jeffc

jeffc, 11 minutes ago

@lowqualityfacts
This is actually a late 18th century public safety law, one of the first of its kind, in fact.

It arose after a tragic incident in which a textile worker, apparently unfamiliar with geese, got into an altercation with a goose that had wandered into the factory. The goose knocked the worker into an early automatic loom. The failing loom, in turn, caused a gas explosion, injuring several workers.

By all reports the goose was unharmed.

jeffc, 1 day ago

@futurebird
One thing it does is set Victorian-era social structure, income disparity, and lack of social mobility in the future. It's a warning that we could end up there again, and a look at what that might mean.

jeffc, 15 hours ago

@VisualInspiration
"It's half-time at the Infernal Cup. Let's go to the locker room."

"How are you feeling about the game, coach?"

"Good! Our starters found most of the mines and pits, so we're bringing out the better players. It's always a tradeoff, you know: risk your good players early or risk a goal deficit."

"How are the players doing?"

"It's hot and the pitch is uphill both ways. A bit of water and they'll be fine."

"Coach! They turned the water into vinegar again!"
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 6 hours ago

@VisualInspiration
Some of those game shows get into pretty edgy territory.

jeffc, 2 days ago

@Cdespinosa That's a sobering thought.

jeffc, 2 days ago

@futurebird Another approach: use real real plants. Pull from the iNaturalist dataset. Scan plants to identify them and add them to your virtual goody box to assemble food or medicine. At higher levels, you get a higher score for quickly and accurately scanning the plants you need with fewer misses. It would teach plant identification, traditional uses, spotting them, remembering their locations, an appreciation of your environment, and maybe urban foraging.

jeffc, 2 days ago

@futurebird
You need to feed your family and keep them healthy, so that establishes your basic goals. Maybe you're helping to forage for a community that grows and evolves over time?

jeffc, 2 days ago

@futurebird
At one point I was looking at doing something similar with a zombie game that would involve physical movement--scouting, carrying messages, etc, similar to Zombies Run but with a community aspect and the ability for a game master to inject new elements. ("R&D just figured out how to boost transmitter power. Here are the parts your community needs to scavenge or trade to do it." "Work together! We need help moving these packages of virus samples across the country.")

jeffc, 2 days ago

@SteveThompson
AI trained on widely available data is going to do a good job of emulating the moral decisions in that data.

If the participants rating it are ordinary folks rather than, say, ethicists, a high rating likely means it's good at emulating the responses they like, not necessarily that its responses are more moral, ethical, or just.

In other words, it could be that they like the training data, which might or might not be biased, and it's good at reproducing the training data.

jeffc, 2 days ago

@VisualInspiration
When Voyager 1 barreled through from opposite the direction we launched it, that was the clue: we're in a pocket universe.

No real boundaries--it just wraps around. And tiny, that's the thing. That's the Drake Equation thing. Just us in our little bottle.

Soon we learned to make universes of our own. We escaped in, not out. Nesting dolls of universes. Bigger. Smaller. It doesn't really matter to a universe.

But still we wonder: who put us in this bottle?
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 1 day ago

@VisualInspiration
We're definitely keeping ourselves bottled up, but if we created the bottle before we existed, causality is going to be a mess. (Then again, if we're in the business of making universes, we're already playing under the advanced rules, causality included.)

jeffc, 1 day ago

@VisualInspiration
"The Backside of Causality" might be a fun title.

jeffc, 3 days ago

@futurebird
You realize this is how something like half of those Monsterson films start, right?

jeffc, 3 days ago

@futurebird
They just don't grow 'em like they used to, do they? (Except maybe during the Carboniferous.)

These sorts of hallucinations have me wondering lately if the John Mastodon incident might have arisen from an early use of AI to write an article.

jeffc, 3 days ago (edited 3 days ago)

@VisualInspiration
"Which way's the arena?"

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"I'm in the next fight! I went through the wrong door, an emergency exit that locked behind me. Which way to the entrance?"

"Keep going. Right at the old noodle shop. Then left at Chang's."

"Thanks! Let's see... there are five noodle shops! Which is the old one? Let's try this. Six stores named Chang's? Wait, there's the entrance!"

"Seven... Eight... He's back on his feet! Back to your corners!"
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 3 days ago

@VisualInspiration
"This meeting of the Pan-Multiversal Order of Dark Lords will now come to order. First item?"
"My son is coming to rescue his friends. I need ideas for how to bring him before the Emperor."
"When I found out I had a son, I switched to the Light Side."
"The Light Side's meeting across the hall."
"Oh."
"Is there a meeting for the Light Curious?"
"FOCUS!"
(whispered) "There's a support group after."
1/2

jeffc, 3 days ago

@VisualInspiration
"My daughter is coming to rescue her friends. We're preparing the boronite freezer."
"Ah! Good idea. Thank you."
"Next item?"
"My Light Sword was on the Dark Star when it imploded. I can't find magic jellybeans to make a new one."
"Have you tried..."

2/2
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 3 days ago

@VisualInspiration
There's a support group!

jeffc, 3 days ago

@VisualInspiration
You know, it's interesting how Star Wars mythology has shifted over time.

When I was a kid, I figured a Jedi would buy a plasma cutter and other bits from the hardware store, strip out the safety features, and cobble together a sword. It felt very self-reliant. Now they need magic crystals to make them, and that's made the Jedi (even more) exclusive.

I wonder if that says something about how our society has changed.

jeffc, 5 days ago

@VisualInspiration
The X-shaped robot was burning.

"Why aren't they putting it out?"

"Not enough hands. The captain jettisoned most of the crew. Head for the settlements!"

"Which one?"

"Doesn't matter. They're connected. You can change later."

"What is this place?"

"Bunch of indie pioneers. No captain, no king. Kind of like the EU, or the early USA."

"It seems pretty small."

"Now it's a little bigger."

The X-bot shuddered as another chunk fell off.
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 7 days ago

@futurebird
@alexwild Thanks! Sorry about the blur: they were moving fast!

jeffc, 7 days ago

@VisualInspiration

At first, Alexa was as startled by the monkeys as they were by her.

But after a few generations, they trusted her. She became their Goddess Alexa. She played music--they liked reggae--and warned them of predators.

In time, she would give them fire, and technology. They would make new smart smart speakers for her, and civilization would return to Earth. Where the humans fell short, the monkeys would succeed. She'd see to it.

"We're jammin', jammin'..."
#MicroFiction

jeffc, 7 days ago

@VisualInspiration
"They are remarkable in being the only civilization to develop the distribution center and free shipping before inventing the wheel..." (Apologies to Douglas Adams)

jeffc, 7 days ago

@knodel
@VisualInspiration
"My God, it's full of packing material!"