I sometimes jokingly compare my life to an intelligence explosion. I honestly believe that if there was a contest for most improved person in the world, I’d be in the running for it. When I was a kid I was a screaming, incoherent moron and lunatic. When I got to college I was still a screaming, incoherent moron and lunatic, but significantly less so. The older I’ve gotten, the more quickly I’ve improved. Most people, even other rationalists, would probably be shocked by how much I’ve improved myself within the past couple years, let alone the past four or five years or even the last ten.
Very cool! Have you written about this in more detail? (I’m interested in hearing more.)
To some extent, but not all in one place. One of the main characters of the novelette series I’m writing, Bertie is a self insert at first, and some of his history plays into the plot. I’ve also posted about some of it on my blog.
SPOILER: Earthlings: People of the Dawn part 6 -- the Ancestor’s Legacy version 2 is a depiction of a genuine utopian future, and at one point one of the characters finds out about Bertie’s past psych problems in “Ancient Earth: the MMORPG” and there’s a very stark contrast between the game’s depiction of pre-rationalist Bertie and th rationalist Bertie that the reader gets to know throughout the series.
PSA: the way to write good self inserts is to have them diverge from you over the course of the story, and make them realistically imperfect human beings.
Very cool! Have you written about this in more detail? (I’m interested in hearing more.)
To some extent, but not all in one place. One of the main characters of the novelette series I’m writing, Bertie is a self insert at first, and some of his history plays into the plot. I’ve also posted about some of it on my blog.
SPOILER: Earthlings: People of the Dawn part 6 -- the Ancestor’s Legacy version 2 is a depiction of a genuine utopian future, and at one point one of the characters finds out about Bertie’s past psych problems in “Ancient Earth: the MMORPG” and there’s a very stark contrast between the game’s depiction of pre-rationalist Bertie and th rationalist Bertie that the reader gets to know throughout the series.
PSA: the way to write good self inserts is to have them diverge from you over the course of the story, and make them realistically imperfect human beings.