[HPforGrownups] Re: To the Extreme

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 164906

> va32h here:
>
> Well on one level, I would argue that Polyjuice Potion has now been
> used three times, Animagi have been used twice, and the Imperius
> Curse has been used twice so those guns are hardly being left
> unfired.

> Ken:
>
> And that is exactly how many real world problems are solved. It is
> a very powerful technique in science, technology, and analysis.
> Did you know that the electronics industry that produced the
> computer you are typing on is based on such a fiction? Negative
> numbers have no square root, it is undefined. On day some
> mathematicians decided for argument's sake to define the
> square root of -1 as i, the imaginary number. Working backwards
> from that fantastical premise what do you get? You get an
> entire new branch of mathematics that has extremely
> powerful applications in science and engineering. Modern
> electrical engineering as we know it is founded on this fiction.

Magpie:
I've got to go with va32h on this one. However helpful this sort of thing is 
in science or electrical engineering, what she's describing in the way it's 
used to prove theories is that people start with a fantasic premise and then 
make canon fit it, explaining things away or re-interpreting stuff in a way 
that's not likely given its original context, or is barely meaningful even 
in this context. It would be fine to start with an idea and see if it 
worked, but usually that's not what happens, because fiction can be 
re-interpreted and theories can also be re-shaped to answer any challenge.

Like, in this theory Merope was supposed to have passed her magic to Lily 
when she died, only the two characters weren't ever on the planet at the 
same time. That ought to nip the theory in the bud right there. Instead 
Lily's mother becomes a possibility--and now the burden of proof is shifted, 
as if it's up to listeners to prove the theory couldn't happen instead of 
the theorist proving the theory did happen. The theory's just focused on how 
to make it (the theory) work as a story in its own right, not looking for 
action stuff in the story (for instance, the fact that Voldemort says he 
sees a physical resemblance between himself and Harry is part of the theory 
without explaining why having someone else's magic transferred to you 
(somehow) would make your two sons look alike physically.

-m