Ep. 5: How I Learned to Start Worrying ...

In the first part of chapter 6, Harry enlightens McGonagall about the planning fallacy via an incredibly maladaptive coping mechanism.  Elisa, Jake, and Anthea are forced to question the limits of authorial intent and why there are so many alleys in Diagon Alley. 

Content warnings: we touch on Alzheimer's; medically assisted suicide, cryonics, and other end of life considerations; suicide; and mortality/death from about 0:50:00 to 1:05:45.

Citations and further reading, part 1

• HPMoR, Chapter 6. Eliezer Yudkowsky. https://hpmor.com/chapter/6 
• “Unpublished data from Stanley Milgram’s experiments cast doubt on his claims about obedience,” Eric W. Dolan. PsyPost, 17 Nov 2019. https://www.psypost.org/unpublished-data-from-stanley-milgrams-experiments-casts-doubts-on-his-claims-about-obedience/
• “Deception and Illusion in Milgram's accounts of the Obedience Experiments.” Gina Perry. Theoretical & Applied Ethics, January 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317914282_Deception_and_Illusion_in_Milgram's_accounts_of_the_Obedience_Experiments
• “Credibility and Incredulity in Milgram’s Obedience Experiments: A Reanalysis of an Unpublished Test,” Gina Perry, Augustine Brannigan, Richard A. Wanner, & Henderikus Stam. Social Psychology Quarterly, March 2020. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0190272519861952 
• “Replicating Milgram: Would People Still Obey Today?” Jerry M. Burger. American Psychologist, January 2009. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-64-1-1.pdf
• “Obedience to authority with an authentic victim,” Charles L. Sheridan & Richard G. King, Jr. Proceedings of the 80th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 1972. https://web.archive.org/web/20180127071012/http://www.holah.co.uk/files/sheridan_king_1972.pdf 
• LessWrong community surveys:
  • 2011: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/MKsuezdHmrHfbQCqT/p/HAEPbGaMygJq8L59k 
  • 2016: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FDaYqFW8ExjKNwkqa/2016-lesswrong-diaspora-survey-analysis-part-one-meta-and#Work_Status
  • 2024: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/MKsuezdHmrHfbQCqT/p/gpZBWNFxymsqnPB92 
• “Sir Terry Pratchett: coroner tribunals should be set up for assisted suicide cases,” Chris Irvine. The Telegraph, 2 Aug 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090805175425/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5960166/Sir-Terry-Pratchett-coroner-tribunals-should-be-set-up-for-assisted-suicide-cases.html 
• Terry Pratchett - Living With Alzheimer’s, BBC. 18 May 2009. https://youtu.be/KmejLjxFmCQ?si=Cze6ANh5zpqV5uA_ 
• “[LINK] Terry Pratchett is dead,” Baughn. LessWrong, 12 Mar 2015. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NqbSPsAHMTn7BTpFF/link-terry-pratchett-is-dead 
• “Yehuda Yudkowsky, 1985-2004,” Eliezer Yudkowsky. 18 Nov 2004. https://www.yudkowsky.net/other/yehuda 
• “Normal Cryonics,” Eliezer Yudkowsky. LessWrong, 19 Jan 2010. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hiDkhLyN5S2MEjrSE/normal-cryonics
• “It’s Embarrassing to Die: The Immortalist Story,” Atrocity Guide. YouTube, 1 Mar 2022. https://youtu.be/IZ2YEESTQUI?si=ik68Zn87acnQ1Fin  
• “Be Prepared,” Tom Lehrer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK75VeDeu_U 
• “Planning Fallacy,” the DecisionLab. Accessed 3 June 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260531110437/https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/planning-fallacy 
• Ministers of Propaganda, Scott M. Coley. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024. https://bookshop.org/p/books/ministers-of-propaganda-truth-power-and-the-ideology-of-the-religious-right-scott-m-coley/baf049d942871639