Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

[Pope Lecherous]

rereading from start to finish.  i have noticed some changes, mostly continuity things.  to all, you may want to read again during this break of his

[Cain]

It's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

[LMNO]

 

[LMNO]

So wait a second... He has this long speech to Hermione about how a small lie blossoms into the destruction of rationality and physical laws, and then decides to fake Voldemort's return and subsequent defeat?

[Jasper]

Well, he did say he'd think first and decide later.  But yeah, that is somewhat poor form. 

Also,

  YAY IT'S BACK!

[Cain]

Remember though, Harry's faith/"trust"/fellowship with Quirrellmort is entirely destroyed at this point.  He has so many doubts and worries concerning Quirrellmort's actions anything he says to him cannot be taken at face value.

[LMNO]

And there's always Refuge in Audacity.

[Jasper]

Yeah.  You know it says something that, even though I know (strongly anticipate) that QQ is Voldemort, and I still think it's sad that Harry can't trust him anymore.  

Rational!QQ is scary charismatic.

[Cain]

He's one of the best villains I've ever read.

Also, you know who I think would have the perfect voice for the part of QQ?  David Warner, who voiced Irenicus in BGII.  I often read this story with that particular voice in mind. 

[Jasper]

Oh hell yeah.  Also a great antagonist.

ETA: I think John Noble would be a good voice for this version of Dumbledore. 

[Cain]

Oh hell yes.

Also, this fic keeps inspiring me to write a revised Baldur's Gate style fanfic.  Irenicus and Sarevok were wicked smart (less said about Melissan the better...), but I cannot help but think they could be made even more clever.  And, I mean, despite the protagonist wandering around like an idiot in the game, they were raised in the fictional equivalent of the Great Library.  Right there you have the potential for some incredible plots.

[Jasper]

Irenicus' smugness was played up a bit too much, IMO.  They could have added more to accentuate how "Just as planned" he can be.

[Cain]

Yeah, definitely.  Though I think the initial attack, which frees you, did catch him off guard (incidentally, there is a mod you can install where Chateau Irenicus is far more befitting an insanely powerful wizard who always plans ahead.  Fancy fighting roaming patrols of duregar and, among other things, a level 23 cleric and a fallen deva at level 8?  Oh yeah, those were fun times).

Also they could have played with his Dangerously Genre Savvy aspect a bit more, I think.  I mean, refusing to tell you what it was all about, even when he had you at his mercy, was a good one, but there was definitely more there which could have been worked with.

[LMNO]

I dunno why, but I was kind of struck by this line:

"Amateur foolisshnesss."

"Pardon?" hissed Harry.

"You ssee misstake, think of undoing, ssetting time back to sstart. Yet not even with hourglasss can time be undone. Musst move forward insstead."

This, I think, is one of the keys to surfing the waves of chaos.  You can't go back, you can't start from zero, or hit the reset button.  Adding another quarter in the next 15 seconds won't bring you back to the last save point.  Look ahead, look ahead.


Sure, it's trite, but I guess I was just in the right mood/context for it to jump out at me.

[Cain]

I've been arguing a point with similar logic to that for several years now: as to why our various foreign occupations are fucked, even with the introduction of Shiny New Humanitarian Counterinsurgency Practices.

The idea is seductive: if we do everything right now, it will undo the mistakes of the past.  Only, reality rarely works like that.  Life isn't designed like a computer game, there isn't always a way to achieve your objectives if your first few steps were wrong, choices made without understanding the consequences can seal off paths to victory for forever, and you wont even know this until well after the point of being able to make a decisive move is long gone. 

The only thing to do is plan everything from the very start of any given venture all the way to the end, with all the possible routes and diversions, no matter how unlikely, you can conjure up, and then choose the path most likely to bring you to the desired conclusion so every path brings you to the desired conclusion.  Or, work from the reality you already have to the most preferable of the still obtainable outcomes.