Comment by ntijanic on Why AI may not foom · 2013-03-24T18:25:12.155Z · LW · GW

100 slaves are not going to take over the world.

One 10,000 year old human might be able to do it, though.

Comment by ntijanic on The Relation Projection Fallacy and the purpose of life · 2013-01-01T15:23:17.211Z · LW · GW

Actually, "the ultimate purpose" seems double-confused, lacking both the object and the optimization process :)

If the object is "life", I can't tell if it is supposed to mean life-in-general, or my life, or all our lives.

Comment by ntijanic on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 11 · 2012-03-20T10:04:14.565Z · LW · GW

Hypothesis: original (probably Latin) incantations were aliased to "Wingardium Leviosa" and similar because it was easier for Hogwarts students to learn.

Evidence:

• Powerful wizards still use some Latin spells. Perhaps only up to 7h year magic was aliased?
• We did not see any non-English wizards cast spells yet. It's likely (and fits into the setting) there are other syntaxes.
• Due to the Interdict of Merlin, it's possible the Latin alternatives are lost.

The aliasing could be common knowledge among wizards, but not muggleborns. That could explain Hermione not saying anything when Harry snaps at the silliness of it. Still, Draco doesn't mention it when discussing if early wizards were more powerful.

Do readers get to see non-English speakers cast spells in canon?