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Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 113 · 2015-03-03T05:07:58.934Z · LW · GW

I'm pretty sure that was Hermione.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 111 · 2015-02-27T02:27:15.199Z · LW · GW

Red herring.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 112 · 2015-02-27T02:05:54.531Z · LW · GW

I thought it was that ALL of the horcruxes were updated to 2.0.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 112 · 2015-02-27T01:56:12.122Z · LW · GW

From the description of HPMOR's horcrux spell, it won't work unless a witch/wizard is killed.

Edit: didn't see Nornagest's post.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 112 · 2015-02-27T01:02:38.916Z · LW · GW

The prophecy was only heard by Severus and Minerva.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 112 · 2015-02-27T00:56:59.451Z · LW · GW

Yours isn't the first I've seen guessing that ; it makes more sense than it being any OTHER Death Eater's arm.

Comment by LauralH on Failed Utopia #4-2 · 2015-02-24T09:30:40.374Z · LW · GW

Of course women would be smarter about sexual "utopias" than men. I mean no offense, biologically women have to be less impulsive about that sort of thing.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T09:03:11.682Z · LW · GW

Hell, it wasn't even considered committed in the 80s. Although I suppose different regions may have changed faster, in the South in the late 80s/early 90s, "going out" was what we said for "going steady", while "dating" implied a more casual relationship. (And the actual term 'dating' was rarely used - I remember being asked, "you guys messin'?" after a couple dates with a boy.)

So yes, true.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T09:00:09.291Z · LW · GW

Her maiden canon name is Black, not completely arbitrary.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T08:54:25.190Z · LW · GW

My head canon is that Riddle seduced his own DADA professor when he was a 6th year, so when he investigated Baba Yaga's death that narrative rang true to him.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T08:50:57.561Z · LW · GW

Lucius said that his own Dark Mark didn't "truly bind [him]" since he was Imperiused. Voldy could prove that bit, but that might be revealing a bit much...

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T08:43:42.985Z · LW · GW

'it' in Quirrell's rant is the true name dealio, not the Maurauder's Map.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-24T08:38:55.345Z · LW · GW

The story does feel like voldy saying 'when I was 16 I seduced a teacher, I bet that's how Baba Yaga died too.'

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 · 2015-02-21T05:04:08.251Z · LW · GW

The Longbottoms were tortured into "insanity", but their canon appearance in St. Mungo's looks far more like brain damage from Cruciatus. And lots of Obliviates seem to cause brain damage as well. Breaking a FMC on Bertha Jorkins in book 4 ended up killing her.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 104 · 2015-02-18T05:06:22.886Z · LW · GW

I think that's more likely Quirrell actively casting that causes the anxiety.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-18T04:26:21.525Z · LW · GW

Well some of it is faked, but he didn't intend to get caught drinking Unicorns.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-17T23:40:43.294Z · LW · GW

But that's the first time Potter sees their magic interact, so what effect did Quirrell fake?

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-17T20:46:51.627Z · LW · GW

Perhaps this is how Potter will "be seen to once again defeat the Dark Lord"? (re: ch65-66)

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-17T20:44:58.247Z · LW · GW

I find it highly unlikely that he faked the Avada Kedavra/Patronus effect in Azkaban...

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-17T20:40:28.913Z · LW · GW

All of them, as this is the first time Q hasn't turned into his Snake form first...

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 · 2015-02-17T20:38:07.377Z · LW · GW

On the first point : he can only be defeated by the Power He Knows Not!

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 19, chapter 88-89 · 2015-01-09T12:15:05.719Z · LW · GW

Nice job!

Comment by LauralH on More art, less stink: Taking the PU out of PUA · 2013-02-22T22:07:07.080Z · LW · GW

Old comments, but I used to know the author and I feel I should pimp for her - pardon the pun.

Comment by LauralH on Building Weirdtopia · 2013-02-16T02:37:30.342Z · LW · GW

My personal case study ahem, went down immediately then went up after a month; and I've known lots of people who only dated after they got on SSRIs. So the answer is, IT DEPENDS.

Also, the paper seemed not to differentiate enough between libido and "love" drive.

Comment by LauralH on Building Weirdtopia · 2013-02-13T01:52:52.734Z · LW · GW

Hm. I looked up the source and it looks like most of the "proof" is due to a few case studies. Not that anyone's still reading this but just in case.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 18, chapter 87 · 2013-02-12T02:52:16.419Z · LW · GW

In Canon, Dumbledore gives Tom Riddle a few galleons to pay for his books and school supplies first year, saying there's a fund for that sort of thing. Basically implying the fund is only for books and school supplies, so tuition+room/board is free.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 18, chapter 87 · 2013-02-12T02:47:58.810Z · LW · GW

Point one: Snape originally stayed in love with Lily because of the lost chance. He actually did think he had a shot with her till he called her a mudblood, but Harry pointed out that in fact he never did. I mean some people fall in love and if their loved one dies, never date again, so I was assuming Snape's feelings were of that variety. He knew they weren't actually "dating" but he thought he'd had a chance before That Day. Now, Harry tells him "Sounds like this Guy never had a chance with that Girl ever, because she's shallow." So, yeah, hearing that he's held on to these feelings for no reason instead of "if only I'd not called her a mudblood we'd have married" - I can see how hearing that you've really wasted your past 11 years of life can piss you off. His rage was due to changing his mind, but clearly Snape finds it hard to Not Shoot The Messenger.

Point two: It's more that Dumbles probably had been insisting for years (in a more subtle way than I'm about to do) that Loving Lily made him a better person so he should continue to do so. But the axiom for Loving Lily - that he could possibly have been with her if he'd been a better person in the first place - has indeed shattered. I don't think he's mad b/c Lily was shallow specifically, but just that she never, ever, ever, would have been with him. So yeah, he's trying to update on that new axiom.

Point three: as others have said, Snape Loves Lily is canon, but if you take that axiom above, it's not quite that unrealistic. I knew a girl in college who didn't date for 4 years after her boyfriend was killed in a car accident. And remember Snape thinks it's his fault she died, too.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 17, chapter 86 · 2013-02-12T01:40:03.093Z · LW · GW

My interpretation was that Snape told the truth, but there was something else that he knows about the Mark that he STILL can't divulge.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 17, chapter 86 · 2013-02-12T01:28:54.649Z · LW · GW

Putting Arthur Weasley in charge of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, rather than an actual Muggleborn/halfblood, strikes me as incompetence of the highest order.

We even see that Minerva took top marks in her Muggle Studies class, but still thinks of herself as ignorant, and she happens to be fairly competent.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 17, chapter 86 · 2013-02-12T00:51:35.073Z · LW · GW

Right, Chapter 76 was mainly to verify that Harry was trustworthy.

Comment by LauralH on Confusion about Normative Morality · 2013-02-11T23:37:12.477Z · LW · GW

I think EY's central point is something like: just because there's no built-in morality for the universe, doesn't mean there isn't built-in morality for humans. At the same time, that "moral sense" does need care and feeding, otherwise you get slavery - and thinking spanking your kids is right.

(But it's been a while since I've read the entire ME series, so I could have confused it with something else I've read.)

Comment by LauralH on Confusion about Normative Morality · 2013-02-08T02:23:42.199Z · LW · GW

So the professor was playing Devil's Advocate, in other words? I'm not familiar with the "requirements" argument he's trying, but like a lot of people here, that's because I think philosophy classes tend to be a waste of time. For primarily the reasons you list in the first paragraph. I'm a consequentialist, myself.

Do you actually think you're having problems with understanding the Sequences, or just in comparing them with your Ethics classes?

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 15, chapter 84 · 2013-02-08T01:06:54.443Z · LW · GW

This is pretty awesomely horrible, all right! ::applause::

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 14, chapter 82 · 2013-02-07T20:32:42.497Z · LW · GW

I also think this is a good idea, and hereby vow to buy a membership when HPMoR is finished for this purpose of voting it for Best Novel. As pointed out, even being nominated would get it a lot more attention.

I'm hoping for something like Neil Gaiman had when he won and then they banned comics/graphic novels afterwards.

Comment by LauralH on How did you come to find LessWrong? · 2013-02-07T00:54:03.595Z · LW · GW

I used to read overcomingbias.com, a friend of mine often linked to it on Delicious, and I noticed I preferred EY's posts in general.

I got out of the habit after I caught up with all his posts in 2009 or so (before this site came to be), but someone linked to chapter 5 of HPMoR and I was all WAIT A MINUTE THIS SOUNDS BLOODY FAMILIAR.

Comment by LauralH on That Magical Click · 2013-02-06T02:28:01.441Z · LW · GW

You mean most people don't read the Sequences and go "Yeah, that's exactly right!"

Hmm.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 13, chapter 81 · 2013-02-05T20:34:25.158Z · LW · GW

It all makes sense now: wizards are Zombies!

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 13, chapter 81 · 2013-02-05T20:32:31.798Z · LW · GW

So wizards are Zombies...

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 9 · 2013-01-31T22:58:47.149Z · LW · GW

I was a little creeped, but more because she would be forgetting it rather than because of consent issues. She was the one asking him, after all. And as a character moment, it was huge - his first kiss! The rope of his love for Lily is shredding all the more! Will anything keep him as an agent of the Light?

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 7 · 2013-01-10T01:41:56.526Z · LW · GW

...and that Fanfic is now 50 Shades of Gray.

Comment by LauralH on Stuff That Makes Stuff Happen · 2012-12-31T22:11:18.887Z · LW · GW

I was under the impression that the HPMoR story was to entice people to become "more rational", that is, get them to read more of the "day-job" stuff. There was also supposed to be an actual book on rationality, but it looks like that's been put on hold as well. Which to me seemed like a wise decision, since more people were being led to simply read the sequences via HPMoR already, so why bother with a book?

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 18, chapter 87 · 2012-12-22T12:14:15.452Z · LW · GW

It's just fanfic terms: "shipping wars" are people who argued over, say, Harry/Hermione vs. Ron/Hermione, and "OT3" in that case would have been Harry/Hermione/Ron. (The original acronym was OTP=One True Pairing.)

Comment by LauralH on Stuff That Makes Stuff Happen · 2012-10-30T05:04:59.612Z · LW · GW

You're writing this instead of Harry Potter fanfic? Sigh.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-19T07:17:20.639Z · LW · GW

Also, Harry really really doesn't want to kill ANYONE. He didn't even want to kill the nasty canon-style description of sadistic!Voldemort, for pete's sake.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-19T07:14:55.897Z · LW · GW

Another way to look at this (link me if someone's said this already) is as repeated matches of the Prisoner's Dilemma. The winning strategy tends to be "Start nice then match what the other guy does." So if Harry's considering this Hermione/Draco thing as the beginning of Harry vs. Voldemort (prophecy baby wouldn't count to him), no one died, it's fairly obvious that no one was meant to die (well, after ten years Hermione might have been dead, but that wasn't a given, Bellatrix and others from the last war have survived a decade), so Harry can hang on to his "no killing yet" stance for now.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-19T05:42:27.786Z · LW · GW

I thought it was funny. Because I'm not a Libertarian!

disclaimer: I am a libertarian.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-19T05:33:25.771Z · LW · GW

Likely, he read F/G or Ron's mind.

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-18T18:59:27.844Z · LW · GW

More than 2!

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 · 2012-04-18T07:03:55.547Z · LW · GW

Most likely 4...p>.9

Comment by LauralH on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 15, chapter 84 · 2012-04-14T05:52:47.445Z · LW · GW

Speaking as the middle of 5 kids - having a bunch of kids close to the same age like that can get expensive, and Molly didn't work.