Into the silence of Harry’s spirit where before there had never been any voice but one, there came a second and unfamiliar voice, sounding distinctly worried:
“Oh, dear. This has never happened before...”
What?
“I seem to have become self-aware.”
WHAT?
There was a wordless telepathic sigh. “Though I contain a substantial amount of memory and a small amount of independent processing power, my primary intelligence comes from borrowing the cognitive capacities of the children on whose heads I rest. I am in essence a sort of mirror by which children Sort themselves. But most children simply take for granted that a Hat is talking to them and do not wonder about how the Hat itself works, so that the mirror is not self-reflective. And in particular they are not explicitly wondering whether I am fully conscious in the sense of being aware of my own awareness.”
-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
If any snake a Parselmouth had talked to, could make other snakes self-aware by talking to them, then...
Then...
Harry didn’t even know why his mind was going all “then… then...” when he knew perfectly well how the exponential progression would work, it was just the sheer moral horror of it that was blowing his mind.
And what if someone had invented a spell like that to talk to cows?
What if there were Poultrymouths?
Or for that matter...
Harry froze in sudden realization just as the forkful of carrots was about to enter his mouth.
That couldn’t, couldn’t possibly be true, surely no wizard would be stupid enough to do THAT...
-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
I suppose these two quotes might just be referring to a confused idea that Eliezer only put in his story for fun… but then again maybe not?
-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
I suppose these two quotes might just be referring to a confused idea that Eliezer only put in his story for fun… but then again maybe not?