You just never have to apologize for doing a quick, cheap experimental test, pretty much ever
This (injunction?) is equivalent to ascribing much higher probability to the hypothesis (magic) than it deserves. It might be a good injunction, but we should realize that at the same time, it asserts inability of people to correctly judge impossibility of such hypotheses. That is, this rule suggests that probability of some hypothesis that managed to make it in your conscious thought isn’t (shouldn’t be believed to be) 10^-[gazillion], even if you believe it is 10^-[gazillion].
I guess it depends a bit on how you came to consider the proposition to be tested, but I’m not sure how to formalize it.
I wouldn’t waste a moment’s attention in general to some random person proposing anything like this. But if someone like my mother or father, or a few of my close friends, suddenly came with a story like this (which, mark you, is quite different from the usual silliness), I would spend a couple of minutes doing a test before calling a psychiatrist. (Though I’d check the calendar first, in case it’s April 1st.)
Especially if I were about that age. I was nowhere near as bright and well-read rationalist!Harry at that age (nor am I now). I read a lot though, and I had a pretty clear idea of the distinction between fact and fiction, but I remember I just didn’t have enough practical experience to classify new things as likely true or false at a glance.
I remember at one time (between 8 and 11 years old) I was pondering the feasibility of traveling to Florida (I grew up in Eastern Europe) to check if Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon” was real or not, by asking the locals and looking for remains of the big gun. It wasn’t an easy test, so I concluded it wasn’t worth it. However, I also remember I did check if I had psychic powers by trying to guess cards and the like; that took less than two minutes.
You mean the plot point that Harry Potter tested the Magic hypothesis? I don’t think most plot points in the introductions of stories really count as spoilers.
I agree, though I think the particular test chosen in the story didn’t make much sense—even if magic was real I wouldn’t have expected that to have any effect.
The most astonishing thing about spoilers, I find, is that they are often provided to you with exactly as much enthusiasm after you announce that you haven’t seen the story as before.
This (injunction?) is equivalent to ascribing much higher probability to the hypothesis (magic) than it deserves. It might be a good injunction, but we should realize that at the same time, it asserts inability of people to correctly judge impossibility of such hypotheses. That is, this rule suggests that probability of some hypothesis that managed to make it in your conscious thought isn’t (shouldn’t be believed to be) 10^-[gazillion], even if you believe it is 10^-[gazillion].
I guess it depends a bit on how you came to consider the proposition to be tested, but I’m not sure how to formalize it.
I wouldn’t waste a moment’s attention in general to some random person proposing anything like this. But if someone like my mother or father, or a few of my close friends, suddenly came with a story like this (which, mark you, is quite different from the usual silliness), I would spend a couple of minutes doing a test before calling a psychiatrist. (Though I’d check the calendar first, in case it’s April 1st.)
Especially if I were about that age. I was nowhere near as bright and well-read rationalist!Harry at that age (nor am I now). I read a lot though, and I had a pretty clear idea of the distinction between fact and fiction, but I remember I just didn’t have enough practical experience to classify new things as likely true or false at a glance.
I remember at one time (between 8 and 11 years old) I was pondering the feasibility of traveling to Florida (I grew up in Eastern Europe) to check if Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon” was real or not, by asking the locals and looking for remains of the big gun. It wasn’t an easy test, so I concluded it wasn’t worth it. However, I also remember I did check if I had psychic powers by trying to guess cards and the like; that took less than two minutes.
The probability that you have no grasp on the situation is high enough to justify an easy, simple, harmless test.
And I’d appreciate it if spoilers for the story were ROT13′d or something—I haven’t read it.
You mean the plot point that Harry Potter tested the Magic hypothesis? I don’t think most plot points in the introductions of stories really count as spoilers.
Yeah, that’s not a spoiler any more than “Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi” is a spoiler.
A “Jedi”? Obi-Wan Kenobi?
I wonder if you mean old Ben Kenobi. I don’t know anyone named Obi-Wan, but old Ben lives out beyond the dune sea. He’s kind of a strange old hermit.
Ah, of course. That’s fine, then.
Although you might want to let EY know that someone posted unobfusticated spoilers for … Chapter 10, was it? - in violation of community standards. ;)
I agree, though I think the particular test chosen in the story didn’t make much sense—even if magic was real I wouldn’t have expected that to have any effect.
The most astonishing thing about spoilers, I find, is that they are often provided to you with exactly as much enthusiasm after you announce that you haven’t seen the story as before.
This isn’t surprising at all.
People who give out spoilers when discussing a work generally don’t care that you don’t like to hear spoilers before you’ve experienced a work.
Considering you’ve read the rest of the posts in this thread, that’s not a spoiler, just my opinion about what you’ve already been discussing.
I haven’t.
Well, it was a bit silly to comment on it without context then. At any rate no major/obvious spoilers have been posted here.
That’s a relief.