Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

[Reginald Ret]

What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.

Also, it was not AI. Just ridiculously many very simple scripts that could theoretically be made now backed by a billionaire's budget.

[Cain]

That's true.

And it makes the concept even more implausible.  You know how many online multiplayer games come onto the market perfectly balanced and without any unintended glitches or exploits?  Exactly none.  Shit, my favourite waste of time, Mass Effect 3, had balance changes EVERY SINGLE WEEK over a two year period, in addition to a number of patches.

No-one balance changes the daemon-script thingie.

[Reginald Ret]

To be fair, The Daemon goes off the rails eventually but at that point most of the questlines are crowdsourced.
I consider the main storyline a fun bit of silly entertainment and kept reading for the small glimpses of how regular people integrated this new paradigm into their normal lives. The simple farming communities that used low-tech highly-engineered techniques to improve their quality of life without raping the environment by using this shadow-economy/culture-thingy without really caring about levelling up or doing lots of quests or anything gamerelated other than using it as a social medium were the coolest thing about the sequel.

[Cain]

True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.

[Reginald Ret]

True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.

That would have been hilarious!

[Bu🤠ns]

True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.

" Mundane details "

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I haven't read it yet, but -- there are plenty of self-adjusting / self-balancing software ecosystems (since it's just a matter of implementing a feedback loop). You often don't see them in practice only because they typically get gamed immediately after someone figures out how they work.

[Bu🤠ns]

I just finished Christopher Moore's Practical Demonkeeping. It was pretty good but then I read the reviews.  Apparently a lot of people didn't like this one of his.  I'm not sure why as I tended to prefer it over Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends.  Lust Lizard is still my favorite though.

[Cain]

The Rheusus Chart has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here.

[Cainad (dec.)]

The Rheusus Chart has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here.

I barely have time for the reading I'm already trying to do, and then you go and get me interested in this

[Bu🤠ns]

The Rheusus Chart has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here.

This  seems rather interesting.  I will check out the first book in the series.

[Bu🤠ns]

Currently reading "The Untold History of the United States".  It's not really UNTOLD but...well...I guess maybe in terms of school.  It's not bad...The Pro-JFK comes through a little but all in all I'm able to pick up a bunch of things i missed from studying history--so it's worth it.

[Cain]

The Rheusus Chart has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here.

I barely have time for the reading I'm already trying to do, and then you go and get me interested in this

If it makes you feel better, I'm reading this, re-reading The Prince of Nothing trilogy (and Aspect Emperor once I finish that, in ancticipation of The Unholy Consult) and about 60+ feeds to do with military capabilities in SE Asia for a paper.

[Cainad (dec.)]

And here I was proud of myself for managing to get back in the habit of reading semi-regularly. I also re-read PoN and have started The Judging Eye again, because I've got a big feeling that The Unholy Consult is gonna be hell to follow if I don't have the plot fresh in my mind.

[Cain]

I read some of the speculation on the Second Apocalypse forums...and I was lost on the references in many cases.  I think I may have read parts of The White-Luck Warrior too quickly, because I don't remember pieces at all.  So this time I've been taking notes. 

I may start a thread to discuss the bits I've picked out, a sort of scrapbook/book club thing, if anyone else wants to join in.  I've not gotten any amazing insights thus far, though I'm only half way through The Warrior-Prophet, but I did notice Kellhus basically makes a mention of the Judging-Eye even that far back (though not by name).