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67 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
67 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
## [Biweekly Challenge] Cult
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* Author: u/alexanderwales *Time flies like an arrow**
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* URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/8udp2g/biweekly_challenge_cult/
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* Score: 16
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* Created: 2018-06-27T21:47:57
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### Post:
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## Last Time
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[Last time](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/8qwmlk/biweekly_challenge_anniversary_50_cash_prize/), the prompt was "Anniversary". Our winner is /u/vi_fi, with their story, ["Reconstruction"](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/8qwmlk/biweekly_challenge_anniversary_50_cash_prize/e0s9emp/). Congratulations to /u/vi_fi! I'll contact you via PM about the special prize.
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##### This Time
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This time, the challenge will be **Cult**. In many ways, cults represent the height of human cognitive biases and rationality blindspots. "Cult" is a deliberately vague term here, so you can take the prompt in whatever direction you choose. If you'd like, you can take it in the direction of "cult classic", the less nefarious and more genial counterpart of a small group of people venerating something obscure. Remember that prompts are to inspire, not to limit.
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The winner will be decided **Wednesday, July 11th.** You have until then to post your reply and start accumulating upvotes. It is strongly suggested that you get your entry in as quickly as possible once this thread goes up; this is part of the reason that prompts are given in advance. Like reading? It's suggested that you come back to the thread after a few days have passed to see what's popped up. The reddit "save" button is handy for this.
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##### Rules
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* 300 word minimum, no maximum. Post as a link to Google Docs, pastebin, Dropbox, etc. **This is mandatory.**
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* No plagiarism, but you're welcome to recycle and revamp your own ideas you've used in the past.
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* Think before you downvote.
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* Winner will be determined by "best" sorting.
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* Winner gets reddit gold, special winner flair, and bragging rights. Five-time winners get even more special winner flair, and their choice of prompt if they want it.
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* All top-level replies to this thread should be submissions. Non-submissions (including questions, comments, etc.) belong in the companion thread, and will be aggressively removed from here.
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* Top-level replies must be a link to Google Docs, a PDF, your personal website, etc. It is suggested that you include a word count and a title when you're linking to somewhere else.
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* In the interest of keeping the playing field level, please refrain from cross-posting to other places until after the winner has been decided. (This mostly applies to calling for outside parties to vote.)
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* No idea what rational fiction is? [Read the wiki!](http://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki/index)
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##### Meta
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If you think you have a good prompt for a challenge, [add it to the list](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B6HaZc8FYkr6l6Q4cwBc9_-Yq1g0f_HmdHK5L1tbEbA/edit?usp=sharing) (remember that [a good prompt is not a recipe](http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE)). Also, if you want a quick index of past challenges, I've [posted them on the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki/weeklychallenge).
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##### Next Time
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Next time, the challenge will be **Definition**. The definitions game often makes up a large part of rational debate, and it's a fond pastime of this subreddit to endlessly debate what words mean as (charitably) a method of getting to the heart of what we actually mean to mean when we speak to each other. This is especially important when that definition is going to be put into some kind of rules-based system, which is going to do useful work with that formal definition.
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**Next challenge's thread will go up on 7/11**. Please private message me with any questions or comments. The companion thread for recommendations, ideas, or general chit-chat [is available here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/8uln0l/challenge_companion_cult/)
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### Comments:
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> **u/eniteris** [+10] (9 days later)
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>
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> [Burn Before Reading](https://eniteris.com/burn)
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>
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> 1024 words
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>
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> [Explanation: The Signal](#s " The Signal is an extraterrestrial signal, from a blinking star, which, when decoded, was a super-meme that overwhelmed all human memes. Of course, The Signal, as a meme, wants to spread, so it tells the infected humans to build another Dyson sphere and use it to spread the signal. It's basically an intergalactic chain letter. Go figure.")
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>
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> [Explanation: The Group](#s " The author is part of a cult that somehow remains uninfected, but knows the basics of how The Signal spreads. They've collectively decided to abandon reading, writing, and most speech, and only teach their children to communicate in basic gestures, as a means of immunizing them to The Signal. Missionaries come every so often, but they're killed and all means of information-transmission destroyed. Theoretically the missionaries could bring Trojan Horses to infect them, but I wanted them to be nice. After all, they don't require their help for the Great Work, but it would be nice to tell them what's going on. Jamie also went into the City to get antibiotics, but that's mostly brushed aside for why he's in the city.")
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>
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> [Background](#s " I have been mulling on this idea for quite a while; the idea that memes are a higher form of life that runs on consciousness, the same way that consciousness runs on biology. If we accept the idea that memes compete for mind-space, reproduce and mutate, then they do under go selection pressure and do evolve. So there's the main idea: that alien life isn't physical but is merely an idea. The Signal hijacks the memes that most biological organisms should have (survival, safety), and somehow dials it up to eleven, but is complicated to spread, which is why limiting bandwidth is effective (but the graffiti bypasses it by leveraging shared information). There were multiple iterations of stories with this idea, from first-contact scifi a-la Blindsight to "take me to your leader" scenarios with super-negotiators, and even this one still has problems, such as "how did the group gain metainformation about The Signal without being infected by the Signal itself". I also don't trust myself to write stories about abused children who can only communicate through limited hand gestures. It's also an interesting take on cults, because their decision to neuter language is a correct defense against an alien meme, until they can develop a new language that nobody else knows.")
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---
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