site banner
PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2644 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 6, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Portals / Endless Worlds by Fable 5.2

from Ethan Mollick's post 'Fable 5.2 and Jagged AGI'

Pretty cool. The faces in the cathedral were a bit lame though. A certain lack of craftsmanship in an otherwise excellent composition.

I don't really like Fable 5.2 that much personality-wise but it sure is smart. It did a lot better with a highly specific question than Opus 5.5.

I don't think I've seen that one. There are supposedly >450 worlds, presented at something like random.

OK I had no idea how many there were... There was one where it was this apartment building that had a huge cathedral in it (or some kind of bigger on the inside trickery), a tonne of people at a dance and the faces were all just faceless sub-PS1 blurs of colour. That was disappointing.

Since finding this yesterday, I've kept coming back to it just to see some more worlds. Like equal dopaminergic standing to other things I compulsively check throughout the day, not giving it any subsidy.

Imagining this a few more iterations down the line. This could be what gets me.

Oh yeah it's super cool, I came back to it myself. Just that when I work on AI projects myself I keep trying to eke out every last bit of quality, I always find myself extending and expanding the scope. Better one huge construct IMO than 450 scattershot rounds (though they are pretty good!). But then that bogs me down in the iterative back and forth of errorfixing, stuck in the mud rather than zooming down the highway.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats