TitaniumButterfly
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User ID: 2854
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
If they aren't, and it is ever possible that someone other than the Author-Empowered God Stand-In ever claims (or even challenges) that power, then there is not just no story, but no possibility of a story, because the superintelligence would just turn off the laws of physics that permit its enemies to have ever existed.
Now you're just making the opposite mistake, which is assuming that the laws of physics are entirely mutable.
A superintelligence would need to derive a benefit from the existence of a non-sterile galaxy commensurate with the risk of another superintelligence popping up in it and saying "Fuck you and the light-cone you rode in on."; even if it doesn't go full paperclip-maximizer, shouldn't a superintelligence be like "Hey, the fact that failure is a dramatic possibility means that we should pre-empt this?"
This doesn't make any sense from any angle. There's no way to evaluate the values of a superintelligence. Also, there's no reason to assume they wouldn't have plenty of time/ability to stop such a thing from happening, nor foreknowledge that it would be impossible for a competitor to spring up fully formed.
The implication in the book is that galaxies are nurseries where the (distant) equivalent of new child deities arise, and they care to allow that to continue.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
This assumes that laws of physics are universal and immutable which we are not in a position to judge.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
By the way you would probably get a lot out of Stepheson's The Diamond Age if you haven't read it.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
Looking forward to it!
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
To be honest I don't know what your actual objection is.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
Yeah it's near the end of the first book.
And even if that's the nominal explanation, there's no way in hell it would work IRL.
I'm sure you know better than transcendent superintelligences =P
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
I'm pretty sure that's explicitly stated. It's a cradle of sorts to make sure that new sapiences can arise without getting eaten by the sort of (to us) megapredators which would otherwise infest the levels at which things like us are generated.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
Well that didn't take as long as I thought it would. Not as satisfying without more buildup but today is still a good day.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
Don't worry I've read plenty of Vinge. Was looking for more of a Vingian take on Avatar.
TitaniumButterfly
1d ago
Yes I've read both and loved them. The latter held up better on a second read, imo, whereas I couldn't get back into the first.
TitaniumButterfly
2d ago
Thanks btw; I actually missed the link and thought this was just a really tiny (but intriguing) prompt.
TitaniumButterfly
2d ago
Is this a thing? Where can I find more?
TitaniumButterfly
4d ago
I'll probably check it out later but it would be nice to have some examples in bullet-point format.
TitaniumButterfly
5d ago
What's TDS?
TitaniumButterfly
15d ago
Neat!
Right -- of course the people selling food in 'food deserts' are prioritizing products with high demand in the area. How else could it possibly be? "Hey let's open a market in a heavily-black area but instead of selling them the fresh organic produce they want we'll only offer processed foods." Does anyone think this kind of oppression is actually happening?
Same with reddit's daily complaint threads about how 'the fashion industry' refuses to sell women dresses with pockets. Inevitably someone links an outlet which does offer that but is doing poorly because no one actually wants them.
Or for that matter the 'pink tax' on women's items such as razor blades.
"The products are the same but they charge more for the ones marketed toward women!"
"So if the products are the same, buy the one marketed toward men."
"...No I like the pink one better."
The market is in the business of selling you what you want at a price you find acceptable. There is no conspiracy by rich white men to get in the way of that process.
...Except maybe the war on drugs.
TitaniumButterfly
18d ago
Yes! But I wanted to double-check for you and it was this one. 7981 E Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95823
TitaniumButterfly
18d ago
May have technically been Elk Grove.
TitaniumButterfly
19d ago
Have you ever read an account of an adoption gone wrong?
I feel so gross for asking but could you please share some especially-lurid ones?
Do me a favor and explain why it's literally false?
The metaphor is wrong because in the typical understanding, the actions we should take against "invasive species" should be extreme, up to and including eradicating them from the "invaded" area.
Or, you know, at least stop subsidizing them.
TitaniumButterfly
19d ago
This anecdote isn't intended as commentary on what you wrote, but I feel like sharing.
My area is full of big homes occupied by single retirees and tiny apartments occupied by families. Somehow, whether due to regulation or tax nonsense or what have you, there doesn't seem to be a way of fixing this. Maybe when the boomers really start to die en masse it'll work out.
Actually something I've seen a few times is married boomers who are still 'together' but each live in their own full sized homes near each other as they simply find that more pleasant. Blew my mind the first time but it keeps coming up.
TitaniumButterfly
19d ago
The Democrats' positive vision is more socialism and it's pretty popular with a lot of young people. The worsening economy will only fuel this fire.
TitaniumButterfly
19d ago
Somalis don't "control" anything.
They have substantial influence in many local elections and a tendency to vote for their own. Such a voting bloc can easily end up in control of all sorts of important positions even while remaining a minority.
They'll breed with the whites in two generations
Interbreeding between the two is negligible and Somalian IQ is low enough that even after some mixing the hybrids will remain an underclass. What's more, the whites they're likely to mate with are in turn the lowest-quality and lowest-status whites, so they wouldn't even be mixing with the average.
This is ridiculous hyperbole
Disagree.
TitaniumButterfly
19d ago
No doubt, and I'll be first in line to complain about him, but this place still maintains a standard when it comes to outright name-calling.
TFW she breaks up with you by text and you notice the em dashes
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