The actual explanation is that they’re all fictional characters in a Harry Potter fanfic. Dumbledore knows this, or at least knows they’re in a story. The purpose is indeed to make a good story, and one that teaches Methods of Rationality.
What it doesn’t explain—why cheat codes are in latinised English.
Because it’s a Harry Potter fanfic, and in the original Harry Potter series, the spells were in Latinized English, probably because Latin has an ancient mystical aura for readers in fantasy tradition.
Not me, Harry. Harry, being a rationalist, wants to know the truth about his world, and he wouldn’t be happy with a Watsonian explanation that ignored important facts about how the world he lives in came to be.
You’re almost right.
The actual explanation is that they’re all fictional characters in a Harry Potter fanfic. Dumbledore knows this, or at least knows they’re in a story. The purpose is indeed to make a good story, and one that teaches Methods of Rationality.
Because it’s a Harry Potter fanfic, and in the original Harry Potter series, the spells were in Latinized English, probably because Latin has an ancient mystical aura for readers in fantasy tradition.
Oh Blueberry, you so Doylist!
Not me, Harry. Harry, being a rationalist, wants to know the truth about his world, and he wouldn’t be happy with a Watsonian explanation that ignored important facts about how the world he lives in came to be.