## [D] Saturday Munchkinry Thread * Author: u/AutoModerator * * URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/6f1mx2/d_saturday_munchkinry_thread/ * Score: 11 * Created: 2017-06-03T15:06:46 ### Post: Welcome to the Saturday Munchkinry and Problem Solving Thread! This thread is designed to be a place for us to abuse fictional powers and to solve fictional puzzles. Feel free to bounce ideas off each other and to let out your inner evil mastermind! Guidelines: * Ideally any power to be munchkined should have *consistent* and *clearly defined* rules. It may be original or may be from an already realised story. * The power to be munchkined can not be something "broken" like omniscience or absolute control over every living human. * Reverse Munchkin scenarios: we find ways to beat someone or something *powerful*. * We solve problems posed by other users. Use all your intelligence and creativity, and expect other users to do the same. Note: All top level comments must be problems to solve and/or powers to munchkin/reverse munchkin. Good Luck and Have Fun! ### Comments: > **u/MolochHASME** [+6] (5 hours later) > > you explode when you get mildly surprised. You get better afterwards. >> **u/NotACauldronAgent** [+3] *Probably* (6 hours later) >> >> Pulsed Explosive Power? How big an explosion we talking here? >>> **u/MolochHASME** [+3] (6 hours later) >>> >>> half a stick of tnt >>>> **u/NotACauldronAgent** [+2] *Probably* (7 hours later) >>>> >>>> Randi Prize! >>>>> **u/PM_ME_EXOTIC_FROGS** [+11] (7 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> You should [know better by now.](http://alexanderwales.com/the-randi-prize/) >> **u/Charlie___** [+3] (14 hours later) >> >> Hope you like long distance relationships. >> >> Most of my useful ideas involve space travel. Depends on things like energy conservation, momentum conservation, exposure to vacuum while "getting better," etc. >> **u/Chronophilia** [+3] *sci-fi ≠ futurology* (19 hours later) >> >> I would certainly be a bit surprised if I exploded. >> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+3] (22 hours later) >> >> I would be surprised that I get better after exploding, thus causing an endless series of explosions. >> >> Also, forget exploiting this power, even living in society would be all but impossible. Mild surprises happen all the time, even waking up each day is a mild surprise to your brain (since it realizes everything immediately before was a dream). You would leave a constant stream of explosions allowing anyone to track you down with ease, where they will then kill you for good to stop you from being a danger to everyone else. >> >> Or worse, be the ones to exploit your ability for explosions. >> **u/None** [+2] (2 days later) >> >> [deleted] >>> **u/MolochHASME** [+1] (3 days later) >>> >>> a large surprise explodes just as much as a mild surprise. >>>> **u/MolochHASME** [+1] (3 days later) >>>> >>>> A mild surprise is defined as the reaction that one has when something they thought had a 66% chance of happening, does not happen. > **u/Djerrid** [+5] (7 hours later) > > You can make solid surfaces frictionless by touch. Only the part that you touch becomes frictionless. You can turn it on and off at will and is essentially permanent. > > Some of your goals could be world domination, science and technology breakthroughs, or just general hijinks. >> **u/Gurkenglas** [+6] (8 hours later) >> >> Friction is in parts a function of shape. If I make sandpaper or gears frictionless, do they still perform their function? Does their shape change visibly? >> >> Would moving a finger across material at ludicrous relative velocity to turn it frictionless hurt? If not, I can replace maglev, increase engine efficiency, etc. >> >> What happens if material I targeted is melted temporarily? Blendered? >>> **u/Djerrid** [+2] (9 hours later) >>> >>> Good question and stuff I didn't consider. I'm not sure this is a good answer but I would say that the material would not be able to convert kinetic energy into sound or heat when rubbing up above anything else. Maybe something like superfluidity perhaps? So, a frictionless fan would work even more efficiently because it would make no noise from the blades touching the air. >>> >>> And I have no idea why gears wouldn't work if the teeth were meshed well. It would work like the ultimate well-oiled machine. >>> >>> I have no idea if this at all makes sense in the world of physics so correct me if I'm wrong. >>>> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+3] (11 hours later) >>>> >>>> Because in the world of physics, friction is actually the result of miniature gear teeth. For example, if you have a wooden table, and you try to slide something across it, it slows down because of friction. What exactly is this friction? It's (partly) the fact that the table surface isn't actually flat. When you zoom in a lot, there's actually tons of little hills and valleys. When something slides across your table, it's getting stuck in those valleys the same way gear teeth are stuck in each other, and losing energy since it pushes around the hills and valleys of the table when it hits them. >>>> >>>> So making something frictionless is like removing all the hills and valleys, making it totally smooth. But in a sense, gear teeth are just much larger hills and valleys, so does making them frictionless turn them into simple cylinders with no teeth? If not, what magnitude must a hill/valley be in order to not be erased by your frictionless superpower? >>>>> **u/Djerrid** [+1] (11 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> Hmmm. Let's try this. When atoms rub up against each other, the energy is converted into heat and sound. So, more entropy. Through the magic of this power, the energy is not converted and all momentum if retained. So, a frictionless ball in a circular groove would roll around indefinitely. Perpetual motion machines. >>>>> >>>>> Anyway, we can just assume that it works. How then would you exploit it? Would whether the teeth change shape effect how you would exploit it? >>>>>> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+2] (22 hours later) >>>>>> >>>>>> > Anyway, we can just assume that it works. How then would you exploit it? >>>>>> >>>>>> The problem here is how you exploit it depends on how exactly it works. Consider your example: >>>>>> >>>>>> > frictionless ball in a circular groove would roll around indefinitely. >>>>>> >>>>>> How exactly does this work? Even if the ball is frictionless, it's still going to be hitting stuff. Like the groove, or air molecules. Since it rolls around indefinitely, I'm assuming it somehow has a constant amount of kinetic energy. But then what happens to the stuff it hits? Are they still pushed out of the way? If so, you have an infinite energy source using the air currents. Use denser air and larger balls for larger production per second. Heck use liquids, since air resistance is basically the same force as water resistance, and should be equally nullified. >>>>>> >>>>>> If not, what you have is effectively the ball and the air molecules occupying the same space without any forces pushing them apart. Depending on how exactly we are "just assuming that it works", this could mean you can use your ability to phase stuff through one another. This becomes much, MUCH more exploitable than the first assumption. >>>>>> >>>>>> There's the obvious example of phasing an object into someone's heart to instantly murder them, but you can go one step higher here. Phase multiple layers of dense material into one another, and then release. This would likely trigger a nuclear reaction since you literally have subatomic particles occupying the same space (or at least, way closer together than normal). You could do this with multiple balls on overlapping groves. Or on the same groove with different speeds. >>>>>> >>>>>> For that matter, there's another issue with the given example: >>>>>> >>>>>> > So, a frictionless ball in a circular groove would roll around indefinitely. >>>>>> >>>>>> If gravity still works on the ball, then it wouldn't roll around indefinitely. The tiny amount of gravity exerted by the table on the ball would eventually cause it to come to a stop at the table's center of gravity, or as close to it as the groove would allow. So if you want it to truly roll around for eternity, you would have to also nullify gravity. Now you have anti gravity. >> **u/Electric999999** [+3] (10 hours later) >> >> Does this include air resistance/drag? Because that would make launching things into space somewhat easier, so that's a nice starting point. >>> **u/Djerrid** [+1] (10 hours later) >>> >>> Yup. Air resistance, water resistance. >>> >>> Although, I asked on /r/askscience once if launching rockets from high up weather balloons would be helpful because of reduced drag. They said that the gravity well is the main thing for escape velocity. So, no. >>>> **u/PeridexisErrant** [+1] *put aside fear for courage, and death for life* (23 hours later) >>>> >>>> Yep - orbit is actually very low (~100km), but moving sideways very fast (thousands of km/hour). The main challenge is to go sideways fast enough that you 'fall towards the earth, and keep missing'. >> **u/SirReality** [+2] (9 hours later) >> >> Important clarification: does my hand experience friction on when inducing frictionless state? >>> **u/Djerrid** [+1] (9 hours later) >>> >>> Nope! You can have your entire body perfectly slippery and slide down a mountain as the ultimate slip'n'slide. >> **u/PM_ME_EXOTIC_FROGS** [+1] (8 hours later) >> >> My mind went straight to torture. >> >> I mean, yes, there are more useful things to do, but. > **u/Nulono** [+3] *Reverse-Oneboxer: Only takes the transparent box* (10 hours later) > > You have the ability to send one bit of information back in time to your past self. You can decide when to send it, and when to receive it, and whether it is a 0 or a 1, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. >> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+3] (11 hours later) >> >> You're going to need to define this more clearly. If I send a bit to my past self, causing him to take a different action, is my current future erased? Do I, in effect, get another chance to use the power? >> >> Basically, I'm thinking of winning a lottery like this. First, i buy the lottery ticket with the smallest number. Then if I win, I send a 1 back to the past. If I lose, I send a 0. >> >> If I receive a 0, I choose to buy the lottery ticket with the next smallest number. Doing so erases the future where I sent myself a 0, so I have not used my power yet. Thus I can once again send myself a bit from this new future, telling my past self whether I won. Repeat until I buy the winning ticket. >>> **u/Nulono** [+2] *Reverse-Oneboxer: Only takes the transparent box* (11 hours later) >>> >>> The next smallest from what? How would you keep track of which number your're on? >>> >>> **EDIT:** Something that *might* work is using some nondeterministic method to choose your lottery numbers and then sending the opposite of whatever bit you received if you don't win. >>>> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+2] (22 hours later) >>>> >>>> It's standard time travel abuse: if you have an artifact that lets you time travel back only once, using it sends you to a past where the artifact hasn't been used yet, effectively letting you use it again. >>>> >>>> So you can keep track of what number to buy based on the number of 0s you have received. >>>>> **u/Nulono** [+1] *Reverse-Oneboxer: Only takes the transparent box* (a day later) >>>>> >>>>> That assumes you retain your memories from all the other timelines. >>>>>> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+3] (a day later) >>>>>> >>>>>> Let me clarify, let T be the time I start the plan, and T' be the time I find out whether I win. >>>>>> >>>>>> In the original (1st) timeline, at time T I receive no messages from my future self, so I just buy the ticket with the smallest number. >>>>>> >>>>>> At time T', I find out I lost the lottery, so I now send a 0 to my past self at time T. >>>>>> >>>>>> On the 2nd timeline, I receive a 0 at time T. I don't receive any other 0s, so I proceed to buy the second smallest lottery ticket. >>>>>> >>>>>> At time T', I find out I lost the lottery. Since this is a different timeline, I have not sent myself any messages yet. So I can once again send a 0 to the past. This time, I send it to time T+1. I know I should send it at time T+1, because I received the last 0 at time T. >>>>>> >>>>>> On the 3rd timeline, I already received a 0 at time T, and now I also receive another 0 at time T+1. I don't receive any other 0s, so I proceed to buy the third smallest lottery ticket. >>>>>> >>>>>> At time T', I find out I lost the lottery. Since this is a different timeline, I have not sent myself any messages yet. So I can once again send a 0 to the past. This time, I send it to time T+2. I know I should send it at time T+2, because I received the last 0 at time T+1. >>>>>> >>>>>> And so on. >>>>>> >>>>>> No memories are transferred between timelines, only a 0. >> **u/alexanderwales** [+3] *Time flies like an arrow* (12 hours later) >> >> It depends somewhat on how the power actually works. When do I decide when to receive it? When I send it, or when I would receive it? >> >> If you can define reception from the "future" point, then you can encode a lot more information by choosing when to send the single bit to. For example, if I receive the bit at 10:34PM, 6/3/17, then I've actually gotten a much larger number of bits (how many depending mostly on how wide or narrow my timespan is). >> **u/artifex0** [+1] (12 hours later) >> >> So, the exact time I receive the bit can contain a lot of extra information. >> >> What I'd want to do is spend a decade or two acquiring and saving money to purchase the most accurate time measuring device possible. Seriously, every extra bit of information would be incredibly valuable, so if the device isn't costing as much as house, I'm probably eating a lot of opportunity cost. >> >> Once I have that, I can send lengthy messages back in time encoded in the exact time of receipt. >> >> I'd start by sending a message back a day, with a code indicating that it's the first loop. Then, for the second loop, I'd send a message back two days with an iterated code, and so on. The reason for that is that I'd want to maximize the total number of loops, but if I die at any point, then I don't receive a message, and the whole thing resets to one bit of information, so starting very cautiously is probably the best bet. >> >> I'd probably decide that after a certain number of loops- or maybe once the message has become sufficiently helpful- I'd just send the same message back every time. Otherwise, I'd be certain to die eventually, creating and infinitely resetting loop. By creating a closed loop, I'd be guaranteed to have that extremely helpful message every iteration thereafter. I'd also want to avoid sending a message back more than nine months or so, since in that time, new babies would be conceived and born, and potentially erasing them from existence would be unethical. > **u/MonstrousBird** [+2] (3 hours later) > > You have the power to convert people to sincerely hold your core values, but you must be touching them at the time. The touch can be initiated by either party, but if they touch you you will need a moment to focus on your values to do it. The length of a brief handshake is enough, but if their hand just brushes yours it wouldn't be enough unless you already had your values in mind. > > How do you use this power to promote your core values? And what are the dangers to yourself and your ethics? >> **u/PM_ME_EXOTIC_FROGS** [+8] (7 hours later) >> >> This power is already win condition tier, no need to *munchkin* it. >> >> Meet up with world leaders, shake their hands, convert them, and have them do whatever you want, probably ending with a computronium construct acting in your best interests consuming and expanding from Earth. >> >> ??? >> >> Edit: The first step to this plan is the same as the first step without this power: heightened longevity. We're also going to stop wastage of negentropy on stuff like religions (this one is hard, possibly doable in most part through a truly excellent PR campaign, and should only really be done for fun as it's ineffective on the whole), wars, and bad policies, we're going to popularize existential risk mitigation and effective altruism and focus on such problems, form a single world government, dramatically accelerate technological process, and puppeteer the world government from the shadows on easy mode thanks to at-will mind control. Basically, we're utopiaizing Earth and its future light cone by solving cooperation problems and stupidity. >>> **u/PM_ME_OS_DESIGN** [+6] (a day later) >>> >>> Unless you're "a selfish person". If you're selfish, then you're potentially completely fucked - you shake hands with person X, and person X becomes interested in supporting person X. >>> >>> So step 1 is to achieve enlightenment, I guess. >>> >>> EDIT: Also, don't tell anyone or go public, and make sure your minions don't leave a pattern of suddenly changed behaviour after meeting you, for much the same reason. Once you meet sufficient people, publish a manifesto or something that can "inspire" people. Although realistically, keeping hidden would probably require government assistance thanks to the wonders of Big Data. Still, easy to fix: Meet a general, shake hands, get help and arranged meetings. Go to a UN convention or something. >>>> **u/PM_ME_EXOTIC_FROGS** [+2] (a day later) >>>> >>>> The impression I got from the OP is that *your* values are used: so if you want cake, the target doesn't want cake too, they want you to have cake. >>>>> **u/PM_ME_OS_DESIGN** [+1] (a day later) >>>>> >>>>> You might want to verify that before you start shaking hands, though, because if you just make people selfish then people whose hands you've shaken will likely want to control/kill you. >> **u/Gurkenglas** [+5] (4 hours later) >> >> If I make this public, depressed people and involuntary *paths and *philes might line up to see me. Global legislation should be afoot on whether criminals can be pardoned through this rehabilitation - knowing that crime need only net you a voluntary brainwashing might drive up crime rates. Given a global birth rate of 4.3 per second, mechanical help should cover all interested parties. Staying put consolidates my safety from state parties, and Germany might appreciate Mekka-tier tourism. Experiments with telepresence through skin transplants are in order. >>> **u/None** [+3] (19 hours later) >>> >>> If you make it public you get assassinated >>> >>> Well, that's not actually likely but it's more likely than "global legislation" to basically brainwash a bunch of people to the morals of an unknown super. >>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1] (21 hours later) >>>> >>>> By global legislation, I mean that politicians the globe over will be discussing it, not what way it will be decided. Some countries might even implement something. >> **u/ShiranaiWakaranai** [+1] (11 hours later) >> >> You automatically win by touching as many people as possible. >> >> The main danger I see is that touching so many people is likely to give you all kinds of weird diseases, which you will then spread to the other people you touch, resulting in a pandemic that kills us all. So choose wisely who you want to touch and wash your hands often! >> >> Also, your ability would be useless against germophobes since they would be fully covered from head to toe and refuse to ever have skin contact with anyone. >> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [-7] (4 hours later) >> >> Go to bars I guess, people here tend to get more comfortable touching when drunk, and I tend to lean further right when drunk. Dangers: none if you live where you belong and the way you should. >>> **u/Frommerman** [+2] (7 hours later) >>> >>> How do people like you come into being? I don't understand. >>>> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [+1] (7 hours later) >>>> >>>> Likewise. >>>>> **u/Frommerman** [+5] (7 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> Basic human empathy and being raised by decent people. You? >>>>>> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [-4] (7 hours later) >>>>>> >>>>>> I wouldn't consider myself lacking in empathy or decency. I just realise that there exist "people" on whom empathy and decency would be wasted. >>>>>>> **u/Frommerman** [+4] (7 hours later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Why do you think that? >>>>>>>> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [-2] (7 hours later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I don't believe social, political or biological "equality" exists in any meaningful sense of the word. "Human" is an overloaded qualifier and useless as an identity, seeing as how there is no such thing as a non-human moral agent as far as we know (assuming for the sake of the argument the agency of all humans to begin with). I prefer to think in terms of more concrete groups that are easier to discriminate between. >>>>>>>>> **u/Frommerman** [+4] (7 hours later) >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> There's nothing at all concrete about the groups you have chosen, though. I took a look at your post history, and it appears you are antisemitic. There...isn't any evidence of biological or cognitive differences between jews and non-jews, not ones large enough to call them any different from you. Cultural differences sure, but most Jewish communities have adopted the social norms of those around them. There is nothing about Jews, other than their religion, which you can point at and say "this is a Jewish trait," and if you want to go down that road then every single religion is its own race, which is patently absurd. >>>>>>>>>> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [-3] (16 hours later) >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> You picked the worst example to counter-signal on, since the jews actually *are* an inbred ethnic tribe as well as a cult. I mean, their own scripture defines it as a matrilineal nativist group. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >Cultural differences sure, but most Jewish communities have adopted the social norms of those around them >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Most of my countrymen identify with some form of conservatism and nationalism, whereas the jews, who are disproportionately overrepresented in the academia and politics, are mostly liberal and globalist. Sure, unlike muslims or gypsies they mostly tend to adopt the surface-level "social norms", and it helps that they're harder to detect visually, but they definitely act subversive towards key racial values. >>>>>>>>>>> **u/Frommerman** [+3] (19 hours later) >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >disproportionately overrepresented in academia and politics >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> And Asians are disproportionately represented in medical school, at least in the US. This can be attributed to several factors: the fact that US medical schools accept students from abroad means the baseline rate to compare should not be US demographics, but global demographics, and a cultural expectation of work ethic and interpersonal competition which tends to be stronger than those of the US. Adding some kind of racial conspiracy to that mix is unnecessary when all of the data can be explained by factors where race doesn't matter. Similarly, Jews got into academia because their religion already involves careful study to achieve greater understanding of a set of rules. This is exactly what science *is*. Figuring out what God meant through Talmudic interpretation is isometric to figuring out what reality means through experimentation. This also makes them good at legal interpretation. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> No global conspiracy necessary. All of your observations are explained without resorting to a convoluted, behind-the-scenes plot. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Your complaint about politics...have you considered that Jews tend to lean more liberal because *some conservatives want to kill all of them?* Have you considered that they are strongly antinationalist (as am I), because nationalists going back centuries have attempted to wipe them out? Your own attitude explains their politics, not the other way around. If you wanted to bring them around to seeing things your way, maybe start by not claiming they are simultaneously subhuman slime *and* master plotters on a global scale. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> As for my antinationalism, have you considered that nationalism has been a primary cause of every modern war? Human society has pushed to the point that violent competition for resources just destroys the infrastructure which extracts resources (see: Africa), and as such land wars don't make sense. Any modern people is better off buying resources they don't have from their neighbors rather than warring over them because commerce is cheap. There is no good economic reason to go to war. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> I am going to make an assumption that you are some kind of Eastern European based on your claim that most people in your country think like you and your hatred of three ethnic groups which coexist only in that region: Jews, Muslims, and Roma. If this is the case, may I submit that *nationalism has been absurdly terrible for your region?* The problems in the Balkans are entirely due to racial and national tensions, the problems of the former Soviet states stem from Soviet and Russian nationalism. Take a step back, observe your situation, and imagine what the shape of reality might be if irrational attachments to artificial administrative borders weren't a thing. Your country, whichever one that happens to be, would be better off if it were *not* overwhelmingly nationalistic. I guarantee that. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >racial values >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> This is totally meaningless to me. Define without using either word. >>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+3] (21 hours later) >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> > the baseline rate to compare should not be US demographics, but global demographics >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> If migrants see reason to move for academia, that can overrepresent even by global demographics. >>>>>>>>>>>> **u/BadGoyWithAGun** [-2] (20 hours later) >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> > No global conspiracy necessary. >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not alleging any. Group alignment and in-group preferences explain semitism and justify counter-semitism. >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> >As for my antinationalism, have you considered that nationalism has been a primary cause of every modern war? >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> There's nothing inherently wrong about war. *War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it.* If anything, jews realise this, even though they prefer to remain ignoble have other peoples kill and die on their behalf - a rational in-group preference, just like the gentiles' preference for ridding themselves of jewish influence. When two peoples have conflicting values like this, the stronger should obviously prefer war over peace. >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> >Take a step back, observe your situation, and imagine what the shape of reality might be if irrational attachments to artificial administrative borders weren't a thing. >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>> So basically if Stalin were immortal and continued to starve, exile and genocide people to this day to bring about the quintessential post-nationalist, post-racial, post-capitalist shithole? Because *that's* the polar opposite of nationalism, racism and in-group preference. ---