Basilisk

Grace Hammond, her book, Ask of Old Past, talks about how in the Middle Ages, they would use the image of different kinds of monsters to depict the spiritual reality that can take place inside of me.

Do you renounce Satan? She writes about how envy was pictured as what was called a basilisk.

She titles this section, My Inner Basilisk, and says that's a great band name, by the way, feel free to use it.

Basilisk was a enormous serpent with a crest or a cock with a snake's tail, kills with one glance.

It is so overwhelmingly venomous that its breath scorches the earth.

She was the one who, in the midst of being part of the hunted population during Chamber of Secrets, was skulking around corners with a mirror because she wanted to go to the library to help figure this out for herself, but also for Harry, who was hearing voices because she didn't just go to figure out what was going on.

She wrote Basilisk down because she knew it was a snake.

They could not have figured it out without her.

Like, she is...

Yeah, it's like, yeah.

Or the Basilisk.

So, Cedric dying here, a good kid.

And Voldemort, yeah, immediately establishing stakes for the rest of the series.

Again, spoilers for this whole movie and one if you haven't seen them.

The Basilisk.

Yes.

Shockingly, by a miracle from the Lord above, doesn't kill a soul.

Even Voldemort on the back of Quirrell, it's, like, relatively intimidating, but not crazy.

Lucius Malfoy in this movie is more intimidating.

Also, the Basilisk production design is...

Like, the Basilisk looks great.

You read this more recently.

Are there any other big significant things that are like not there? I think there's another victim of the Basilisk that they didn't do.

Yeah, there are a couple of...

It's because they had to condense things a little bit more.

Today I was watching something.

Have you ever heard, has anybody heard the thought experiment, the 2010 thought experiment, Roko's Basilisk? Have you done that one? Have you heard this one? This is one of those stories that is just...

Roko's Basilisk was this idea, and I think it was Eliezer Yudkowsky came up with this idea.

And it was a thought experiment that was from the rationalist forums called Less Wrong.

And it proposed that a future AI intelligence might retroactively punish anyone who knew about its potential creation, but did not actively help bring it into existence.

This is your, this is important.

This is your assignment tonight.

It's called Roko, R-O-K-O's Basilisk.

And this raises another question.

Could Harry have died from something that had nothing to do with Voldemort? What if he drowned or fallen off his broom? Would his magical protections have saved him then? In the Chamber of Secrets, after Harry is bitten by the Basilisk, it looks like he's pretty much moments away from dying.

In fact, if Fawkes hadn't shown up and healed him, I think it's safe to say that Harry would have died right there.

So, what's the deal? Interestingly, J.K.

So, can I ask this? This is kind of a random question, but if Harry had this horcrux in him, sort of, would he actually have died, say, when the dragon could have killed him, or when he was falling during Quidditch, or anything? Could he actually have died? Well, you've got, if his body had been irreparably destroyed, he has to die to get rid of that piece of soul.

His body has got to be irreparably damaged.

So a lot of people asked, and I think I've answered this since, but a lot of people immediately said, having finished Hallows, but then that means in Chamber of Secrets when he was pierced by the Basilisk, but no, no, no, no, no, no.

He didn't die.

Lockhart lost his memories.

Basilisk is dead and decaying in the Chamber of Secrets.

The Mandrake potion's finished, so the petrified kids should be waking up anytime now.

But I guess he's most happy that Harry showed him a bit of loyalty.