## [HSF] Free Radical - A System Shock fanfic By Shamus Young

* Author: u/traverseda  *With dread but cautious optimism**
* URL: http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/
* Score: 28

* Created: 2016-12-30T07:43:29

### Post:

[Link to content](http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/)

### Comments:

> **u/noggin-scratcher** [+11]  *I am a happy tree* (5 hours later)
> 
> Good illustration of a utility function gone very logically wrong, I like this story a lot.
> 
> Meanwhile [Shamus Young's blog](http://www.shamusyoung.com/) is also a good read (even if it's not especially "rational" in the ratfic sense) for anyone interested in video games, layman-accessible explanations of programming concepts, or a webcomic formed by captioning the LOtR movies to turn them into a D&D campaign.
> 
> He's a generally good/entertaining writer, I would subscribe to his newsletter were I not already subscribed more conveniently by RSS.

> **u/traverseda** [+5]  *With dread but cautious optimism* (2 minutes later)
> 
> The first AI goes mad after our protagonist is hired to hack it. [Light spoilers for first third](#s "Waking up weeks later the only reason he survives is because he included a directive to ignore any mention of his name, and the AI still can't modify its utility function.")

> **u/callmebrotherg** [+3]  *now posting as /u/callmesalticidae* (2 days later)
> 
> I don't know when I'm going to get to read this, but it's definitely on my list. Thanks for posting it.

> **u/Marthinwurer** [+2]  (2 days later)
> 
> This is a very good story, and one of the ones that got me into web fiction. At one point, I'm going to find the time to read it again.

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