13 KiB
[RST] "Dark Lord's Answer", the next Yudkowskian light novel
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Author: u/EliezerYudkowsky Godric Gryffindor*
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URL: http://www.yudkowsky.net/other/fiction/dark-lords-answer/
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Score: 59
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Created: 2016-12-18T00:50:21
Post:
Comments:
u/monkyyy0 [+21] (11 hours later)
Content warnings: Sexual abuse, economics.
Oh my god. You can't publish economics ey; think of the children.
edit// that warning makes much more sense after reading it, it does contain far to much economics
u/xamueljones [+15] My arch-enemy is entropy (4 hours later)
At the end of the story, Eliezer links to an essay Frequently Asked Questions for Central Banks Undershooting Their Inflation Target which covers the economics used in the story in a more straight forward manner without the plot getting in the way.
I'm posting it here so people can discuss the economic principles if they wish.
u/Ilverin [+7] (14 hours later)
EY is advocating an economic school of thought called 'Market Monetarism' which is not agreed upon by all economists.
I'm not an expert and I don't know which is right, but some other schools of thought include 'Neo-Keynesianism' and 'Neo-Fisherism'.
It seems like the most likely 'Q' in EY's post would be the European Central Bank since in February they experienced deflation?
In my personal opinion I don't see much difference between 1% and 2% inflation, but when the prospect of deflation rises, that is the time to use all available tools (including ridiculing central bankers) to prevent deflation.
u/CouteauBleu [+23] We are the Empire. (8 minutes later)
Wait, your last name's an adjective now?
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+15] Godric Gryffindor (12 minutes later)
First of all, yes, and second, it seemed like the best way to inform casual Reddit browsers that this was a Yudkowskian novel (contrast the title, "my next light novel").
u/None [+20] (8 hours later)
I don't think you're doing it right... A (for example) Tolkienesque novel isn't one written by Tolkien, it's one that evokes his style of writing.
u/makoConstruct [+32] Praises of Nayru, FLI Worldbuilding (2 hours later)
You can't just decide you're an adjective yourself, it's a great honor/shame that can only be handed down by a high muse or a dictionarist
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+47] Godric Gryffindor (2 hours later)
I assure you, good sir or madam, I carefully waited to observe the first natural use of the adjective before daring to make use of it myself.
u/tehcrashxor [+9] Chaos Legion (19 hours later)
Meh, it's fun to verb all the nouns, and adjective all the nouny words.
u/gabbalis [+3] (an hour later)
Hey, if it's good enough for Lovecraft it's good enough for me.
u/TotesMessenger [+3] (2 days later)
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
- [/r/sneerclub] Yudkowsky informs that the next Yudkowskian light novel is up on yudkowsky.net. It is truly a Yudkowskian novel.
^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^(Info ^/ ^Contact)
u/Bowbreaker [+5] Solitary Locust (9 hours later)
Hrm. Spoiler
Spoiler Though that may not have been your intention but instead caused by me reading things into the story due to my own bias.
Other feedback would be that there was little in the form of suspense or interesting world building or really intriguing ideas and that the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Then again, an anticlimactic ending is pretty realistic in this situation.
All in all, I've read better short stories from you for free. But the fact that I greatly enjoyed those better short stories and that this one was still decent even if not great mean that you definitely deserve what I happily paid.
u/HeckDang [+5] (22 hours later)
(Spoilers below.)
So, this was an interesting piece. I've been thinking a lot about "message fiction" lately, fiction that has a pretty clear message or idea or position or whatever that is trying to be communicated through the extended analogy or application or example that is the story. A lot of my favourite pieces of fiction are those that are convincing in conveying perhaps otherwise unintuitive concepts, or just those that aren't popularly held. It's satisfying to walk through concepts and their implications like that.
So the fact that this was an admitted failure at what was initially at least in part an attempt at producing a message fic of that kind makes it interesting. It isn't a complete failure - it still communicates a lot of ideas and I still found it a fun read, but I find myself getting a lot out of analyzing it, thinking about what the story was trying to do, what worked and what didn't, where it went to do so.
In terms of economics, it didn't seem to get that far with monetary policy except to point out that deflation was bad, and increasing the money supply could be a good way to combat it. I guess on the way there it did lay some groundwork on economic equilibria and unintended consequences through the kinda clunky analogical lecture midway through the story. Eliezer even got in a basic income plug in the welfare bit.
I think the story seemed to end up saying more about ethics and image though. Like, it made sure to touch base with consequentialism very quickly, which makes sense since it's the basis of ethical judgement for the duration of the story. But there are so many things that ended up being part of the story, the sexual masochism, the isekai visitor, hiding true identities, virtue signalling, being sane or having insight in an unopimized or insane world, what image to project in accordance with what you plan on doing and the importance of perception, all those pieces the story worked with and put together to make points about subjects often rather removed from one another. It was fun, but it was messy, and things weren't often all that interrelated. Repeatedly weirding out the prude mc with BDSM in your illustrative econ story is an interesting choice, and much of the story was like that.
I'm really glad it was made and released, anyhow. It's cool to get to see examples of early attempts at specific ideas, case studies of things that didn't work out exactly as intended, and it's fun to place it and what it does in context with the rest of Eliezer's output. Happy to have read it.
u/ToaKraka [+4] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (12 minutes later)
In what file format(s) is the Gumroad version provided? I can find this information on neither the linked page nor the purchase page, though this help page recommends "exporting your book as a PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, and then uploading all three formats to your product".
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+10] Godric Gryffindor (24 minutes later)
Should have PDF, MOBI, EPUB, and RTF, I think. Odd, Gumroad used to show that.
u/ExiledQuixoticMage [+3] (4 hours later)
So this is a story about Nama (A man) who comes from the kingdom Santal (aslant). Presumably our average man will learn how to set straight his kingdom via the power of rationality.
u/LunarTulip [+3] (4 hours later)
It took me far longer than it should have to get why there was a big yud on the cover.
u/Shrlck [+2] Dragon Army (15 hours later)
Bought it, read it, enjoyed it.
u/None [+2] (19 hours later)
I did not find it very enthralling, though I gave bonus points for honesty on behalf of the author.
Eliezer, can you name any light novels that you enjoyed in roughly the same way as "Evil God Average"?
u/xamueljones [+1] My arch-enemy is entropy (23 hours later)
I usually like to recommend Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?. They aren't very similar in terms of plot, but somehow I always feel like the two novels have similar styles of writing.
u/bhauth [+1] (6 days later)
Oh shit, somebody call the burn ward.
u/HeckDang [+2] (22 hours later)
u/None [+2] (5 days later)
Can anyone explain the light novel genre, and why it is something worth parodying?
u/JaimeL_ [+1] (3 hours later)
Can someone fill me in here please, is this his first since HPatMoR or are there other in between? I'm desperate for more!
u/xamueljones [+7] My arch-enemy is entropy (3 hours later)
His prior novel for sale on Amazon was A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?!.
Here is the Gumroad version.
Here is the first four out of thirteen chapters for free on his website.
I am unaware of any other novels on sale by him other than Rationality: From AI to Zombies (and that one's free unless you feel like donating some money to him).
u/JaimeL_ [+1] (5 hours later)
Thank you! Are there any hard copies available?
u/xamueljones [+1] My arch-enemy is entropy (5 hours later)
There's a paperback version for A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?! on Amazon, but there's nothing for Dark Lord's Answer. Maybe there will be one later, but if you are desperate for one, you can make it by using Lulu.
u/monkyyy0 [+1] (18 hours later)
In the after word he said he didn't like how it turned out(and to be honest, corrupted girl is far better) so I doubt it will be in paperback
u/Evan_Th [+3] Sunshine Regiment (3 hours later)
u/FishNetwork [+1] (a day later)
I was surprised at Elaine's reveal. I'd expected to learn that her question to the dark lord was: Spoiler
His solution of Spoiler
That felt like it would have fit with the overall theme, and Elaine's comments about how the prince was a good person to ask after that other slave.
u/Reactionaryhistorian [+1] (5 days later)
I can't help thinking that Elaine's backstory is that of humanity being destroyed by an ai who sent each member of the race to a separate world sort of similar to Failed Utopia 4-2 only more drastic. Each was sent to the world where they would be able to achieve the most and/or receive the most satisfaction of their fantasies by an almost, but not quite, friendly ai.
Overall I feel that I would have preferred the story without the BDSM elements. They didn't seem linked with the rest of the plot. Of course I love economics and could cope with a story entirely devoted to it. Some might disagree.