire0
Anubhav00

Maybe the reason McGonagall knew that Dumbledore was behind the Santa Claus portkey is because only the headmaster could create a portkey that would work inside the Hogwarts wards.

Then again, Snape didn't realize that just from hearing about the portkey. This theory's probably inaccurate.

Retracting as per pedanterrific's comment.

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Anubhav10

That's exactly the same behaviour we'd see if he really did just want to put the girl in Azkaban.

0RomeoStevens
brinksmanship doesn't work if no one believes your threats are actually plausible.
Anubhav50

First paragraph: Irrelevant.

Maybe it's just an inherent constraint of writing a Harry Potter fic.

In other words, you're talking about what makes a fic a Harry Potter fic, not about what HPMoR is about.

a story that eventually revealed that "prophecies don't really exist and are always cons" ... would be in the same class as a story that eventually revealed that "magic doesn't really exist, it's all sufficiently advanced technology controlled by aliens who are the real mastermind, villain, and Harry ends up teaming with Voldemort to def

... (read more)
0DanArmak
Like most human categorizations, it's a simplification. There's no line in the sand, but there's a rough gradient or spectrum stretching from stories not related to HP at all, through stories with similar themes that make people think of HP (but don't explicitly make the connection in the text), through stories that use the HP names and characters and settings but change events drastically from the series (like this HP and the Wastelands of Time), through stories that change fewer things (like HPMOR), and ending with some that stick to canon as much as possible. This isn't about what stories "deserve" to be called "true HP fanfiction". That would end up as a No True Scotsman fallacy. My original wording was poorly chosen in that it made you (plural) think I meant something like this. Rather, what I'm saying is: the story up till now has been consistent in terms of lying in a particular location on this spectrum. It has been consistently presented and written that way. If, now, in a new chapter, we found out that prophecies don't really exist and are all faked, that would be an idea typical on a story at a very different location along that spectrum. It would conflict with the story so far. Readers would not enjoy it. It would be bad storytelling. Therefore I believe with high probability such a thing will not be revealed in HPMOR.
5wedrifid
Something about reading this as it relates to fanfiction makes me smirk.
Anubhav00

If that were true, it'd be really easy to detect an Imperius by examining the subject's memories... The subject wouldn't remember deciding to do anything the Imperius made them do. [Test Foo]

Instead, McGonagall's statement implies that the best way to figure out whether the subject was Imperiused is to see if they remember being Imperiused, even with all the information that would allow you to perform Test Foo.

Then again, McGonagall's speaking outside her area of expertise.

2ArisKatsaris
Lucius is an Occlumens, and lesser Death Eaters might self-obliviate whole weeks/months of their lives and then claim that they were both Imperiused and obliviated. I suppose that throughout the duration of Imperius its victim may be thinking to himself "Damn this Imperius which is making my body do things that I don't want to do", so one wouldn't need to obliviate just the moment of the Imperius, but the whole sequence of events. Which would be counterproductive in Hermione's case as her own memories is the chief incriminating factor.
Anubhav60

We're given at least two hints about this during the trial

Mind spelling them out for those untutored in the Dark Arts?

-1RomeoStevens
IIRC Lucius' catspaw (perhaps multiple), Dumbledore's behavior towards Lucius (Lucius rejects it for being too obvious + a gambit to get more out of it rather than compromise early.)
2thelittledoctor
If I've understood correctly, he's merely saying that a Dementor-killing spree would be stupid, not that Harry wouldn't necessarily do it. It's consistent with Harry's take-no-prisoners mentality - as he says, "If trouble comes of it, let the Light win again."
6ArisKatsaris
Though a bit more politely than that...
Anubhav20

I still can't figure out whether you're excluding the Imperius.

Miss Granger would remember the Imperius. Obliviation cannot be detected by any known means, but only a Professor could have cast that spell upon a student without alarm from the Hogwarts wards

chapter 79

'She was Imperiused and then Obliviated' looks like the likeliest hypothesis right now.

5ArisKatsaris
I think the idea is that with just an Imperius and an Obliviation, she wouldn't remember herself deciding to cast the Blood-Chilling charm -- she might remember doing it, but not remember deciding to do it, which would be difference enough to be noted by the Veritaserum and/or Legimancer. So you'd need the False-Memory-Charm on top of that, and once you have the False-Memory-Charm you don't actually need to complicate this further with an Imperius and Obliviation, it suffices by itself.
Anubhav00

Miss Granger would remember the Imperius. Obliviation cannot be detected by any known means, but only a Professor could have cast that spell upon a student without alarm from the Hogwarts wards

'She was Imperiused and then Obliviated' seems to be the likeliest hypothesis.

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Anubhav140

(There's an analogous, hilarious, inconsistency in canon; how did the twins never see Peter Pettigrew sleeping in Ron's bed?)

What makes you think they didn't?

(The obvious answer to this inconsistency is that they had no reason to spy on their brother/the first-years' dorm, but... He used to be Percy's rat. They never spied on Percy? BS.)

0Sheaman3773
Rowling's handwave was that, due to (iirc) worry over being discovered, they only took out the Map when they needed to scope out areas for their pranks, and then they always focused on the areas in question. They apparently never felt the need to use the Map to actually spy on anyone, and never bothered to look beyond what was needed for a prank. According to Rowling.
Anubhav70

Here's a real change from canon:

His eyes were as cold as anything Minerva had seen from him since the day his brother died.

chapter 18

No clue what it implies, though.

3Daniel_Starr
Implies Aberforth Dumbledore was killed by the Death Eaters. If Albus Dumbledore killed Narcissa himself, this was probably the trigger.
Anubhav90

... Has it occurred to you that "fanfiction" and "original story" may not be sharply delineated categories? Cases in point: every major story from before the Age of Copyright, like the Greek myths or the King Arthur legends or the Robin Hood stories. Pick two versions a couple centuries apart and you'll find changes way more drastic than this one, and yet you can't pick out a version in the chain joining them that wouldn't qualify as fanfiction of the earlier versions.

2DanArmak
All that you say is true, and irrelevant. HPMoR is both an original story and, at the same time, a reflection on another author's story (fanfiction). I believe Eliezer doesn't change things (that happened before the story's beginning), and general facts about the universe, without having a specific reason in mind. This makes it more focused and easier to read for people familiar with canon (the target audience). A change to the universe that made prophecies in general not true/real, would be so big that it would thematically deserve to be the subject of its own story. In this story, the big change is everyone's intelligence, and we get to see how the smarter characters react differently to the same world as in the original story. In my opinion, a story that eventually revealed that "prophecies don't really exist and are always cons" - when even a character like Quirrel believes in them - would be in the same class as a story that eventually revealed that "magic doesn't really exist, it's all sufficiently advanced technology controlled by aliens who are the real mastermind, villain, and Harry ends up teaming with Voldemort to defeat them". It might be a good story, but it's not a Harry Potter story.
Anubhav90

I meant something along the lines of "When your hammer is too darn impressive, everything begins to look like a nail."

Anubhav70

I've said it many times, and I'll say it again... this is a better solution than most of what's been proposed in the discussion thread so far.

0MatthewBaker
Look all I know is that when Harry gets killed by Voldemort in canon nothing was as it seemed. I assume the next chapter will be nearly as suspenseful despite the trial resolution if Eliezer has anything to say about it.
0Pringlescan
Hopefully i'm not deluding myself by believing that my solution outlined here is equal or superior to Harry's solution whatever it is. I outlined my solution here http://lesswrong.com/lw/axe/harry_potter_and_the_methods_of_rationality/64am
Anubhav100

How on earth does the abstract relate to the putative topic?

6DanArmak
Some kind of database mixup. Note that the pubmed link is to an unrelated article with a different abstract.
gwern150

Yes, that is the question! Congratulations, you have won our Daily Double!

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