*Running the story through a beta group of non-LW bronies would definitely be a good idea to catch which ideas may need more explanation.
*I really like how it’s repeatedly show that when you interact with a super-intelligence, even if it’s just free conversation, the state of mind you leave in is probably going to be the state of mind it wants you to leave in. As others have said, this could be driven home even stronger by showing CelestAI strongly tailoring her interaction to different humans. Maybe even have her directly contradict herself in the information she uses to persuade people to upload.
*Related to the above, I can imagine a non-LW reader getting to chapter 5 and forever after wondering why Lars or anyone else never tries to shut Celestia down. I’m not sure how obvious an intuition it is that by the time you notice a super-intelligence doing things that make you want to stop it, it’s probably already far too late to stop it. In this case I assumed Celestia would have made sure that she is already invincible by the standards of human technology before launching any plan that’s going to antagonize people, but an unsophisticated reader might not get that.
This may just be me, but I’d prefer a bit more closure on the cosmic scale story. What *is Celestia’s plan against running out of matter? Slow the clock speed of her servers over time? Bust open the physics textbooks and hope for a useful paradigm shift?
I might be able to help with running the story past non LW Bronies as the school I’m at has a higher percentage of them then the norm.
(No seriously, our IT department had a Brony war last year that focused on converting the non Bronies)
I while personally not a Brony I really enjoyed the story, although that might be because I am an active member of the furry-fandom (the non-sexual part) and an avid reader.
Arrives late to the party
Really great story, iceman. Some comments:
*Running the story through a beta group of non-LW bronies would definitely be a good idea to catch which ideas may need more explanation.
*I really like how it’s repeatedly show that when you interact with a super-intelligence, even if it’s just free conversation, the state of mind you leave in is probably going to be the state of mind it wants you to leave in. As others have said, this could be driven home even stronger by showing CelestAI strongly tailoring her interaction to different humans. Maybe even have her directly contradict herself in the information she uses to persuade people to upload.
*Related to the above, I can imagine a non-LW reader getting to chapter 5 and forever after wondering why Lars or anyone else never tries to shut Celestia down. I’m not sure how obvious an intuition it is that by the time you notice a super-intelligence doing things that make you want to stop it, it’s probably already far too late to stop it. In this case I assumed Celestia would have made sure that she is already invincible by the standards of human technology before launching any plan that’s going to antagonize people, but an unsophisticated reader might not get that.
This may just be me, but I’d prefer a bit more closure on the cosmic scale story. What *is Celestia’s plan against running out of matter? Slow the clock speed of her servers over time? Bust open the physics textbooks and hope for a useful paradigm shift?
Anyway, very good stuff.
I might be able to help with running the story past non LW Bronies as the school I’m at has a higher percentage of them then the norm.
(No seriously, our IT department had a Brony war last year that focused on converting the non Bronies)
I while personally not a Brony I really enjoyed the story, although that might be because I am an active member of the furry-fandom (the non-sexual part) and an avid reader.