10 KiB
[TH] [WIP] What football will look like in the future
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Author: u/jaiwithani Insufficient data for a meaningful answer*
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Score: 44
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Created: 2017-07-06T21:22:04
Post:
Comments:
u/ViceroyChobani [+14] Reserve Pigeon Army (6 hours later)
Started off fascinated and intrigued. Slowly...deescalated from there.
It's a fun idea, presented in a really intriguing and unique format, but...at the end of the day, it seems to be a story about football. I've only read about four chapters in, mind you, so I may be wrong, but... Spoilers
u/None [+15] (22 hours later)
This is one of those things I'd use as the first onion-layer in a setting. Show us all the "nothing has changed" future.
Then start peeling off the layers, and show us that the people we've seen are just the particularly conservative folks, and that the rest of the universe is bigger and weirder than we've been shown.
u/callmebrotherg [+4] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (2 days later)
...This would work really well if your protagonist is a fish out of temporal water.
In Transmetropolitan, people who were awoken from cryogenic suspension generally suffered from massive, debilitating culture shock. However, "reservations" are a thing that exists. The government doesn't seem to care all that much about its citizens, but if it did then a pretty quick solution would be to wake up cryosleepers on appropriate reservations and slowly acclimate them to the future.
In a setting without preexisting reservations, these might be set up for the express purpose of helping people to adjust, so our protagonist wakes up, finds that the world is only a little different, and...the onion starts getting peeled back, layer by layer, as quickly as our protagonist can adjust to it.
u/None [+7] (2 days later)
...This would work really well if your protagonist is a fish out of temporal water.
That's precisely what I was planning it for. Also a kind of multilayered social commentary.
u/alexanderwales [+12] Time flies like an arrow (6 hours later)
Mostly agree, but it's unique enough that I'm willing to sink the time into seeing whether it can deliver more than it seems to be delivering.
u/CeruleanTresses [+6] (23 hours later)
I would argue that it's not about football so much as it is about people playing absolutely ridiculous, vaguely football-inspired games because they're
u/CeruleanTresses [+3] (2 days later)
Now that some more chapters have come out, it seems like that question of "why has nothing changed?" is an explicit mystery of the story that's going to be addressed, rather than just an aspect that wasn't thought out.
u/kleind305 [+2] (5 days later)
Looks more like a slow build to me, rather than a poorly constructed universe.
u/lawnmowerlatte [+9] (6 hours later)
Ok. It’s weird and I love it. Where do I sign up for updates? Is SBNation a real site?
u/callmebrotherg [+6] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (6 hours later)
Sports Blog Nation is a sports site owned by Vox.
u/Fresh_C [+3] (22 hours later)
Yeah, I tried to sign up to their RSS feed but I got updates from every sports article on the site...
But I imagine you can narrow it down using some filters. I'll probably try to do that when I'm feeling less lazy.
u/smells_like_hotdogs [+2] (2 days later)
Use the author. All of his stuff is interesting
u/Endovior [+8] (an hour later)
I'm not even sure what this is... let alone why you felt the need to link it here. Explanation, please?
u/alexanderwales [+14] Time flies like an arrow (2 hours later)
Spoilers, since discovery is presumably supposed to be part of the fun.
It probably goes without saying that this story is very eccentric.
u/narfanator [+5] (a day later)
I'm freaking loving this fiction. It went somewhere totally unexpected, and it's just like this adorable slice of life in this otherwise "welp, weird, but I'll take it" kind of situation.
u/callmebrotherg [+3] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (6 hours later)
This is crazy.
u/callmebrotherg [+4] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (6 hours later)
Not sure that it's /r/rational material tho
u/Fresh_C [+11] (9 hours later)
It hits on many of the themes found in lots of rational fiction and so far none of the characters have made any actions or decisions that are unjustifiably stupid.
I'd say it could very well be a rational story, though it doesn't seem like it will be a rationalist story. It meets the qualifications listed in the sidebar. It's just really unconventional.
u/LeifCarrotson [+3] (18 hours later)
so far none of the characters have made any actions or decisions that are unjustifiably stupid.
Ten's initial messages to Nine did not make a first impression that seemed intelligent...
Nine? Can you hear me? If you can, please be patient. I promise that I will answer you. I understand that you might be afraid.
126 characters to say not much of anything. This does not seem smart. But perhaps psychology was important. After that, though, the second message? Or the third? Ten had 217 days to think about it. But instead seems to have spent about 10 seconds composing it.
u/Fresh_C [+3] (19 hours later)
I agree they didn't pick the best message, but I think part of that can be blamed on the lack of urgency.Time pretty much means nothing to them in the long run. And I get the feeling that she was sending messages like these long before she got her first response.
But yeah ultimately the opening could have been handled better. The author milked it a bit for the sake of dramatics. Though I'd say this one instance doesn't really detract much from the story.
u/fljared [+4] United Federation of Planets (a day later)
There's something intensely disturbing about the newest chapter- The fact that spoiler
u/Zomaarwat [+2] (19 hours later)
Good stuff. Takes a while to get to the explanation, but that's ok. Let yourself be drawn in.
u/starsandspirals [+2] (3 days later)
I found this really interesting towards the beginning when Nine and Ten were first coming into contact, but then it seemed to lose some of what originally made it exciting later on.
One part that did keep my attention was the people trying to collect every autographed Koy Detmer ball; this seems like exactly the kind of thing people would do for fun in a future where everyone is immortal. It sort of reminded me of Alicorn's short story Will, in the sense that when people have all the time in the world then they have the time to explore every obscure thing that interests them, rather than focusing on things they think are important.
Anything that uses media in creative ways like this is a good thing, though, and I'll probably keep reading to see where it goes!
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+1] Father of Learning (3 days later)
This is weird, and until they start explaining why technology hasn't changed in the past 15,000 years, then I'm going to start thinking this isn't actually a rationalist, just someone's weird thought experiment.
u/CeruleanTresses [+3] (4 days later)
They have explained it now.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (4 days later)
Yeah, that was a ridiculous explanation and kind of soured the whole thing for me.
u/CeruleanTresses [+3] (4 days later)
You're referring to it like it's a handwavey explanation while we get on with the story, but the impression I have is that humanity's stagnation is what the story is about. It's the main concept being explored.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+1] Father of Learning (4 days later)
It's a fundamentally flawed model of humanity. People aren't built to be complacent, sooner or later we try for more. It's not impossible for sentient beings to act like that, but unless there's some gene therapy going on that no one mentioned humans can't. To act like they can sours it for me.
u/CeruleanTresses [+4] (4 days later)
I mean, I don't think we actually know what humans are like in an environment where all of their needs are met and they live forever and there are never any new generations to shake things up. It's a fairly bleak take on immortality, sure, and you're well within your rights to find that unpleasant to read about, but I don't think we can accuse it of being unrealistic. It's just speculative fiction that is speculating a scenario that doesn't appeal to you. I also don't think it's necessarily true that "people aren't built to be complacent"; there are all kinds of circumstances where people become complacent.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (4 days later)
But we do have people who have all their needs met forever and are still unsatisfied. They're called the idle rich and not a single one I've met has ever stopped trying to get more
u/CeruleanTresses [+2] (4 days later)
You can't buy what the people of this setting have.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (4 days later)
No, but more time doesn't make me want the total immersion and control VR gives me any less. Hell, even if I could buy whatever I want, I would totally want better stuff to be made so I could buy it.
Either I'm not human, or this doesn't work.