self_made_human
C'est la vie
I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.
At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!
Friends:
I tried stuffing my friends into this textbox and it really didn't work out.
User ID: 454
self_made_human
C'est la vie
20hr ago
Well, now I must know yours!
self_made_human
C'est la vie
20hr ago
Well, he didn't find that out till he was dead did he? Plus he does work on his "soul", or ways to preserve it like the Spring Autumn Cicada. Unfortunately, it came with severe risks, so it's not a reliable means of indefinite life extension.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
20hr ago
Hey, I might not be a Real Fan™, but even I know about the whole Qatari stadium thing that Gooners moan about! Unfortunately that's an issue more than 2 decades old now, so I'm not sure how seriously people will take me if I complain about how things have been since I was less than 10.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
20hr ago
I would assume so, but note that the author's real name is Gu Zhen Ren, which translates to "Gu Immortal". There's probably layers to the pun here.
There are also direct allusions to the concept of Gu in the story, in the sense of people talking about making real insects fight till the winner, an "insect king" , is the only one standing.
Most Xianxia novels aren't quite so zero-sum. But a ruthless focus on cultivation and self-improvement without regard to the cost is common enough.
The author flexes further by churning out an enormous number of memorable and likeable characters, the majority of them worthy of their own novels. Yet the world is cruel, and he's crueler, and few who go up against Fang Yuan come out of it the victor. I've wept at some of their fates, the sheer valiance, their raging against the dying of the light or their efforts to uphold their values till the end. They inhabit the world they're in, they think, reason and plot. Fang Yuan isn't the one character in the universe with the ability to plan ahead.
Indeed. I've always struggled to write solid characters, and I'd be loathe to throw them away unless absolutely necessary for the plot. Gu Zhen Ren doesn't give two fucks, he'll make you feel for people who have maybe 5 lines of dialogue.
Even Fang Yuan says that he's not the only main character, that's just the perspective of his story. There are plenty of other people fated and blessed with good fortune and talent, and they get plenty of limelight. I suppose that's a strong perk of writing in third person, the author can easily show off alternative perspectives, and much of the time, they're no dumber or less internally rich than the MC.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
1d ago
I enjoyed both of them, though I preferred WTC over MOL.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
1d ago
I asked it right now, and it got everything right. How long ago was this?
I even used the basic bitch 4o model. There are better ones that I have access to as a paid user.
https://github.com/vectara/hallucination-leaderboard
The current SOTA LLMs hallucinate as little as 0.8% of the time for well grounded tasks, text summarization in this particular case. Of course, the rate can vary for other tasks, and the results worsen when getting into obscure topics.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
1d ago
An easy trick is to get another model to review/critique it. If both models disagree, get them to debate each other till a consensus is reached.
These days, outright hallucinations are quite rare, but it's still worth doing due diligence for anything mission-critical.
As George suggested, you can also ask for verbatim quotes or citations, though you'll need to manually check them.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
1d ago
self_made_human
C'est la vie
1d ago
You were right. My bedroom has the thinnest veneer of installed carpet, so I was confident it wasn't an issue. But I took it to the bathroom with wooden flooring and it seems accurate.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
2d ago
In a mere 20 days from starting Ozempic, I've lost 35 kilos.
... Or the cheap Chinesium weighing scale I bought off Amazon is badly miscalibrated. I'm not sure how it's even possible to screw one of those up so badly.
Oh well, maybe I can donate it to the clinic and ask that it's reserved for the worst cases of anorexia. It'll cheer those girls right up, I tell you.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
2d ago
A serious answer? Far too much effort for a throw-away joke, but I appreciate it haha. Maybe I will watch a football match, then I can stop getting shit for wearing football shoes out and about.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
3d ago
I've been driving some kind of BMW I-series for half a year now. Great car. Shame it belongs to my driving instructor.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
3d ago
If Gooning is wrong, I don't want to be right. A man needs to put his balls in a net from time to time.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
If you couldn't tell, this was a joke.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
It boggles my mind too. It's one of the few sports where the spectators get more of a workout than the players.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
Are you 100% sure that approach would work in the UK? They're almost as nerdy about cricket as Indians are!
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
I'm looking for advice on how to fake being a football fan.
I call myself a fan of Arsenal because, when I played Fifa 2001, I'd end up picking them because I thought the cannon on their flag looked sick. I'm reliably told that they peaked right about then, and I've had decent mileage telling people I stan Arsenal because then they give me pitying looks and don't ask followup questions.
Courtesy of drinking at Scottish pubs, I feel at risk of more detailed grilling, and I want to get better adaptive camouflage. So far, I've come up with:
"What was the coach even thinking?" and "They keep trying to walk it in this year", but I'd appreciate more personalized advice to shake the trail.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
It'll make you horny af. That's about it dawg.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
Absolutely nothing wrong with that, as far as I'm concerned.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
It hit the best med school in the state during the crash. I suppose that's one way to deal with elite over-production.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
Next thing you know, you're going to start claiming my theoretical degree in physics isn't valid :(
It's only fair the stupidest AI out there has the same caliber of user. Or perhaps those with the best taste, idk.
self_made_human
C'est la vie
4d ago
Please drop everything and check out Meta's AI feed. It's making me cry, imagine getting to have a quick look at what people are talking about on ChatGPT, except that it's the bottom barrel of literacy, and that they're not aware that the "share" button isn't a save button. It makes everything public for the world to see.
Best I've seen is 2 minutes is a woman grappling with vaginal stankiness, and someone trying to write a character letter for their buddy about to be sent to jail. Good times.
Here's the tweet that introduced me to the hobby.
Here's the actual site, if you don't want to accidentally download the Meta AI app and then find out it's meant for smart glasses:
Who knows?
But I still stick by my original claims. I think it's productive to frame it as akin to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. When you're starving, self-actualization is something you don't have the time or inclination to pursue.
In a way, I think Fang Yuan has the drive for immortality just above the basic fundamental needs like food, or even shelter. We know that he has some interest in poetry (he recites and composes it himself without anyone forcing him to), so maybe he becomes some kind of Philosopher-King? It's entirely possible that you're right that he eventually becomes bored, infinity is a very long time, but 500 years of life turned him into what he is, who can really say what longer periods will..
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