“Courage isn’t about being too awesome to need to be scared, it’s about doing stuff even when you do have reason to be scared”.
In canon, it was precisely Peter’s fear (greater than that of his friends) which led him to join Voldemort. So while I wouldn’t like to see Sirius made into a bad guy (since I side with wrongfully convicted prisoners and don’t want them to turn out to be guilty after all), it would be a powerful statement in favour of the power to overcome one’s fears if Peter stayed a good guy.
it would be a powerful statement in favour of the power to overcome one’s fears if Peter stayed a good guy.
It would also be a powerful lesson if Peter was able to see when his loyalty to a certain ‘side’ was irrational and make a considered choice to do the action that best allowed him to achieve his own goals. But that is exactly the wrong kind of signal for Eliezer to convey! ;)
As far as the methods of decision-theoretic rationality go, whatever Peter ultimately wants is OK and not for us to judge; we just consider how he should best go about achieving his goals. But MoR is not just a lesson book in rationality, and I’m happy for works of fiction to give absolute moral lessons too (at least if I agree with them ^_^).
I don’t know about supposed to but I like to and tend to appreciate it when others do. It reminds me to consider the tendency for humans to be whisked away into an endless depth first search of popular culture references.
In canon, it was precisely Peter’s fear (greater than that of his friends) which led him to join Voldemort. So while I wouldn’t like to see Sirius made into a bad guy (since I side with wrongfully convicted prisoners and don’t want them to turn out to be guilty after all), it would be a powerful statement in favour of the power to overcome one’s fears if Peter stayed a good guy.
It would also be a powerful lesson if Peter was able to see when his loyalty to a certain ‘side’ was irrational and make a considered choice to do the action that best allowed him to achieve his own goals. But that is exactly the wrong kind of signal for Eliezer to convey! ;)
That would be a Family-Unfriendly Aesop (TVTropes).
As far as the methods of decision-theoretic rationality go, whatever Peter ultimately wants is OK and not for us to judge; we just consider how he should best go about achieving his goals. But MoR is not just a lesson book in rationality, and I’m happy for works of fiction to give absolute moral lessons too (at least if I agree with them ^_^).
TvTropes!
Sorry, am I supposed to warn people? Done.
I don’t know about supposed to but I like to and tend to appreciate it when others do. It reminds me to consider the tendency for humans to be whisked away into an endless depth first search of popular culture references.
This is just why I would be shocked if the ‘Sirius bad’ idea was reversed. The lessons the side plot has already conveyed are solid!