Join Steven and Brian as we dive into the world of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality! Steven will play the role of the tour guide while doing his best to not spoil any of the surprises and Brian will play the seasoned adventurer who is new to this particular work.
In this episode, we cover chapter 7! Harry meets Ron, who didn’t get the same level-up that Harry got for this story and is… rather uninteresting by comparison. Draco seems nice and charming, but the son of Darth Vader turns out to be a lot less chill than he seemed.
Original chapters, written by Eliezer Yudkowsky, can be read here and the audiobook chapters, recorded by Eneasz Brodski, can be found earlier in this podcast feed and on the website.
In next week’s episode, we will be covering chapter 8.
Album art courtesy of Lorec from The Bayesian Conspiracy podcast’s Discord. Thank you!
Coy on the same Discord manages an RSS feed that compiles the relevant audiobook chapters with the WW MoR counterparts. Just copy and paste that link into your favorite podcast app in the “add by url” option. Thanks, Coy!
And, as promised, here is the copy pasta about why Harry Potter should have carried an M1911:
“Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know you’re going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
Here’s why:
Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol’ American hot lead.
Basilisk? Let’s see how tough it is when you shoot it with a .470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You aren’t looking at it–you’re looking at a picture of it.
Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12.
And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe it’s because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
Now I know what you’re going to say: “But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun!” Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies). But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger?
Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.
Imagine Harry out in the woods, wearing his invisibility cloak, carrying a .50bmg Barrett, turning Deatheaters into pink mist, scratching a lightning bolt into his rifle stock for each kill. I don’t think Madam Pomfrey has any spells that can scrape your brains off of the trees and put you back together after something like that. Voldemort’s wand may be 13.5 inches with a Phoenix-feather core, but Harry’s would be 0.50 inches with a tungsten core. Let’s see Voldy wave his at 3,000 feet per second. Better hope you have some Essence of Dittany for that sucking chest wound.
I can see it now…Voldemort roaring with evil laughter and boasting to Harry that he can’t be killed, since he is protected by seven Horcruxes, only to have Harry give a crooked grin, flick his cigarette butt away, and deliver what would easily be the best one-liner in the entire series:
“Well then I guess it’s a good thing my 1911 holds 7+1.”
And that is why Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.”
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I hadn’t seen that copypasta about guns in Harry Potter before, thanks for linking it.
Reminds me of something I saw from author Larry Correia (I can’t imagine he was the first to hold this opinion, but he is the first that comes to mind) claiming that most horror movies would be over in the first 15 minutes if the protagonists carried guns: stalker shows up, stalker gets shot in the face, group of teenagers goes back to having a relaxing weekend at a cozy cabin in the woods.
I find the whole Harry is being a douche idea strange. Ron isn’t nice enough to leave Harry be to respect his boundaries and disinterest in Quidditch. Why does Harry have an obligation to be nice to Ron.
The real rationalist doesn’t go to a funeral and tells people that everyone dies. They go to a funeral and ask how the person died. “Oh, breast cancer? Fuck breast cancer. Let me look up an institute that researches breast cancer treatments and transfer 10$ to them. I’ll write down their IBAN for you too and compose an email, thanking them for their hard work.”