3.6 KiB
David Brin: Reality Check
-
Author: u/PeridexisErrant put aside fear for courage, and death for life*
-
Score: 30
-
Created: 2015-10-17T06:09:54
Post:
Comments:
u/wtrnl [+5] (4 hours later)
You will not, or cannot, look into your blind spot for the exit protocols.
So, just in case, how does one "look into one's blind spot"?
u/philip1201 [+3] (14 hours later)
As far as we know, the phrase is as meaningless as "next December 32nd". We can try to extrapolate ways in which the statement could have meaning: in case of December 32nd, you could say that it's the day after December 31st, so it's January 1st. Or maybe it's an odd calendar which used December instead of February as the leap month, in which case it would be December 31st of the next leap year. Or something else still.
Looking into the blind spot may involve looking at the physical blind spot of the retina inside your eye, or it may involve the optical lobe not having the standard human method of filling in the blind spot, but instead (optionally?) having it show an image of the verification text. Or something else entirely.
u/GeneralSCPatton [+1] (17 hours later)
I assume that meant they put an implant in the eye, lined up with the blind spot so it doesn't obstruct anything.
u/philip1201 [+2] (23 hours later)
In that case the story loses some of its impact since few people bothered to go to an ophthalmologist willing to show them a video feed of their blind spot. Instead, the story treats looking into the blind spot as something you can do while reading.
u/GeneralSCPatton [+0] (a day later)
"check it against the reference verifier in the blind spot of your left eye"
Could this mean to look at some HUD elements provided by an implant? Like a cyberpunk Augmented Reality thing? I can't be bothered to read past the first paragraph, so I don't know what context we're actually dealing with.
u/philip1201 [+1] (a day later)
The premise is that you're (not) a godlike posthuman who went into a lotus machine simulation of 'real life' voluntarily, out of boredom. The verification code to give this claim validity was placed by yourself or your fellow benevolent post-human, and can be found by "looking into your blind spot".
u/None [+5] (5 hours later)
This guy needs to read some Fun Theoryyy
u/philip1201 [+3] (14 hours later)
I don't think that would help. The story makes clear that everything has simply been done. If you want to do anything which ends up with you being as powerful as you are now, the end state is indistinguishable from the current state, with the possible exception of one slightly longer path being labeled 'historically accurate'.
There is no room for improvement, which the Fun Theory Sequence calls possibly equivalent to the end of one's life.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
"Everything" can only have been done if "everything" is of finite size.
u/philip1201 [+1] (2 days later)
Or if "doing" can happen infinitely quickly.
u/redrach [+2] (16 hours later)
The simulation is one consequence of Fun Theory. One way to ensure things stay novel is to deliberately suppress your memories and invent 'new' ones.
u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (16 hours later)
What are the actual odds we're facing here, anyway?