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[malloc]

It would - if the people let the techbros drive them out.

It starts with recognizing the inherent dangers of AI and evident malice of the tech industry. Not sure what comes after that, unfortunately. We are facing a juggernaut with trillions of dollars and powerful political connections. That said, I have noticed more social media chatter than usual about AI going rogue with many concerned about claims that AI has a ten percent chance of killing us in the coming years. While that specific claim seems unlikely, it does suggest that people are getting shaken out of their complacency.

All this really underscores just how much my life has deteriorated over the years. It seems bizarre in hindsight to remember feeling like 2016 or 2006 were dismal years. Certainly they were, but they still compare quite favorably to my current life. Even the year 2020 with all its crises went much better for me anything I've experienced since. The last few months of that year in particular had a surprising string of good fortune. It often feels like I've tolerated all the horrors over the past few years because I'm hoping to relive that brief period of respite.

[WeepingElf]

It would - if the people let the techbros drive them out.

It starts with recognizing the inherent dangers of AI and evident malice of the tech industry. Not sure what comes after that, unfortunately. We are facing a juggernaut with trillions of dollars and powerful political connections. That said, I have noticed more social media chatter than usual about AI going rogue with many concerned about claims that AI has a ten percent chance of killing us in the coming years. While that specific claim seems unlikely, it does suggest that people are getting shaken out of their complacency.

Yes, the alliance between the techbros and the far right has tremendous power, a lot of money and also a lot of guns. But even such juggernauts can be overthrown. Just look at what happened in the Soviet Bloc in 1989/90. Not everything went well back then, but many countries broke free, developed fairly stable democracies and, though after going through economic troubles, recovered and became much more prosperous than before.

All this really underscores just how much my life has deteriorated over the years. It seems bizarre in hindsight to remember feeling like 2016 or 2006 were dismal years. Certainly they were, but they still compare quite favorably to my current life. Even the year 2020 with all its crises went much better for me anything I've experienced since. The last few months of that year in particular had a surprising string of good fortune. It often feels like I've tolerated all the horrors over the past few years because I'm hoping to relive that brief period of respite.

So you are projecting your own misery onto the world as a whole. I know that; I have done so sometimes, too. Realizing that you do is the first step towards overcoming it. Your life may be miserable at the moment, but that doesn't mean that everything was lost. I admit that things currently don't look good, especially in the United States, but I still doubt that we are doomed, and I still believe that something can be done about it. And this belief makes me carry on. You can do the same.

[Raphael]

Hello? Wasn't there supposed to be a "malloc shouldn't talk about AI, and others shouldn't talk to malloc about AI"-rule in place?

[malloc]

Hello? Wasn't there supposed to be a "malloc shouldn't talk about AI, and others shouldn't talk to malloc about AI"-rule in place?

That seems a rather unfair and unreasonable rule. Given the sheer prominence of AI over the past half-decade, pretty much any discussion of economics, philosophy, or science will unavoidably touch on it in some way. Nobody would be more thrilled than myself if I never had to think about AI again, but unfortunately it has become this massive fixture of the technological landscape for now.

[zompist]

Hello? Wasn't there supposed to be a "malloc shouldn't talk about AI, and others shouldn't talk to malloc about AI"-rule in place?

That seems a rather unfair and unreasonable rule. Given the sheer prominence of AI over the past half-decade, pretty much any discussion of economics, philosophy, or science will unavoidably touch on it in some way. Nobody would be more thrilled than myself if I never had to think about AI again, but unfortunately it has become this massive fixture of the technological landscape for now.

No one else has the ability to make entire threads about themselves for page after page.

If you had anything useful to say about it, or weren't so full of credulity and misinformation, or listened to what other people said, it might be different.

Don't make me bring out the banhammer.

[alice]

A humble suggestion: since malloc's fears about AI - however justified or otherwise we may feel they are - currently keep turning up many times in many different threads, would it be worth creating a special thread to which they¹ would be confined², assuming a resonable standard of debate is possible?

¹the anaphor's referent is intended to be "malloc's fears", not "many different threads".
²he'd have to promise, of course.

[zompist]

A humble suggestion: since malloc's fears about AI - however justified or otherwise we may feel they are - currently keep turning up many times in many different threads, would it be worth creating a special thread to which they¹ would be confined², assuming a resonable standard of debate is possible?

¹the anaphor's referent is intended to be "malloc's fears", not "many different threads".
²he'd have to promise, of course.

He took 88 pages to explain himself, and has said nothing new since. Now he's sitting around waiting for congratulations for echoing techbro propaganda. He doesn't need a new outlet to keep doing the same, and he hijacks any other discussion of the issue.

[malloc]

Well alright then, I will just have to accept that we fundamentally disagree on this issue and that it has reached a bitter stalemate. Until more definitive evidence that can reasonably break the stalemate appears, I will try my best to keep my thoughts to myself.

[tlacamazatl]

https://youtube.com/live/N-ZrRZBrB14

Gonna be live at 2pm EST for Neography Trivia!

[rotting bones]

It occurs to me that pre-modern nomadic peoples couldn't actually have been Christian in its Western form and self-sufficient at the same time. Even if they managed to gather all the accoutrements of ceremonial magic, where would they have gotten the wine? They were nomads. They didn't have grapes. Could wine have been substituted with fermented mare's milk?

Well, the teetotal versions of Protestantism have already traditionally substituted wine with unfermented grape juice, and, while we're at it, calling a communion wafer a type of "bread" is probably stretching definitions to the limit, too, so mare's milk, fermented or not, wouldn't really go that much farther than that.

I didn't know this before. Apparently, the Catholic eucharist doesn't work without grape specifically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o912OJk98HE

This means that in order to be saved, nomads would have had to import, at disadvantageous rates, goods that weren't available locally. The plants they had were things like wild onions and herbs. Grape cultivation is a lot of work.

[rotting bones]

About two years after giving up, I've now decided that I want to try another stab at getting somewhere with my SF novel.

Derek Banas has a new series on writing that looks useful:

https://youtu.be/7uK54_mSTp0
https://youtu.be/QqbMOgT9EFY
https://youtu.be/pC3O4DaChpw

[Raphael]

About two years after giving up, I've now decided that I want to try another stab at getting somewhere with my SF novel.

Derek Banas has a new series on writing that looks useful:

https://youtu.be/7uK54_mSTp0
https://youtu.be/QqbMOgT9EFY
https://youtu.be/pC3O4DaChpw

Thank you! I'll try to have a look at those.

Thing is, I already have the basic idea for my novel, and for what should, generally speaking, happen in it. And I have a pretty clear idea of who the protagonist is, and how she's like as a character. The challenge is how to put meat on the bones, so to say. Which is complicated by the fact that the plot is supposed to take place during a six week summer break, so I'll have to be very careful about which events I put into which slots on the calendar.

[malloc]

Having said that, I do wish people understood that I have spent the past decade enduring one permanent reduction in quality of life after another. All the while, everyone here dismisses such problems as propaganda or delusion.

[Raphael]

Having said that, I do wish people understood that I have spent the past decade enduring one permanent reduction in quality of life after another. All the while, everyone here dismisses such problems as propaganda or delusion.

No. I can't think of a single time people dismissed actual instances of your own life getting worse as propaganda or delusion. Certainly not "everyone". But this is getting nowhere.

[tlacamazatl]

But this is getting nowhere.

[Raphael]

Technical nitpicking question about writing: In a story that has one clear protagonist, does a character who is not the protagonist, but who, as characters who are not the protagonist go, is relatively important for the story, count as a major character or as a minor character?

[zompist]

Technical nitpicking question about writing: In a story that has one clear protagonist, does a character who is not the protagonist, but who, as characters who are not the protagonist go, is relatively important for the story, count as a major character or as a minor character?

There's no rule on this. It's roughly a combination of page time and importance to the plot.

Is there a reason you need to know?

[Raphael]

Is there a reason you need to know?

I was mainly wondering about how to think of the three bosses in my novel fragment: https://www.verduria.org/viewtopic.php?p=93487#p93487

[zompist]

Is there a reason you need to know?

I was mainly wondering about how to think of the three bosses in my novel fragment: https://www.verduria.org/viewtopic.php?p=93487#p93487

Can't really judge from a fragment. Structually "three bosses" sounds like one of those things that are realistic but hard to work with in a novel, unless it's intensely focused on the work environment. Unless it's a very dysfunctional workplace, people usually work most intensively with their direct supervisor.

One boss might be important as an antagonist, of course.

A character can be important to the plot, but just not appear much. An example might be Elrond in LOTR, or the Emperor in Star Wars.

Contrariwise, a character can be important in the world but not very visible in the book. An example might be the Prime Minister in the James Bond series. M reports to them, realistically they'd be deeply involved in the world-shaking events, but they don't matter to Bond.

A minor character may be memorable without being important, e.g. Tom Bombadil in LOTR, or the mugger in Fifth Element.

One more thought that might help. Major characters ideally change during the book— they have a character arc, their relationship to the protoagonist has transitions. Minor characters usually don't, though things may happen to them (e.g. they're killed off).

[Raphael]

Thank you, zompist!

Unrelated:

Our local supermarket sells some types of food, such as potato salad and various spreads and condiments, in plastic containers that are designed to seal up in such a way that it's extremely unlikely that they would ever open accidentally. Unfortunately, they are sealed so well that it's difficult for people to open them, too:

veryefficient.jpg (222.04 KiB) Viewed 5230 times