Well, for one thing, sometimes Orwellian Retcons are there for important future reasons. It’s one thing if someone reads Chapter 7 well enough, before and after, to spot the other change I made to Draco; but having a little automatic computer notifier makes my life more nervous.
Well then, please keep notes on the different versions so that future historians can look at the versions. I estimate a small chance that historians will be interested in this work (< 5%), but if one puts a high probability of a Singularity then the probability goes up a lot. So you would presumably think that it is worthwhile to keep them.
What’s worse is that I’m one of the people here who seems to give a lower estimate for a Singularity type event… Maybe it should be two shots whenever it is brought up by someone who doesn’t identify as a Singularitarian?
Maybe it should be two shots whenever it is brought up by someone who doesn’t identify as a Singularitarian?
Unfortunately, which category you belong to won’t be apparent from a random post, unless you happen to drop some illuminating clue (say, a screenshot of your porn folder).
Do Singularitarians like a different type of porn than non-Singularitarians? I guess transhumanists might be more likely to like animated or photomodified porn...
I’d love to see some Singularity porn. The PrimeIntellect stories might be included in this genre, thought they’re a lot more than just erotica.
I am a Singularitarian, and yes, I think I do like different porn than non-Singularitarians. Porn of stuff that won’t be possible until after the Singularity. Porn of nonhuman beings: furries, aliens, fantasy creatures, robots… and beings of nonstandard gender. Not just remixes of the standard male and female genders, but entirely new genders too. And yes, I also like tentacle monsters :)
And that’s just the sorts of images I like. There’s also the role playing I do in Second Life. I do stuff that’s only possible in a virtual reality. Morphing my body into whatever form I happen to find convenient, creating and manipulating virtual objects in ways I find useful, and of course defying the conventions of our universe’s physics. And sometimes even directly manipulating my mental state, or doing stuff like telepathically sending out waves of pleasure and happiness.
And then there’s books… My favourite transhuman sex scenes are from Greg Egan’s novels. He did a good job of thinking of some genuinely original ways for transhumans to have sex. Most notably in Shild’s Ladder, with the aliens whose genitals form new and interesting shapes by exchanging pheremones with their partner. And also Oceanic, which featured the “bridge”, which allowed the inhabitants of the planet to swap genders with their partner after they have sex. And then there’s the 7-gendered society in the novel Distress. And one brief scene of virtual reality sex in Permutation City, and also a couple of his other short stories… hehe, sex positions that are only possible in 4 spatial dimensions :)
I didn’t like Prime Intellect though, it involved way too much pain. Actually, when I read those scenes, I imagined what they would be like if the people modified their minds to experience pain as a new form of pleasure. That… was interesting :)
Sorry if this is totally off-topic for LW, I just couldn’t resist replying to that comment :)
Well then, please keep notes on the different versions so that future historians can look at the versions. I estimate a small chance that historians will be interested in this work (< 5%), but if one puts a high probability of a Singularity then the probability goes up a lot. So you would presumably think that it is worthwhile to keep them.
The Less Wrong Drinking Game: have a shot each time someone brings up the Singularity in a completely unrelated thread.
What’s worse is that I’m one of the people here who seems to give a lower estimate for a Singularity type event… Maybe it should be two shots whenever it is brought up by someone who doesn’t identify as a Singularitarian?
Unfortunately, which category you belong to won’t be apparent from a random post, unless you happen to drop some illuminating clue (say, a screenshot of your porn folder).
Do Singularitarians like a different type of porn than non-Singularitarians? I guess transhumanists might be more likely to like animated or photomodified porn...
I’d love to see some Singularity porn. The Prime Intellect stories might be included in this genre, thought they’re a lot more than just erotica.
ok, I just have to reply to this comment...
I am a Singularitarian, and yes, I think I do like different porn than non-Singularitarians. Porn of stuff that won’t be possible until after the Singularity. Porn of nonhuman beings: furries, aliens, fantasy creatures, robots… and beings of nonstandard gender. Not just remixes of the standard male and female genders, but entirely new genders too. And yes, I also like tentacle monsters :)
And that’s just the sorts of images I like. There’s also the role playing I do in Second Life. I do stuff that’s only possible in a virtual reality. Morphing my body into whatever form I happen to find convenient, creating and manipulating virtual objects in ways I find useful, and of course defying the conventions of our universe’s physics. And sometimes even directly manipulating my mental state, or doing stuff like telepathically sending out waves of pleasure and happiness.
And then there’s books… My favourite transhuman sex scenes are from Greg Egan’s novels. He did a good job of thinking of some genuinely original ways for transhumans to have sex. Most notably in Shild’s Ladder, with the aliens whose genitals form new and interesting shapes by exchanging pheremones with their partner. And also Oceanic, which featured the “bridge”, which allowed the inhabitants of the planet to swap genders with their partner after they have sex. And then there’s the 7-gendered society in the novel Distress. And one brief scene of virtual reality sex in Permutation City, and also a couple of his other short stories… hehe, sex positions that are only possible in 4 spatial dimensions :)
I didn’t like Prime Intellect though, it involved way too much pain. Actually, when I read those scenes, I imagined what they would be like if the people modified their minds to experience pain as a new form of pleasure. That… was interesting :)
Sorry if this is totally off-topic for LW, I just couldn’t resist replying to that comment :)
Voted up for giving buzz to Prime Intellect—some of my favorite writing.
I’m afraid it’s over the event horizon.