The Sorting Hat
May. 4th, 2020 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nautilusdreamsOkay, so I get that J K Rowling's approach to world-building was something along the lines of 'hey this sounds cool lets do that' and then just, not thinking about it at all.
But, quite aside from the fact that the Hogwarts Founders made one of the most powerful magical items in existence and are using it to sort children into rather arbitrary categories; Is it ethical for the Sorting Hat to be going through the students minds?
It cannot and will not reveal what it learns to anyone, but it is still rifling through the minds of children and searching out their innermost thoughts and ideals. These kids don't know how Sorting happens at all, let alone that their minds are about to get skimmed through like an overdue library book.
This asks another question: Just how sentient is the Sorting Hat? Should it count as a person? Or is it simply appearing to be one to an outside viewer, like a chat-bot with telepathy?
I don't have answers to any of this, and asking Rowling's thoughts will probably just reveal that the Sorting Hat is secretly having an affair with Fawkes the phoenix, but its something to ponder.
What do you think? If a telepath could be absolutely trusted never to utter a word of what they see to anyone ever, would you let them search your mind to find your values?
But, quite aside from the fact that the Hogwarts Founders made one of the most powerful magical items in existence and are using it to sort children into rather arbitrary categories; Is it ethical for the Sorting Hat to be going through the students minds?
It cannot and will not reveal what it learns to anyone, but it is still rifling through the minds of children and searching out their innermost thoughts and ideals. These kids don't know how Sorting happens at all, let alone that their minds are about to get skimmed through like an overdue library book.
This asks another question: Just how sentient is the Sorting Hat? Should it count as a person? Or is it simply appearing to be one to an outside viewer, like a chat-bot with telepathy?
I don't have answers to any of this, and asking Rowling's thoughts will probably just reveal that the Sorting Hat is secretly having an affair with Fawkes the phoenix, but its something to ponder.
What do you think? If a telepath could be absolutely trusted never to utter a word of what they see to anyone ever, would you let them search your mind to find your values?
