MLP fanfiction is generally anti-death? I’m surprised.
If that’s true, that’s quite interesting. MLP is a half-plausible utopia which unlike many utopias seems like it would be an upgrade over the real world (I’m surprised Eliezer hasn’t done a post analyzing MLP from his Fun Theory perspective yet EDIT: see Friendship is Optimal); do such half-plausible utopias defeat the usual deathist memes? If so, that seems like evidence for the basic thesis of http://lesswrong.com/lw/6vq/on_the_unpopularity_of_cryonics_life_sucks_but_at/ - people don’t care much about life extension like cryonics (and hence, any anti-deathist arguments) because their lives are not that great.
I wonder how one would investigate this… there aren’t many quasi-utopias available with large fanfic communities. There’s probably a correlation between pessimism-optimism and deathism; are MLP fans both more optimistic and anti-death or more interestingly, are they pessimistic but anti-death when MLP primed? (The most obvious comparison, the Harry Potter-verse, is both explicitly pro-death and also too contemporary and flawed a world to really work.)
Oh. Well, +1 for me for being surprised by a falsity, I guess. Although I wish it had been true since it’s more interesting than the truth and could’ve been interesting (a silver bullet for deathism? Sign me up!).
MLP is pro-death only in one way: There are two characters who are immortal, and people feel sorry for them because everyone they know keeps dying. The show doesn’t talk about this, but the fanfiction does, and refers to the curse of immortality in this context.
MLP fanfiction is generally anti-death? I’m surprised.
If that’s true, that’s quite interesting. MLP is a half-plausible utopia which unlike many utopias seems like it would be an upgrade over the real world (I’m surprised Eliezer hasn’t done a post analyzing MLP from his Fun Theory perspective yet EDIT: see Friendship is Optimal); do such half-plausible utopias defeat the usual deathist memes? If so, that seems like evidence for the basic thesis of http://lesswrong.com/lw/6vq/on_the_unpopularity_of_cryonics_life_sucks_but_at/ - people don’t care much about life extension like cryonics (and hence, any anti-deathist arguments) because their lives are not that great.
I wonder how one would investigate this… there aren’t many quasi-utopias available with large fanfic communities. There’s probably a correlation between pessimism-optimism and deathism; are MLP fans both more optimistic and anti-death or more interestingly, are they pessimistic but anti-death when MLP primed? (The most obvious comparison, the Harry Potter-verse, is both explicitly pro-death and also too contemporary and flawed a world to really work.)
No, MLP fanfic talks often about “the curse of immortality.” I typoed. I will fix it.
Oh. Well, +1 for me for being surprised by a falsity, I guess. Although I wish it had been true since it’s more interesting than the truth and could’ve been interesting (a silver bullet for deathism? Sign me up!).
MLP is pro-death only in one way: There are two characters who are immortal, and people feel sorry for them because everyone they know keeps dying. The show doesn’t talk about this, but the fanfiction does, and refers to the curse of immortality in this context.
CAUSE HERE WE ARE, WE’RE THE PRINCESSES OF THE UNIVERSE!
WE HAVE NO RIVALS! NO MARE CAN BE OUR EQUAL!