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Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

gwern.net

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Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#111

Post by Haga »

Terr_ wrote: post #99
c22 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you possessed such a device then errors in your "predictions" would be indicative of another party using a similar device. As such, I assume multiple parties would soon discover each other, engage in an incomprehensibly complex time-battle, and there would suddenly ( instantaneously in all patched timelines) be only one such party. Furthermore, I imagine it would be very easy for such a party to accidently blunder…

In the book Singularity Sky [0], mankind invented the first time-looped computer, and it cycled up to a godlike overlord. After making a lot of very disruptive changes (which of course seem to be immediate to everyone else) it seems to have become surprisingly disinterested or uninvolved. Anyway, it has only one hard "commandment": Nobody can violate causality anywhere inside its own historic light-cone, since doing…

Book was so much better than accelerando

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#113

Post by needle0 »

Characters in fiction regularly behave sub-optimally even if they're set up as geniuses, for the most mundane meta reason: It's a work of entertainment, and the plot wouldn't get interesting otherwise! We should always be very aware that any fiction, even ones that attempt speculative simulations, is always shackled by the need to keep being entertaining and interesting -- there are craptons of concepts and possibilities that _can_ occur or _will_ become deeply relevant to humanity but hardly ever gets explored in fiction because they're boring to read or write about.

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#114

Post by rococode »

saagarjha wrote: post #82

> Worse, the deaths are non-random in other ways—they tend to occur at particular times! Graphed, daily patterns jump out. I actually ran this kind of analysis on my use of Hacker News a couple of months back. It turns out that the patterns mentioned only really work if you have something that resembles a normal sleep schedule, which I clearly do not: 12 AM ********* 1 AM *********** 2 AM ********* 3 AM ******* 4 AM…

I dunno, I think this still reveals some patterns:

Typically asleep around 5-8AM despite irregular sleep schedule, generally including 4 and 9 AM as well.

Frequently staying up to around 2 or 3 AM.

Lunch typically around 12, lull in work after lunch = more time to browse and make comments.

Dinner typically at 7. Spike in browsing HN after dinner while full, then focus on work or relax for a couple hours, before starting to drift off and get back to browsing HN around midnight.

Happy to hear if this is close or way off haha. But I suspect despite the patterns not being as clearcut, this is still enough to pinpoint your time zone within a couple hours.

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#115

Post by taneq »

azernik wrote: post #75
Malic wrote: post #23

This is somewhat related to a thought experiment of mine. Suppose you had a means of transmitting information back in time - a one-node network that effectively could email to itself with a timestamp (in the past) being the message's "recipient." Suppose such a thing existed in the world today. Assume the individuals in possession of such a thing were very intelligent, very careful and very guarded about its use. Cou…

A particularly clever member of the Twitterati: https://twitter.com/Theophite/status/1062816091892674561 @Theophite: the existence of nonzero interest rates implies the nonexistence of time travel.

I see what they did there but I don't know if I agree. The market can stay irrational for longer than it takes to invent time travel...

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#116

Post by SenHeng »

prewett wrote: post #30
joe_the_user wrote: post #5

The ability to kill anyone one chose would be a far more terrifying weapon if used to instill fear. If someone used to this ability to kill individuals who didn't fit their agenda but kept anonymity about their goals, whatever changed they wished would only happen fairly slowly and haphazardly - those replacing the dead wouldn't have that much chance to produce different policies. Also, even a bunch of seemingly rand…

This is exactly what happens in totalitarian regimes. I know the CCP does this in China, but I assume Hitler, Stalin, Mao, maybe the Saudis, did/do this.

To a lesser extreme, so does Singapore.

Not that I have a reference anymore, but there used to be articles in the state controlled newspaper mentioning the fuzzy bounds of allowed political discourse akin to I'll know it when I see it and if you so happen to cross this boundary, well that's your own fault for getting involved in politics at all, you should've stuck to simple peasantry.

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#117

Post by SenHeng »

gwern wrote: post #107
rapfaria wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scrolling through it quickly makes me feel like like I loaded a webpage that hasn't loaded images properly and show a little X icon instead.

There aren't any images, so I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the sidenotes?

As an admittedly not very smart person, the sidenotes do create a very claustrophobic effect on me. Maybe it's different when one is reading the main article and glancing at the notes, but when randomly scrolling or pgdn-ing to skim the article, it's overwhelming.

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#118

Post by Kaiyou »

michaelscott wrote: post #45
arugulum wrote: post #39

I would frame things a little differently. Light makes a lot of mistakes because the Death note is incredibly powerful and there would be almost no reasonable way for L to catch Light without Light making obvious mistakes (and would also make for a boring story). Undoubtedly, the biggest mistake Light makes is revealing the existence of the Death Note, and all the rules therein, which not only gives L (almost) all th…

I agree with this completely; Light makes up for what I would say is an inferior deductive ability by using a supernatural item with rules that defy ordinary logic and reason (L catches on early that such a tool must exist with his TV announcement stunt, but he can't possibly know the ruleset of such an item). The only way Near and Mello end up overcoming this advantage is by: (1) Mello obtaining a Death Note of his…

As far as I remember the only reason Light lost at the end is because a character managed to make an exact replica of a Death Note overnight. A magic book that can hold infinite names. It was this plothole that ruined the ending for me.

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#119

Post by [deleted] »

rolltiide wrote: post #103
magpi3 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a significant spoiler for those who haven't seen the show. Please delete it.

lol wow and people were agreeing with me for a few hours there too but looks like consensus flipped! oh well too late for me to do anything about this decade plus old spoiler @dang do your thang

[deleted]

Re: Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)

#120

Post by zaarn »

the8472 wrote: post #17
whatshisface wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you could write, "Before their death, the CEO of Gas Inc. will invent nuclear fusion, spread it to every market, and then live a long and happy life."

There are rules that would prevent that (they can only do things within their means, 1 month time limit). What could work is an investment in such technologies, public announcements and then disappearing, maybe falling off a yacht or such a thing.

"Scientist X, working on Fusion, discovers method that advances research by decades, then dies of happiness and a caffeine overdose"
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