ZOMG fanfic

[clauclauclaudia]

Harry ruffled a hand through his own hair. Maybe it was just that strange part of him which had already been convinced, but... "That's a bit of an anticlimax," Harry said. "You'd think there'd be some kind of more dramatic mental event associated with executing a Bayesian update on an observation of infinitesimal probability -" Harry stopped himself. Mum, McGonagall, and even his Dad were giving him that look again. "I mean, with finding out that everything I believe is false."

By Less Wrong, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Petunia married a proper Skeptic (or Sceptic, in British!) and Harry knows about Feynman and the scientific method and proposes a test of Professor McGonagall worthy of James Randi and... yeah.

It's not a complete fic, but it's an absolute treasure.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Really? The books I read had a protagonist who didn't think the rules applied to him, tended to go off and sulk when he didn't get his way, treated his friends badly, and tended to have a "oh, poor me" attitude.

Mind you, I still liked them. After all, Achiles had most of the same faults, and he was a hero, too.

[novalis.livejournal.com]

But he wasn't so smug about it all, which is really what bothers me about this Harry.

Also, I don't think the rules apply to me, so maybe I'm more sympathetic to Rowling's Harry. His view is even reasonable given that the rules left him stuck in a closet for his first ten years of his life.