All of LearnFromObservation's Comments + Replies

Hi! Thanks for the welcome. Is it possible to move this thread to the Open Thread forum?

0Baughn
No, since that's a discussion post and not a distinct.. well, we're running the Reddit codebase, somewhat modified. It's not a separate subreddit. Just copy and paste.

Are there other ways of extending life? What if we were able to prevent death, but not ageing? So we were able to control mortality, but not time? Your point is well taken, though. To add to my question-is there a way to recover the "essence" of a person after death? So when we learn how to stop it, we can resurrect people?

1A1987dM
We arguably already do that too much.
6Baughn
"Preventing death but not ageing" is not carving reality at its joints, when the main cause of death is ageing. The scenario you're painting is intuitively plausible, which goes mostly to show why intuition is sometimes a poor guide. Any attempt to defeat death must necessarily make people healthier and keep them young. Which is not to say it's impossible, but it'd almost have to be deliberate...
1Mestroyer
There is almost certainly no way to bring back most people who have died. With the destruction of their brains, the information that makes up their memory is probably nowhere we can retrieve it. Maybe for example something different is happening in a worm's digestive system because it ate through a memory that was one way instead of another. But that's shortly after the brain is eaten by the worm (and other stuff). You'd have to capture the worm and take it apart impossibly delicately to even have a chance of getting the information back. You'd have to have enough information about the prior state of the worm and its surroundings to know how the insides of the worm would be different depending on the state of the memory before it being eaten. The things you would have to know to track down each bit of information explode outward as more things happen to the worm and its surroundings, etc. I'm pretty sure this is something not even a superintelligence could do. It might be possible to bring back a little bit of someone who has been dead short enough that they still have lots living friends, acquaintances, and detailed records of things related to their thoughts. Though there should be lots of little hidden internal details that can't be inferred from their external behavior, which couldn't be reconstructed. There's also cryonics, though it can't help most people who are already dead and probably won't be able to help most people who have yet to die.

Hi! I'm Ciara (pronounced like Keara-Irish spelling is very muh irrational!) I've actually been a member of less wrong for a little while-I discovered it through HPMOR. I've always liked academics, challenging books, and Harry Potter, so I joined Less Wrong. I am a little ashamed to admit that I was quite intimidated by the sheer intellect and extraordinary thoughts that came from so many members all around the world. So, I took a little break after starting with the basics of rationality and am now a very different, though still amateur rationalist, pers... (read more)

But doesn't Harry accept that he has more than one "voice"? So if he's truly a rationalist, wouldn't he rationally gather evidence based on how people acted and his own voices, and after these observations, look at how complex people can be? Yes, Hermione doesn't think that he sees other people in that way, but he must, because he cares what Hermione and Draco think, and he goes to Prof. Quirrell for help and advice, doesn't he?

I agree about the interesting narrative. It does make it more complex and quite a bit more real. (I don't know about you, but it's similar to how I think/have inner doubt.) Much better than "feeling conflicted".

Well, if Harry fell for it, then I suppose I can't be too bad... :P. But isn't that what Harry "hears" when he thinks in the personalities of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin? (with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff usually tag-teaming?) If not, what does it mean? I'm guessing that it is his imagination (not, for example, Voldemort's Horcrux talking to him), but why else would E.Y. insert it into this story?

I agree that Quirrell benefits the most from Harry becoming so angry that he loses control in order to protect Hermione and is therefore probabl... (read more)

3Xachariah
Well, this is why Harry's models of others are bad. Because he assumes they just have the one Slytherin/Grffindor/Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw that they listen to. He underestimates people because of it. I mean, check out what Hermione says about him in chapter 31. As for E.Y. inserting those, it's great for narrative; it's a much more dynamic way of showing a character grappling with their inner doubt than them just sitting there and feeling conflicted (I swear I've seen that term in so many fanfics). I also think it's a holdover from Shinji and Warhammer 40k, another popular fanfiction I believe E.Y. is familiar with. Even though it's not as overtly rationalist as HPMoR, it's got many elements of a rationalist worldview.

My most sincere apologies, I'm a bit new to Less Wrong and my rationality is still not perfected. Are the rest of my theories still sound, or do they fall under the umbrella of disaster that is game theory as well?

0Vaniver
The underlying theory- that Houses correspond to aptitudes / personalities rather than goals- is mistaken. That's something Harry is mistaken about it too, so don't feel too bad about that. (That's one of the reasons he's so bad at modeling others.) Your other observations appear correct, and the outcomes you list are all plausible (though obviously not exhaustive). None of them strike me as particularly probable (except for the OR statement which encompasses most outcomes- the other option is that Dumbledore wants Harry's rage, just like Quirrel might, and so is deliberately not saving Hermione). Quirrel is a primary suspect behind this plot against Hermione, and gets more out of the Harry who has declared war on Wizarding Britain than the Harry who is grateful that Hermione was saved. McGonagall does not have the hero's disease that everything is her fault, and so is unlikely to see this event as under her control, and is thus unlikely to intervene. Similarly, Lucius is probably Snape's closest friend at this point, given Snape's new understanding of Dumbledore's motives and lowered connection to Harry. Snape might have a crush on Hermione, but I don't think we have evidence to that effect and he would have to be totally mad in love to go against the Wizengamot.

If we observe, most things that are factual questions are indisputable by intelligent people; for example, "Is the Earth round?" is a question that anyone who is fortunate enough to have some basic intelligence and an elementary school education is unlikely to argue. However, in order to have an opinionated question, one opens the can of worms that is mind killing and biased. For example, if you had two towns side by side, populated by young adults of equal intelligence and equal education, and they each had a sports team that competed against the other town's, those people living in each town would claim their team to be superior, without evidence other than "I live in this town." Hence, bias.

I was thinking about Harry's four sides: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. He's already tried Ravenclaw (presenting logic and rationality, thinking through his options) and Slytherin (plotting against Lucius Malfoy in front of the Wizgov.-"you do not want me as your enemy") But his Hufflepuff (strong loyalty to Hermione as a friend) refuses to allow him to give up, and I think his Ravenclaw and Slytherin sides will shout down the Gryffindor option (destroy the dementor with his patronus). However, E.Y. said "figure it out fro... (read more)

3Vaniver
This is standard game theory. Read some Schelling.