Very true, and I don’t agree with some comments that I’ve seen lately (and probably they’ve been around all along) complaining about all of the shout outs.
But we may have more of a shout-out here: there’s a strong implication that the Mirror of Noitilov was created by Atlanteans attempting to create an honest-to-goodness FAI to avert an existential threat. Since Atlantis may have created magic entirely, and since there is already a lot of speculation among the fans that the existence of magic implies that MOR is a simulation run by an AI, this would put FAI and the existential threat of UFAI into the background of the world at a deep level.
Of course, only you know if this implication and speculation are correct. And either way, I’m not complaining!
A ShoutOut is not the same as contaminating the plot.
ETA: Spoilers for chapters in the early 100s.
Very true, and I don’t agree with some comments that I’ve seen lately (and probably they’ve been around all along) complaining about all of the shout outs.
But we may have more of a shout-out here: there’s a strong implication that the Mirror of Noitilov was created by Atlanteans attempting to create an honest-to-goodness FAI to avert an existential threat. Since Atlantis may have created magic entirely, and since there is already a lot of speculation among the fans that the existence of magic implies that MOR is a simulation run by an AI, this would put FAI and the existential threat of UFAI into the background of the world at a deep level.
Of course, only you know if this implication and speculation are correct. And either way, I’m not complaining!