Quirrell’s Parseltongued dismissal of Horcruxes as “meaningless” and “not truly gainsaying death”
Could have referred to generally known Horcrux 1.0, which is non-destructive. There could also be Horcrux 2.0, known only to Tom Riddle.
(There is no mention of Horcrux 2.0 in the story, but we already know that at least two spells have advanced versions: Patronus, Avada Kedavra, and now possibly Transfiguration. Also, if non-destructivity of the copy is the only problem, this problem seems relatively easy to fix once a person is aware of it. There is a technical problem of mixing your personality with the original personality, which you reduce by copying into a baby, and saving your memories. Then there is another technical problem of becoming a helpless baby, which you can solve by creating a non-destructive copy that will protect the baby, which also helps to overcome the Interdict of Merlin.)
Quirrell’s more recent Parseltonged statement that he cannot be truly killed by any power known to him
Okay, this one is more serious. If horcrux is merely a copy, then this does not make sense: any number of copies can be killed. So either horcrux is not what Quirrell said, or there are other spells protecting Quirrell. (Also, “horcrux as a copy” would not explain how Quirrell is a spirit able to possess bodies, or how he can use the horcrux in the space, so there is obviously more than just copying.)
I’d bank on other spells; “meaningless” is a pretty strong dismissal, and I don’t think it could apply to something that let you become a disembodied possessing spirit. The Pioneer horcrux might just be an evil surprise for another planet some day.
The main danger, I would imagine, is that somebody searching for signs of extraterrestrial life [that is, extra-their-terra, not extra-our-terra] might actually seek it out. (Hopefully anyone with the technology to make such a search successful already knows about magic and can safeguard against it.)
Well, that raises the question how exactly does magic interact with aliens? Come to think of it how do hocruxes interact with Terran non-human sentients?
Could have referred to generally known Horcrux 1.0, which is non-destructive. There could also be Horcrux 2.0, known only to Tom Riddle.
(There is no mention of Horcrux 2.0 in the story, but we already know that at least two spells have advanced versions: Patronus, Avada Kedavra, and now possibly Transfiguration. Also, if non-destructivity of the copy is the only problem, this problem seems relatively easy to fix once a person is aware of it. There is a technical problem of mixing your personality with the original personality, which you reduce by copying into a baby, and saving your memories. Then there is another technical problem of becoming a helpless baby, which you can solve by creating a non-destructive copy that will protect the baby, which also helps to overcome the Interdict of Merlin.)
Okay, this one is more serious. If horcrux is merely a copy, then this does not make sense: any number of copies can be killed. So either horcrux is not what Quirrell said, or there are other spells protecting Quirrell. (Also, “horcrux as a copy” would not explain how Quirrell is a spirit able to possess bodies, or how he can use the horcrux in the space, so there is obviously more than just copying.)
I’d bank on other spells; “meaningless” is a pretty strong dismissal, and I don’t think it could apply to something that let you become a disembodied possessing spirit. The Pioneer horcrux might just be an evil surprise for another planet some day.
Probably not, space is incredibly empty.
The main danger, I would imagine, is that somebody searching for signs of extraterrestrial life [that is, extra-their-terra, not extra-our-terra] might actually seek it out. (Hopefully anyone with the technology to make such a search successful already knows about magic and can safeguard against it.)
Well, that raises the question how exactly does magic interact with aliens? Come to think of it how do hocruxes interact with Terran non-human sentients?