This thread is a little silly, even by local standards. First of all, the fact that a potion can be no stronger than its ingredients doesn’t imply that a potion will always be as strong as its ingredients—there are probably all kinds of other restrictions on what can be effectively brewed. By way of analogy, most Volvo engines don’t run at Carnot efficiencies and most split pea soups don’t run at more than 0.01 efficiency.
Second, all of the canon/fanon magical ingredients are non-copiable...a feather or a squished animal is not like a CD or a video game or a piece of parchment. Perhaps you could use the original of a piece of parchment if you didn’t keep a spare copy, but EV drops lots of clues—potion conservation was apparently designed by someone who thought the universe was fair, potion brewing is a substitute for a small, safe sacrifice, etc. -- everyone who’s trying to figure out how to make a potion out of costless intellectual property is playing a different game than the one Harry’s playing.
Third, advanced electronics tend to malfunction in proximity to strong magical auras—so far the most advanced Muggle artifact that’s been successfully used to interact with wizards are a car battery and a solid-fuel rocket—both of which basically just discharged their stored energy, without any controls more subtle than an “on” button.
Fourth, would it really be fun if Harry put Science into a cauldron and took out a flask full of Win? A major theme in the fanon so far is the importance of working together in teams and coalitions. Harry already has enough power to singlehandedly overcome most casual bands of students. He destroys Dementors, outwits Headmasters, is fabulously wealthy, incredibly famous, has above-average magical strength, bloody single-minded discipline & determination, and of course an excellent background in basic cognitive science. If he suddenly became an expert programmer, researcher, etc. and broke Merlin’s Interdict, he’d have enough power to singlehandedly overwhelm adult powerhouses like Lucius or Flitwick...I don’t buy it. I predict that Harry will be prompted to learn how to play politics on a national scale, just as Harry has recently learned how to lead teams on a school-wide scale.
This thread is a little silly, even by local standards. First of all, the fact that a potion can be no stronger than its ingredients doesn’t imply that a potion will always be as strong as its ingredients—there are probably all kinds of other restrictions on what can be effectively brewed. By way of analogy, most Volvo engines don’t run at Carnot efficiencies and most split pea soups don’t run at more than 0.01 efficiency.
Second, all of the canon/fanon magical ingredients are non-copiable...a feather or a squished animal is not like a CD or a video game or a piece of parchment. Perhaps you could use the original of a piece of parchment if you didn’t keep a spare copy, but EV drops lots of clues—potion conservation was apparently designed by someone who thought the universe was fair, potion brewing is a substitute for a small, safe sacrifice, etc. -- everyone who’s trying to figure out how to make a potion out of costless intellectual property is playing a different game than the one Harry’s playing.
Third, advanced electronics tend to malfunction in proximity to strong magical auras—so far the most advanced Muggle artifact that’s been successfully used to interact with wizards are a car battery and a solid-fuel rocket—both of which basically just discharged their stored energy, without any controls more subtle than an “on” button.
Fourth, would it really be fun if Harry put Science into a cauldron and took out a flask full of Win? A major theme in the fanon so far is the importance of working together in teams and coalitions. Harry already has enough power to singlehandedly overcome most casual bands of students. He destroys Dementors, outwits Headmasters, is fabulously wealthy, incredibly famous, has above-average magical strength, bloody single-minded discipline & determination, and of course an excellent background in basic cognitive science. If he suddenly became an expert programmer, researcher, etc. and broke Merlin’s Interdict, he’d have enough power to singlehandedly overwhelm adult powerhouses like Lucius or Flitwick...I don’t buy it. I predict that Harry will be prompted to learn how to play politics on a national scale, just as Harry has recently learned how to lead teams on a school-wide scale.
Wait, someone’s calculated this?