22 KiB
[Q]What is your flair and why did you pick it?
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Author: u/None *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1wxm9i/qwhat_is_your_flair_and_why_did_you_pick_it/
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Score: 8
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Created: 2014-02-03T22:58:15
Post:
This isn't strictly related to rational fiction, but I'm constantly wondering about people's flairs and this would be the easiest way to find out what they mean.
Comments:
u/None [+6] (8 minutes later)
My flair is based on Anathem, by Neal Stephenson (which probably barely misses the mark for being rationalist fiction). In the universe of Anathem, the people who do science live secluded in buildings resembling monasteries (called concents). The important monk-scientists are called Saunts (similar to religious Saints) and the really important ones have concents named after them. I picked this particular concent because I didn't feel like picking the one the main character is from or the one that studies combat and warfare.
I chose to represent Anathem because Neil Stephenson is probably my favorite author and Anathem is one of those books where you want to live inside its universe. The idea of being grouped together with a bunch of people who are really interested in knowing more things and being intelligent was really appealing when I read it. (It still is, but things got better after reading HPMOR.)
u/SohumB [+6] Procian (a day later)
Similarly, the Procians are a school of thought in the Anathem universe. The prime ideological conflict in the book is the Procian vs Halikaarnian split, which basically boils down to whether you believe that platonic objects/concepts "exist" or not (for an underspecified definition of the word "exist").
The Procians get rather (unfairly, in my mind) vilified in the book, and portrayed as less interested in truth and more interested in the appearance of truth (which, pretty funnily, makes them better ambassadors to the world outside the concents :P).
So if I had to pick my position here, I'd probably have to lean towards not seeing the necessity of platonic forms to exist - they're collections of structure that we stumble upon when trying to make predictions about the world, but the map is not the territory - but this isn't a super strong belief or anything. I pretty much picked my flair pretty just to be contrary :P
uh I mean - I picked my flair to impress upon everyone the importance of not vilifying ideological opponents. Yea. That's totally it.
u/AmeteurOpinions [+5] Finally, everyone was working together. (2 days later)
The best long-running joke from the comment threads of Worm.
u/DaystarEld [+4] Pokémon Professor (an hour later)
Custom made mine to fit my rational pokemon fic.
u/flame7926 [+4] The Lone Power (an hour later)
I chose this because it was one of the only ones I recognized, besides the HPMOR and Dune ones, and I have the HPMOR one on that subreddit, and I thought Dune was incredibly overrated. A Gary Stu and illogical prophecies that practically omnipotent MC does a pathetic job of attempting to avert. I really loved the Young Wizards series also, way back when.
u/PeridexisErrant [+1] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (5 hours later)
Well met, Cousin!
u/None [+1] (8 hours later)
>The Lone Power
Fairest and fallen, greetings and what are you doing here?
u/awesomeideas [+1] Dai stiho, cousin. (19 days later)
Names are important.
u/Rhamni [+3] Aspiring author (50 minutes later)
I picked 'The Laundry' because I like the Chtuluesque Laundry Files books, and there wasn't a "Writes Fantasy to Indoctrinate your Children" tag.
u/BT_Uytya [+2] The Laundry (a day later)
I like the Chtuluesque Laundry Files books
That makes two of us.
Lovecraftian setting makes math and CompSci sound awesome yet terrifying, and they indeed are awesome yet terrifying. Also, real-world references, existential horror, great opportunity for in-jokes and fragile world on the brink of tentacled doom from alien dimension which no human brain is able to comprehend.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
Lovecraftian setting makes math and CompSci sound awesome yet terrifying, and they indeed are awesome yet terrifying. Also, real-world references, existential horror, great opportunity for in-jokes and fragile world on the brink of tentacled doom from alien dimension which no human brain is able to comprehend.
This is sounding like something I should read. Where can I, uh, "find" these books?
u/Rhamni [+1] Aspiring author (2 days later)
I found the audiobooks on google. The site I found them on has been taken down, but I'm sure you can still find them with a little google fu.
u/BT_Uytya [+1] The Laundry (2 days later)
Sent a PM.
By the way, also there is a tabletop RPG by Cubicle 7. I want to play them very much, but, well, it's difficult to accomplish, living in a non-English speaking country.
u/Averusblack [+2] There ain't no justice (2 hours later)
Ringworld, man. Ringworld.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (6 hours later)
The CultureAspiring polite hegemonizing swarm, because while Banks missed it, every trans-humanist's ambition should be to survive long enough to become something at the level of a culture mind. (If you've not read banks the polite is the difference between foglets and aggressive hegemonizing swarms aka grey goo)The one published author who I've seen catch a glancing blow on the objective, was DKM with the beast a AI extension the protagonist had in AI war.
To show my Reddit ignorance, how do you customize flair?
u/traverseda [+2] With dread but cautious optimism (13 hours later)
I like culture ship naming convention more then our current naming conventions. They are a lot better in a world with the internet. Like correct horse battery staple.
"with dread but cautious optimism" is what I decided on.
u/None [+3] (18 hours later)
[deleted]
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (23 hours later)
It's notable, for CS geeks like most of us, that in the culture ships have interesting names, and people's names double as addresses.
u/boomfarmer [+1] Trying to be helpful (a day later)
Addresses, but then you get wanderers whose names only reflect where they were born. I think there's such a character in Surface Detail, on a weird hourglass-shaped space habitat that's controlled by a crazed Mind. The Culture archaeological drones on that habitat used wheels and mechanical arms, because the habitat didn't like fields.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+3] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (2 days later)
Umm. . . that habitat wasn't a culture Mind, it was called the unfallen Balbician, and it was some surviving mind from a species/civ that lost an interstellar war.
Though the character you refer to Yime-ens-oki or somesuch was such a wanderer who's name didn't reflect the habitat she lived in and hir (?) (sorry not up to date on trans/neuter pronouns) somewhat troubled musings on that topic. Surface detail's denouncement. . .
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (7 days later)
hir (?) (sorry not up to date on trans/neuter pronouns)
Just use "they". Everyone already does.
u/None [+1] (8 hours later)
every trans-humanist's ambition should be to survive long enough to become something at the level of a culture mind.
That doesn't sound very fun.
u/PeridexisErrant [+3] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (13 hours later)
Dude. Infinite Fun Space.
u/None [+6] (15 hours later)
Unfortunately, I think it'll be a while before the artificial psychology necessary for Infinite Fun Space transhuman Minds becomes available. We're likely to go through a phase of nastily unemotional optimizers first.
What I want is to be able to think about really big stuff while still appreciating the really small stuff. That's actually somewhat difficult.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+1] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (a day later)
I think you are right, but that's the question with optimizer; if we get it right, when or if, we will ever be allowed/able to expand/see/be as capable as the optimizers.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Basically, I think the clear answer there is, NO, and for a very good reason. Uncontrolled self-modification leads to nasty, horrid places very, very quickly. I can't imagine an FAI that allows some individual to expand to "power-levels" where they can start overriding everyone else in their light-cone, at which point why the bloody hell did you bother not having an artilect war and half a dozen paper-clippers in the first place?
On the other hand, the neat little solution there is simply to ensure that some constraints are placed on transhumans who intend to become that powerful to ensure they remain Friendly with respect to everyone else. Power at the price of responsibility, then.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (a day later)
Uncontrolled self-modification leads to nasty, horrid places very, very quickly.
I may be falling to an anthropomorphic bias, but this argument, while reasonable, does not consider controlled modification. This may be because finding subtle mistakes requires the equivalence to murder by most means we can think up.
I definitely hope we do keep the powerful trans-humanists friendly, but that's usually nothing more than an adequate set of ethics.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Hence why my conclusion in that comment is that, as usual for LW-y conversations about this stuff, we'll be pretty much fine if we get a half-decent solution to the ethics issue first, and then use that to constrain future power-ups.
u/boomfarmer [+2] Trying to be helpful (a day later)
Have you read the Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect? Uncontrolled self-modification is allowed, but personal autonomy is enforced. There are no non-consensual interactions, because everyone has a direct line to the Three-Laws AI God.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Yeah, it also keeps people alive against their will!
(I read that when I was 13 years old. If you're wondering how I got to be the complete maniac nutjob I am today...)
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (2 days later)
Yes I have. Assuming at the ending they are in a simulation, then it's one type of a horror story. Assuming they aren't then, it's a Earth abides apocalypse horror story. I'm not sure which is worse.
[TL:DR the three laws on a "FAI" would be an existential risk to humanity] Three laws are an existential risk, and as much as the movie Irobot perverted the title of a personally much beloved collection of short stories, I'm glad the implied zeroth law got some public exposure.
Zeroith law of robotics: A robot by it's action or inaction cannot allow humanity to come to harm. (1st, 2nd and 3rd laws are revised to add except where this would contravene the zeroth law.)
You can find better treatment of three law deficiencies in some of the foundation novels (I'm sorry but I forget which ones) where human is defined as only homo sapiens with a particular characteristic, and another where a robot derives the zeroth law as a necessary superior corollary to the first law, and thus justifiable homicide for humanities good.
My point is that the seemingly idealistic three(+0) laws are far too vulnerable to redefining the terms: "human," "harm," ("humanity,) and "obey."
[edit on topic reply, apologies, but three laws make me shiver] Uncontrolled modification yes, but I saw no inference or instance of the scope growth, that made one optimalverse story interesting, and will get me buying theater tickets for Transcendence
u/Empiricist_or_not [+3] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (23 hours later)
"Never forget I am not this silver body, Mahrai. I am not an animal brain, I am not even some attempt to produce an AI through software running on a computer. I am a Culture Mind. We are close to gods, and on the far side."
— The Mind of Lasting Damage, Look to Windward
I'm not sure if you don't know what the capabilities of a culture mind are, or if we have different ideas of fun.
u/None [+1] (23 hours later)
I think we might have different ideas of fun? I dunno: I always enjoy being up-close-and-personal with things. I could try being a really huge mind for a while, but I'm not sure I'd prefer it.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+3] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (a day later)
Ever been running on that nice peak where you can or are multitasking well at a challenging problem or problems, finish them and have that nice sense of satisfied accomplishment? I think you can be up-close with an issue and still do a lot of things.
Really interesting part to me, aside from the increased scope would be to have a brain that can multiply and not need adjunct processing aka a calculator, for the tricky calculations.
u/None [+2] (11 hours later)
For reference of what my flair means, please see here.
u/Escapement [+2] Ankh-Morpork City Watch (20 hours later)
I made the Discworld post for this subreddit, and am currently marathoning through the series again. I have read more than 30 books in the series more than once, mostly four or more times. The few I haven't are the most recent few (Unseen Academicals onwards).
Even then, it was a tossup between this and a Culture ship name. Iain Banks has the best names for anything in the Culture's ships - see the wikipedia list for the complete list. I almost tried to make a 'best of' list of names, but stopped and deleted it when it hit more than 10 entries - seriously, those names are amazing.
u/CalebJohnsn [+2] Theoretical Manatician (17 days later)
My flair is based on the title I acquired after posting Quantifying Magical Outputs and Determining the Mechanisms Behind Apparation, Time-Travel, and Transfiguration in the same day. They were some of my early posts on reddit, just when I was starting out, so I really put my all into each of them but wasn't really sure exactly how they might be received. So when I saw that not only were my postings well received but Yudkowsky commented approving on one of them and I had acquired this new title in recognition of my efforts.
I had never looked into "flair" besides choosing to join Dragon Army and hadn't really looked any further than that. Even after I learned how to make custom flair, granting me a near infinite number of possibilities [CITATION NEEDED], I could not help but retain it. That title now fundamentally represented my ability to attain things with a skill and quality that distinguished me from the people around me.
And I freaking loved that.
So that is while never really got around to choosing flair all that much, that is the reason I have seen fit to retain and reiterate it and plan on doing so now and into the future.
u/xkcd_transcriber [+1] (17 days later)
Title: Wikipedian Protester
Title-text: SEMI-PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION
Stats: This comic has been referenced 56 time(s), representing 0.5446% of referenced xkcds.
^Questions/Problems ^| ^Website ^| ^StopReplying
u/None [+1] (23 hours later)
I just felt the need to make a new one tonight. The more I learn and realize about the world, the more I see the joke. And it's not a bitter joke, it's a wonderful joke.
Maybe I'll even wear my evil flair one of these days.
u/lehyde [+1] Nudist Beach (a day later)
I think it was the only one I knew from the list. It's the organization that operates the giant 'robots' in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The fact that this anime spawned the quite enjoyable fanfic Shinji and Warhammer 40k is mostly responsible for my choosing the flair.
u/Pluvialis [+1] Second Age Sauron (a day later)
Mine is a reference to Isaac Asimov, since I just started reading his Galactic Empire trilogy last month (and because I love him).
u/None [+1] (3 days later)
I'd quite like a custom one though...[1]
How about "starts fights on other subs that make us look bad"?
u/Pluvialis [+1] Second Age Sauron (4 days later)
Really? I'm sorry you read it that way. I thought it was light-hearted fun, in the spirit of the question asked, and at no point did I force anyone to continue discussing it with me or behave brashly. I simply posed a thought and responded to the responses of those interested enough to engage with my comments.
u/None [+1] (4 days later)
I thought it was in good humor. But the folks on /r/tolkeinfans didn't, so much.
u/Pluvialis [+1] Second Age Sauron (4 days later)
How do you figure that?
EDIT: I mean, a couple of people who responded were slightly incredulous, but so what? Most were joining in the discussion and providing relevant and interesting counterpoints to my arguments.
u/VorpalAuroch [+1] Life before Death (7 days later)
For some reason I can't edit it, but if I could it would be "Hello Kitty/Beautiful Cat/Aineko"
After the sort-of protagonist of what remains my favorite transhumanist fiction.
u/mhd-hbd [+1] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (7 days later)
Even though I don't have much to show for it, I write similar to Sam Hughes due in large part that I am a huge fan. His latest work Ra does splendid academibabble. The magic is not so much the most rewarding, as is the portrayal of academia handling this magic. It is very believable.
I have tried my hand at rationalizing a framework in which MLP:FiM makes sense (because it doesn't at all), and I am working through a massive hump of worldbuilding to make the universe actually interesting under inspection.
u/Suitov [+1] The Culture (8 days later)
I'd be interested in seeing your FiM work. Is it anything like Chatoyance's Conversion Bureau work? With that, I have likes and dislikes, and it's not meant to be a rigorous framework.
I like making up fictional magic systems, though.
u/mhd-hbd [+1] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (18 days later)
I have some older work: a free-association universe exploration "The Sate of the Art" and the beginning of a rationalist (or at least, common sensical) rewrite "A Friendship is a Kind of Magic"
u/Suitov [+1] The Culture (8 days later)
Because The Culture is the only fictional civilisation, let alone fictional 'utopia', I'd ever want to live in. The rest are too flawed, full of Gary Stus or otherwise tediously twee.
If I had the choice of custom flairs, I'd use "Culture GSV Gundog Diplomat" because I decided that would totally be my home ship's name.
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (10 days later)
Try editing your flair when you already have some: It works.
u/Suitov [+1] The Culture (14 days later)
I've tried that, but I can't find a free-text option anywhere, just the various defaults. It could be that I need to be a longer-standing member, which is fine if so. It could also be that I suck at reddit.
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (14 days later)
Pick a default. Save. Go back into the editing menu and click on it again. Type. It's unintuitive but easy.
u/None [+1] (a month later)
What? Because, What?
u/Newfur [+1] Crazy like a fox. Literally. (a month later)
My flair is truth, and I picked because it is truthful. Knowing when to opt for mixed-strategy equilibrium is just as important as being able to pretend you're playing way higher than you are.