08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Deep Cost of Science
"Oh... there aren't many people who know how to do true science - understanding something for the very first time, even if it confuses the hell out of you. Help would be helpful."
Draco stared at Harry with his mouth open.
"But make no mistake, Draco, true science really isn't like magic, you can't just do it and walk away unchanged like learning how to say the words of a new spell. The power comes with a cost, a cost so high that most people refuse to pay it."
Draco nodded at this as tho...
1 Is learning to admit your wrong, and everytime you change your mind you change yourself.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Planning Fallacy
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, then closed it. The witch rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking thoughtful. "Mr. Potter... if I were to offer to listen to you for a while... is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"
"About what?"
"About why you're convinced you must always be on your guard against terrible things happening to you."
Harry stared at her in puzzlement. That was a self-evident axiom. "Well..." Harry said slowly. He tried to organise his thoughts. How could he e...Folksonomies: cognitive bias fallacy
Folksonomies: cognitive bias fallacy
1 
notes
notesWe underestimate how close we are to completing a task, the only solution is to consider how long it took us to complete the last time we did it.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Rational Potter Plots to Take Over the Magical World
Professor McGonagall undoubtedly knew every last detail of how you went about turning into a cat. But she seemed to have literally never heard of the scientific method. To her it was just Muggle magic. And she didn't even seem curious about what secrets might be hiding behind the natural language understanding of the Retrieval Charm.
That left two possibilities, really.
Possibility one: Magic was so incredibly opaque, convoluted, and impenetrable, that even though wizards and witches had ... 1 notes
notesThrough science!
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Rules of Magic Don't Make Any Sense
Some children would have waited until after their first trip to Diagon Alley.
"Bag of element 79," Harry said, and withdrew his hand, empty, from the mokeskin pouch.
Most children would have at least waited to get their wands first.
"Bag of okane," said Harry. The heavy bag of gold popped up into his hand.
Harry withdrew the bag, then plunged it again into the mokeskin pouch. He took out his hand, put it back in, and said, "Bag of tokens of economic exchange." That time his hand came ou... 1 notes
notesRational Potter experiments with a magical bag that will give him whatever he asks for and doesn't understand why it can understand some requests but not others.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Harry Potter and the Fundamental Attribution Error
“You saved them from You-Know-Who,” McGonagall said. “How
should they not care?”
Harry looked up at McGonagall and sighed. “I suppose there’s no
chance that if I said fundamental attribution error you’d have any idea
what that meant.”
McGonagall shook her head. “No, but please explain.”
“Well...” Harry said, trying to figure out how to describe that particular
bit of Muggle science. “Suppose you come into work and see your
coworker kicking his desk. You think, ‘...Folksonomies: rationality cognitive bias
Folksonomies: rationality cognitive bias
1 notes
notesRational Potter explains to McConagall that people are projecting onto him powers he does not have.
