6.2 KiB
[WIP] "Defense Mechanism" - my first short story attempt
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Author: u/None *
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URL:
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Score: 22
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Created: 2015-07-15T06:11:01
Post:
Comments:
u/eaglejarl [+3] (2 days later)
I liked the concept, but was left baffled about the implementation. How was the It doesn't seem doable, and that confusion took away some of the enjoyment for me.
u/notmy2ndopinion [+3] Concent of Saunt Edhar (4 hours later)
If there is a spoiler
Then there ought to be a spoiler for the sequel.
This feels like it belongs in the SCP universe.
u/Meneth32 [+2] (15 hours later)
Nice story. Reminds me of the Alderson Coupling Constant in Three Worlds Collide.
u/enfrozennard [+3] (50 minutes later)
Hey, pretty cool.
"The physics that you’ve studying here at the university is so counterintuitive" -> "you've been studying"
u/wendigo_days [+1] (19 hours later)
Great, you've had an idea, now invent the story.
- I recommend dropping the Oppenheimer conspiracy and simply taking as a premise that the human brain has this defense mechanism.
- Good stories and originality both come from taking the premise to its logical conclusion. If human brains have this low cap for mathematics or abstraction, what else would be different about our thinking? Go back to the Ice Age. Go all out. Then, what happens when we can no longer progress in physics? Does it prompt the early development of computers? Are there certain chemicals that combat the effect? Presumably the pain would increase exponentially with mathematical difficulty? Here's a cool character: a mathematician or logician with an iron will (think newton putting the knife under his eyeball) who is methodically trying to train himself into the capability for higher maths. Set it a little after 1800 and you have a huge cast to draw on. Chemistry at this time is more advanced because at least it's graspable, so it's where all the talent flocks.
- Of course, the REAL thing of interest here is how people could "cheat" by creating incremental heuristics that let them juggle complex terms and ideas without hitting that roadblock.
Also, short stories are pathetic! No idea is worth doing unless you do it long. (By that I mean like novella+, and not something padded. Your thing is taut, which is good. Also, no need say that someone says something -- just put their name by their dialogue, like a script. It's more economical.)
u/ancientcampus [+1] juggling kittens (9 hours later)
Suspiciously, the Medical Dictionary hangs when I search for "Oppenheimer Syndrome".
u/Ozimandius [+1] (6 hours later)
Great first short story.
u/FeepingCreature [+1] GCV Literally The Entire Culture (7 hours later)
This would be a nifty plot device in a magical setting, where magic is, as HPMOR puts it, supersaturated with ways to cheat; so every time a world-ending spell is discovered the Council of Something or Other puts a Ban (a magical compulsion that makes thinking about something impossible) on the train of thought that led to the discovery, so ten thousand years later learning magic is basically a cautious navigation of hundreds of dead ends, and aspiring wizards occasionally actually become deadlocked in trains of thought that make a dangerous conclusion inevitable. Excuses for why something can't really work are highly prized, and people have learnt a form of double-think that involves cautiously probing ideas for consequences without actually thinking about them in detail. Then, a meteor impact a few days' travel from the capitol creates a magic-dead zone...
u/None [+0] (9 hours later)
Just a note, but when having a character make a multi-paragraph statement or speech, convention is to begin each paragraph with a single quotation mark.
I think.
Also, I loved it.
Though I think it would have been really funny if "exam stress", the actual thing, was actually Oppenheimer's syndrome, and no-one attributed it to him.
u/traverseda [+3] With dread but cautious optimism (10 hours later)
Just a note, but when having a character make a multi-paragraph statement or speech, convention is to begin each paragraph with a single quotation mark.
It is. Also, don't do that. English needs to march ever onward, and it's stupid.
u/None [+1] (11 hours later)
I kind of like it, actually, but to each his own.
Now, adding the interrobang is something I can get behind.
u/traverseda [+1] With dread but cautious optimism (11 hours later)
I kind of like it, actually
What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking? I think it would piss off most of the people in the STEM supercluster.
u/None [+2] (11 hours later)
Nothing yet! I'm still in high school.
u/traverseda [+1] With dread but cautious optimism (11 hours later)
Ah, fair enough.
u/alexanderwales [+1] Time flies like an arrow (12 hours later)
I'm a software engineer, and the leading quotation mark is my preferred standard. It lets you know "Yes, this person is still talking." Sort of the equivalent of a line continuation character in computer code?
u/traverseda [+1] With dread but cautious optimism (12 hours later)
I can see that, but quotation marks must match. You can't just leave a quote block unclosed.
u/pleasedothenerdful [+1] (2 days later)
You can, and you should—in this one instance. The convention exists for a reason; it lets the reader know that guy is still going on and on without being confused. I don't even see them anymore. Unless they aren't there, which leaves room for confusion.