## A Miracle of Science

* Author: u/traverseda  *With dread but cautious optimism**
* URL: http://project-apollo.net/mos/
* Score: 24

* Created: 2015-09-25T01:08:47

### Post:

[Link to content](http://project-apollo.net/mos/)

### Comments:

> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+6]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (2 hours later)
> 
> Well worth the read even if it is fluff (mad science is a psychological disease).

> **u/Igigigif** [+2]  *IT Foxgirl* (3 hours later)
> 
> Can't recommend this enough

> **u/MugaSofer** [+2]  (7 hours later)
> 
> Not sure if this is rational, but it *is* a very good piece of deconstruction/reconstruction.

> **u/archenemy** [+2]  (13 hours later)
> 
> I'm a few pages in. Definitely cool, even if it's not fully rationalist. I'm  very very glad you posted this.

>> **u/traverseda** [+1]  *With dread but cautious optimism* (13 hours later)
>> 
>> It's been a bit slow the last few days, figure I'll loosen the definitions a bit.

> **u/Farmerbob1** [+1]  *Level 1 author* (5 hours later)
> 
> It's definitely got it's fair share of handwavium, but there is an organic communal AI in the story, so I'll be reading to see if they do anything interesting with it.

>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (4 days later)
>> 
>> Please report back with your opinion of what they have done with it.  I'm curious what you think.  I think their approach to infectious memes is decent, though risky, considering the rules of the setting.

>>> **u/Farmerbob1** [+2]  *Level 1 author* (4 days later)
>>> 
>>> It's definitely not a rational story, though it has a lot of fun rational elements in it.  In some ways, it feels like [Freefall](http://freefall.purrsia.com/default.htm) in that they are both an exploration of not entirely-human intelligences, but with more detailed art and a slightly more serious overall tone.  [That being said: ](#s "The concept of human singularity, in both a literal sense, and the sense of transhuman evolution is explored in both a serious and funny manner at different points.  The identity of Mars as compared to the female lead 'Captain Caprice Quevillion' is hinted at several times, and is contradictory.  The first scene with her has her speaking to Mars, in private, but at the end she seems to be claiming Mars and she were always one and the same.  There doesn't seem to be intentional 4th-wall-breaking going on, so I suspect that the ending of the story was not firmly determined before the comic was started, and was made up, or there was a planned ending that drifted from an original ending to a better 'knockout' which wasn't quite as rational.  The difficulty of keeping an AI in it's box is quite clearly indicated at several points.  It also seems as if Mars is not a paperclip optimizer, as it does seek to get along with humanity, even to the point of allowing other humans to have secrets from it, which nearly got the leads killed at one point.  Mars also does indicate emotion.  Since it was formed from a gestalt of humans, this feels reasonable.  As does the fact that when part of Mars is threatened, it takes no more than a few minutes for a rather substantial response to be generated.  One of the biggest reveals in the story, a mirror moment of sorts, is hinted at through clues, but never stated until the reveal.  You know it's coming, and the reveal is not done badly.  No, I'm not going to tell you what it is.  If you decide to read it, you'll probably know within the first few dozen pages, if not sooner.  I can't remember when I first realized it, but it was long before the in-story reveal.")

>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (5 days later)
>>>> 
>>>> I think I know which mirror you mean, but  I'm not sure.  I'me thinking you mean in the denouncement, or do you mean closer to the crescendo?

>>>>> **u/Farmerbob1** [+2]  *Level 1 author* (5 days later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> At the end of [A Saint Abroad And A Devil At Home](http://project-apollo.net/mos/archive.html)  It's not really a classic mirror moment because it's not self-realization or definition, but it does create a lot of introspection.

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