"…Pointless debate?"
Grindelwald's eyebrows twitched as he repeated the phrase, almost involuntarily.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore looked at Hermione with interest, a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
"Yes, it's nothing more than a variation of the paradox between outcome justice and procedural justice. This isn't anything rare in the non-magical world; it just means you two don't know enough about Muggle jurisprudence and philosophy."
Hermione nonchalantly replied, arranging the soft-shell crab legs around the campfire.
Undoubtedly, both Dumbledore and Grindelwald hoped to influence and change the world through their actions and words, but they had fundamentally different definitions of the logical cause and effect, as well as the focus.
If Dumbledore was a staunch guardian of reform, advocating for gentle, orderly, and socially progressive changes, then Grindelwald was an absolute revolutionary forerunner; anything that could achieve outcome justice was a worthwhile sacrifice, and anything that couldn't was a waste of human social resources.
Just like the debates in the non-magical world for countless years, in the eyes of most people, these two issues were an either-or, completely irreconcilable twin paradox…
"You mean it's a paradox that cannot be answered, right?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly, looking at Hermione with a gentle, thoughtful nod.
"That's not wrong to say. Sometimes people want to follow the protection of order, but when order becomes the creator of injustice itself, people seek true fairness, so…"
"So, why can't we find a balance point that satisfies both?"
Hermione sighed, turning to look at Dumbledore, asking in a calm tone.
"If something can be done both in an orderly state and achieve the ideal result, wouldn't it satisfy the demands of both viewpoints at the same time? Can't we just sit down and talk things over? We're not beasts."
"You're too naive, child."
Grindelwald grinned, touching Hermione's hair and shaking his head.
"In reality, it will never be as perfect as you imagine. Most of the time, you will need to face a choice: either compromise in the process or compromise on the result—a win-win situation only exists in theoretical imagination."
"Muggles make multiple-choice questions…"
Hermione's lips curled slightly as she pulled out her wand and poked at the campfire, causing a fiery serpent to leap high.
"We are wizards. Besides—isn't turning imagination into reality the meaning of magic?"
"Hmm?" Grindelwald frowned, somewhat puzzled.
"Everything in this world—magic, wealth, power, food… it all has a price, which means that as long as there is reasonable negotiation and cooperation, we can definitely find a balance point that satisfies the value needs of both parties."
Hermione glanced at Grindelwald and then at Dumbledore, who also looked puzzled, and smiled slightly.
"Take a very simple example: potatoes, food, magic, students."
"In my opinion, most conflicts ultimately come from a scarcity of resources—this resource may be wealth, food, a spouse… or even intangible things like honor, status, and lifespan."
"Whether it's the magical world or the non-magical world, whether it's human society or the natural biosphere, everything living in this world is more or less bound by the [equivalent exchange]."
"But! The existence of magic can completely overcome the constraints of real-world equivalent exchange and create high premiums."
"In other words…"
Hermione smiled sweetly, handing two crispy fried soft-shell crab legs to the two old men.
"With the help of magic, we can offer anyone a generous deal they can't refuse."
In game theory, there is an important concept called Pareto optimality, an ideal economic distribution form that almost all economics master's students will encounter. Hermione, who somehow managed to get her graduation certificate in her previous life, was no exception.
Pareto optimality refers to an ideal state of resource allocation.
That is, assuming a fixed group of people and distributable resources, a change from one distribution state to another, without making anyone worse off, makes at least one person better off. In an absolutely ideal model, it will achieve an extremely fair and efficient social cooperation distribution system.
However, in practice, it is difficult for people to make one party better off out of thin air without harming the interests of any party—under a sufficiently large sample collection, there will always be related parties bearing the role of the exploited.
Unless…
"With sufficient premiums, a win-win result will form at the very beginning of all events, and then go backward based on this result, using magic to replace the potentially harmful or sacrificial links in the middle."
Hermione picked up a finished crab leg and drew lines and circles on the loose dirt.
As an economics graduate, it wasn't too difficult to explain this basic theoretical model to two old wizards. Even without too much basic theoretical groundwork, she could roughly explain it by combining graphics and examples.
"This can be exemplified by Gryffindor. If Gryffindor, which only grows potatoes, the [basic currency], in a normal non-magical market, is equivalent to the exploited labor force at the bottom. However, because magic can produce a gushing potato yield in a short time, it makes them the advantageous party."
"But, as far as I know, Gryffindor hasn't had any advantages since the new rules were promulgated…"
Dumbledore pushed his glasses with his left hand, interrupting with some confusion.
"That's because they lack the most important way of thinking."
Hermione spread her hands, turned to look at Dumbledore, and explained without hesitation.
"Gryffindor, with the largest potato reserves and productivity, can gain a voice at any time by reducing and expanding the amount of potatoes in circulation on the market—this is also the most powerful weapon I left them. Similarly, the other three houses all have their own advantages, all of which are regulated by introducing the variable of magic."
"In fact, Professor Dumbledore, you should be the most clear about this. The transaction premium caused by magic is now quietly lying in the potato warehouse under the castle, waiting for us to use it for our next plan, right? Of course, the potato model is just the simplest example, the real situation will be hundreds of times more complicated than this."
"But…"
Dumbledore frowned, rubbing his temples with some effort.
Although what Hermione said were all very simple sentences, for some reason, when they were put together, he felt a throbbing in his forehead when he tried to understand them. It was a kind of weird idea he had never seen before.
"Don't worry…"
Hermione's eyes gradually brightened, shaking her head triumphantly, with the crab leg in her hand moving on the ground.
"Next, I'll simply break it down for you. This can actually be shown with a very simple and intuitive quantitative economics model. First, we'll set the demand groups into several sets…"
"Wait! Stop!"
Before Hermione could finish her words, Grindelwald suddenly interrupted urgently.
"Eh?" Hermione looked at the old man in front of her, tilting her head in a rather cute manner. "Um, Grandpa, is there anything you didn't understand about what I said earlier? I can explain it again."
"This isn't a question of not understanding something, this is, uh…"
Grindelwald's eyes swept over the large row of formulas and lines on the ground that looked like magic patterns. He took a deep breath, trying to dispel the vague sense of dizziness lingering in his mind.
"I believe there's some truth to what you're saying. Indeed, if we use magic flexibly, we can avoid many of the disputes and sacrifices we've encountered in the past, but there's one thing you haven't considered!"
"Which point?"
"All of this needs to be based on effective communication."
Grindelwald drew a circle in the air with his arm, looking at Hermione with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Perhaps according to you, after negotiation and mutual understanding, the two sides with opposing views can always reach a balance point somewhere, but you first have to get them to sit together and discuss things peacefully…"
"That's right, it's like it's hard for you to get Death Eaters and Ministry of Magic officials to sit together and discuss ways to resolve conflicts in a friendly manner. Many times, if we could really communicate well, there wouldn't be any conflicts."
Dumbledore also nodded in agreement, a look of regret on his face.
Neither Dumbledore nor Grindelwald hadn't thought of such a method.
Even without any unfathomable premium transactions or whatever Pare law, people would think of solving problems through communication—regardless of whether it was successful or not due to the method, many times even communication couldn't be achieved.
Hermione glanced at Grindelwald and Dumbledore, pursed her lips, and replied quite easily.
"You're talking about this problem? It's not a problem anymore. Don't forget, I'm not facing the same environment you two were facing back then. Different eras have different solutions."
"Hmm?"
"I don't see where people are any different."
The two old wizards exchanged glances, the doubt in their eyes becoming more obvious.
"It's very simple. Isn't it obvious?"
Hermione's little ahoge swayed triumphantly, she said with a confident tone.
"I have you two backing me up now!"
Dumbledore: …
Grindelwald: …