Comments on: Episode #79: Harry Potter and Gödel’s Theorem

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:11:12 +0000

It’s the same as Big Rock Candy Mountain from the O’ Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

By: Brian from Facebook

Brian from Facebook — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:02:40 +0000

Yeah, I would like to be able to download that song too!

By: Laura N

Laura N — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:19:28 +0000

what are the chords to my invisiblity cloak, its such a cool song!! have you attached an mp3 onto the site?

By: Rosie

Rosie — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:48:42 +0000

No, as much as I liked my invisibility cloak, I don’t think that Jo would have a very good impression of Wrock if we sent her that.

In an anniversary book, we could talk about how we feel after a year of having Deathly Hallows.

By: Brian from Facebook

Brian from Facebook — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:32:50 +0000

I second Rosie’s idea of a one year anniversary thank you book! Great idea.

…but I don’t think Greg’s W-rock single is such a great idea.

By: Shimon

Shimon — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:16:15 +0000

maybe he could send a wizard rock single

By: Rosie

Rosie — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:48:24 +0000

Greg and Penny should record something together, we wouldn’t love hp progs half as much if it was just one of them.

By: Michal

Michal — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:44:43 +0000

I haven’t gotten anything If he gets it in before I finish putting it all together and in the mail, awesome. If not, not.

Incidentally, I was thinking that Greg could just record something briefly and email me the file. I’d pop it on a CD and just stick that in. I don’t know if Jo would bother to listen to it… but you never know.

By: Penny

Penny — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:34:39 +0000

Yeah, Greg, have you?!?

By: Rosie

Rosie — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:12:39 +0000

Yeah Laura, That’s a good question! With the anniversary of Deathly Hallows coming around, we should do a one year anniversary thank you book!

By: laura

laura — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:53:21 +0000

thanks, will try that.
greg- have you written your thank think to JKR yet? Just curious…

By: Michal

Michal — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:57:42 +0000

laura: If you pick up song lyrics, Rosie’s idea is really good. You can also record your song/poem/chant/whatever and play it over for yourself for as long as you can stand it. I have an auditory memory as well, and I’ve found that that can work for me.

(I don’t have much to say about PiP… but my finals just ended, so the study tips are flowing! )

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:00:45 +0000

At one point I made a truth table out of the Prophecy to prove that either Harry or Voldemort would die, possibly both, but not neither. It’s on the old blog.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:45:27 +0000

You could always write poems or lyrics with the important facts. Then sing them non stop. It might work!

By: laura

laura — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:17:30 +0000

eh, i seemed to have missed that one. will go back. just a thought. who are all the philosophers that you keep mentioning. I have heard of plato obv but its confusing. i am rereading ootp even though i really didn’t like it and it is a lot better this timne than it was four years ago. Its slow but i thought it would be a lot worse. sorry i don’t say much, just don’t have that much to say.

Q- Does anyone have any odd revision techniques. Writing out and pictures don’t really work but I find I pick up song lyrics quitckly. Is there any way to use that. Got about 14 exams in a fort night

By: Shimon

Shimon — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:52:15 +0000

Very nice. I like that idea.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:19:05 +0000

That sums it up perfectly.

I guess that you could even say that book seven is about learning to trust yourself, but I don’t think that that is the main theme, or even an important one.

By: Shimon

Shimon — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:02:34 +0000

Rosie – you are right, point taken.
I was trying somehow to differentiate between the theme of 5 and 6.
I now think that they both are about Trust from two different vantage points.
While OoTP is about – knowing the truth and getting people to trust you,
HBP is about – achieving your goals by learning to trust others.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:52:31 +0000

I don’t know about loyalty, I think it would be more trust, trusting that people are trying to help, and are telling you the truth.

By: Shimon

Shimon — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:15:04 +0000

by the way I really liked the discussion on the Dept. of Mysteries and Godel’s theorem. I actually have some thoughts on book 5 and Game Theory i’ll see if I can distill them into a coherent mp3

also i was thinking that Harry’s visions even if implanted by Voldy also ironically turned out to actually be a (self fulfiling) prophesy

don’t know yet what you have in mind but i’m stikin with Loyalty as my book 6 theme. keep up the good work.

By: Penny

Penny — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:18:48 +0000

Did we really discuss it already? Crap. I am going to have to figure this out or I’ll feel stupid in the next episode.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:13:26 +0000

Thanks Shimon! Now that I read your explanation, and am fully awake, that makes a lot of sense!

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:07:04 +0000

We’ve actually discussed the theme for Book 6 at great length already a while back. I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out where and when.

By: Shimon

Shimon — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:57:35 +0000

If I had to guess I would even go for loyalty as the HBP theme

By: Shimon

Shimon — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:54:28 +0000

ok Rosie cast your Protego and read on….
I actually think that Trust is quite prevalent in book six from beginning to end.

It starts with Bellatrix not trusting Snape and him explaining why the Dark Lord does. We are then introduced for the first time to the “unbreakable vow” a tool used soley for the purpose of enabling trust.

The notion of a promise comes up again immediately as the main reason Dumbledore himself comes for Harry at the Dursleys is to make them promise that Harry will be allowed back one more time. Time and again Dumbledore affirms his complete trust in Severus Snape and later on we hear part of the scene where he is holding him to keep his word. Draco on the other hand has stopped trusting Snape.

Dumbledore is giving Harry confident information which he trusts him not to share with anyone besides those whom he is sure are his loyal friends. He explicitly gives Harry the feeling that he trusts him as they go Horcrux hunting and once again extracts a promise from Harry as they leave. Harry for his part shows his loyalty and worthiness of Dumbledores trust proclaiming himself Dumbledore’s man.

Even on a homorous note we are introduced to the amusing Rotfang conspiricy theory concerning those who dont trust the ministry.

to be continued … (maybe)…

By: Geri-chan

Geri-chan — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:05:38 +0000

Hi, I’m enjoying the discussion about truth and knowledge in Book 5! It got me to thinking about Book 6, and how Harry used the Half-Blood Prince’s notes in Potions class and passes it off as his own work–it’s knowledge that he hasn’t earned. It’s always bothered me that he basically got away with plagiarism and was never punished for it. He never even seems to feel very guilty about it.

I guess the Prince’s book also shows the danger of using knowledge without fully understanding it when Harry uses the Sectumsempra spell on Draco without knowing what it does, and nearly kills him.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:56:48 +0000

It’s late, so I’m tired and I might have missed something, but when does trust come into book 6? Sorry if that’s a stupid question.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:28:11 +0000

Brian: I didn’t. I said it’s a bridge. It’s not the main theme of 6 or 7.

By: Brian from Facebook

Brian from Facebook — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:49:41 +0000

Greg: I’ll have to listen to this episode again, I totally missed the part where you said that it’s a main theme for the last three books. Thanks for the heads up.

By: austin

austin — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:49:15 +0000

my computer hates me