Reminds me of what I love about the old occult guru Alesiter Crowley. He was starting his study of "magick" at the same time Quantum Mechanics and such were being discovered, and was trying to use serious scientific methods to explore and unify the various systems. You weren't suppose to take him on faith, you had to do the work yourself and either confirm his results or create your own system based on what you found. He also wrote the holy book "The Law is for All" while in a sort of trance and then found he disagreed with parts of it morally

(the now defunct podcast "Thelema Coast to Coast" about the current state of Crowley's followers was hilarious as they blasted those not willing to actually study and apply the proper logic to magick. If a demon doesn't actually show up, the spell doesn't work!)

This sounds absolutely amazing and I will begin to read it as soon as I get a spare moment*.

*By current estimates this means i will be able to finish it approx. 3 years after I die.

I'm about halfway through it and yes, this is incredible, and I would buy this in book form. A FANFIC. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Dorkman.

That's because you touch puppies at night.

On a slightly less disturbing thought...just finished chapter 2 and I'm LOOOOVING it!

Although the CONSTANT unnecessary reminders of Harry's now logical nature get a little grating, I'm hoping those go away soon.

Yeah, I can't find myself getting into this. What I love so much about Harry Potter is the wonder of discovering a new universe. It's not like there's no scientific method in the magical world: Rowling is pretty clear that you have to study a lot, including astronomy, and Potions isn't that different from Chemistry. The Harry Potter universe is laden with rationality, but it's also filled with wonder. All I got from what I read was a bunch of know-it-alls who are unwilling to accept anything new.

If that happened in the real books, Draco would Apparate to the Moon, bring Harry a Moon rock, and then ask him what the big deal was as they were to the moon centuries before Muggles.

Last edited by Gregory Harbin (2010-12-01 06:45:48)

Think of it this way: say you're a huge Star Trek fan, and someone writes a Trek 'fanfic' that removes everything you love about Star Trek: instead of Kirk being a ladies' man, he's timid and shy. Instead of being explorer/scientists, the Federation focuses on studying magic in our solar system. Any time someone says 'let's seek out new life and new civilizations,' someone says 'but why?'

Certainly, this fanfic might be an interesting examination of the sort of people it's portraying. But Brian says he would like to pretend that this fanfic is actually Harry Potter. I don't understand that at all.

It's worth noting that it's not that magic has been removed from the Harry Potter world or that there's a scientific (or science-as-we-know-it) explanation for everything that happens in the books (in fact, Harry finds himself regularly frustrated by magic's refusal to behave in a way consistent with the laws of physics), it's that Harry's approach to it is to ask questions.

It's a story in essentially the same universe told with different characters (or rather, variations on the existing characters), giving an alternate perspective for humorous effect.

But I can see how that might not be some people's thing. I mean, who DOES that?

Precisely. Thanks for noticing that.

But that's just the problem. I read a story in which people were constantly frustrated. It was frustrating reading about people being frustrated so much.

You know how there's that Speilberg trope where the group of people are looking at something in wonder? Imagine if, instead of wonder, those people were examining the situation logically and trying to come to a calm, cold, logical explanation. It just wouldn't make for good cinema.

I'm not saying that you guys are idiots for liking it. I'm just saying, *for me*, this removes everything that I love about Harry Potter and replaces it with a bunch of stuff that doesn't interest me. I love my science books—the last book I read was Hawking's latest, and the one before that was Dawkins' 'Greatest Show on Earth.' But this one just seems like an exercise in frustration.

Last edited by Gregory Harbin (2010-12-01 23:27:55)

I agree. So why is the Harry in this story so incapable of it? He sees his father levitated right in front of him, clearly without the use of wires or other contraptions, and all he can manage in response is to grunt.

If saying 'all I got from what I read was a bunch of know-it-alls who are unwilling to accept anything new' isn't stating that it is my opinion than I don't know what is.

Don't turn this into a semantic argument. If you think that there's a really strong argument for why approaching the Potter universe from this perspective is great, then just state it. I know you love attacking me personally, but please, for the sake of the forum, knock it off.

Think of how it looks like from this side. All I have to do is say 'this didn't really work for me,' and you don't even respond to me, but instead act like I'm not in the room like a disappointed stepfather. Show some respect.

Last edited by Gregory Harbin (2010-12-01 23:55:59)

Alright, Teague, I've changed my mind. Mike does know he's a jerk. I'm done here.