How would you fix children's education in the Potterverse?

I do not really thing thermonuclear device is a good metaphor.

Wizardry is not really all that effective at killing. It's more effective at torture and mind control.

A wizard with effective scientific knowledge can play thermonuclear device on command. Given that no one has shown any knowledge of this besides possibly McGonagall and that peripherally, though, we can't assume anyone ever knew it well. Without that little bit of gamebreaking...a wizard trained to Quirrel level is a person of mass destruction who could probably take out whatever Muggle ground forces you sent him against. If the Muggle authorities knew anything about them, then they'd definitely be considered assets of the state. It's not too implausible, though, that the wizards could have remained hidden, at least to the point where the only thing known about them was that they were a secret society in Russia.

Where are you getting this?

Transfiguration. Depending on how instant the change is, you could either just transfigure a critical mass straight (necessarily a suicide attack, but not one that requires any preparation) or transfigure subcritical masses and set up a gravity-fed gun-type weapon without much difficulty. This gets a bit of exploration in Methods of Rationality, but only peripherally and by implication.

edited 26th Apr '12 8:20:13 AM by alethiophile

I don't remember that.

And anyway I think the whole torture/mind control angle has much more useful application than thermonuclear weapons. Those work better as threats, and we already have a whole bunch of those.

Probably correct in that magic has better and more versatile uses than just playing big boom; however, it's always useful to have a truly large stick at least available to you.

Yup. Amongst the many things Theodore Roosevelt got right. "Speak softly and carry a big stick"

According to our most beloved Archchancellor, Mustrum Ridcully, if the eldritch horror born out of nightmare can't be taken down with a couple of hearty thwacks from his staff, it's probably immune to magic as well.

I must confess an utter unfamiliarity with Pratchett, other than a brief flirtation with a book he co-authored with Neil Gaiman. Good Omens, I think it was. I only read it because Gaiman.

You should totally read Discworld. Good Omens is not a representative of what Pratchett is truly capable of. I hate that some people give him flak for being a comedy writer, but he is one of the greatest fantasy writers of our time.

I only read Good Omens because of Gaiman. Pratchett is one of the few writers whose books I will not read because I just don't see the appeal. Same reason why I will not watch Terminator Salvation, Avatar or Titanic.

The niche he would have filled has been already as far as I am concerned with the books that the Eddings couple wrote.

Well, your loss then. Terry Pratchett is genuinely brilliant satirist and world builder, and you shouldn't underestimate him. Just sayin'.

edited 27th Apr '12 6:26:24 AM by Nightwire

I keep hearing that. But, contrary bastard that I am, the more I do, the more I am determined not to bother. Pratchett doesn't need my money or my time, he gets enough of those things from folks who can be bothered.

I suppose one could say the same for this Methods fic.

Yup, 8-)

I tend to find though that more people like Pratchett than like Methods though. So it needs all the proselytizing it can get.