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PaperclipPerfector  16hr ago (text post)   643 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 22, 2025

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I've been reading the fanfiction Pokemon: The Origin of Species on and off recently. It's a rationalist take on the Pokemon setting in the same vein as HPMOR, if you aren't familiar. It's had some good ideas and moments, and can be delightfully brutal, but I just got to the chapter that introduces Bill and was put off by the author dropping a bowling ball on my head about AI safety, with lines ripped (cited?) almost 1:1 from Big Yud. It feels almost... quaint? But more tiresome than anything else; this isn't a new topic for anyone who had read a lot of Rational fiction or blogs.

Moreover, it's made me apprehensive about the direction of the story and unsure if I want to continue. I enjoyed rationalist concepts applied to the Pokemon world, and the author trying to make real various concepts and moves in the game. I'm not interested in it turning into another AI/ending death story... which seems like where the author or main character wants to go given recent events in the story.

Has anyone else read this fic? What were your thoughts. I'm only on chapter 37/143 myself, so I won't be able to talk about events far in the future.

I dropped the story at that chapter because it was such a lazy approach to trying to get readers on board with the idea. If the author was being that lazy with the pitch, what else were they being lazy about?

Just went back to reading Most Evil Trainer, which was actually good.

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