Basically, something where a borderline psychopath is a psychologist, and sometimes gets too involved in his patients lives.
Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
71–77 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#72An idea for an historical fiction.
The idea is based on the fact that the allies have known about the holocaust happening(at least in the USSR) since around mid-1941/september-1941(based on crypto analysis records) , and did nothing, and hid that knowledge. An history professor thinks it's has a lot to do with antisemitism , and they could have done some stuff(like informing the population of europe) that could potentially saved a lot of people or at least made the germans's job much harder.
If you're interested in writing, i can gather the few links i had about this.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#73A hard scifi about ghosts/poltegeists. The idea is based on a few premises:
1) An invisible person has to be blind
2) Every single human cell has DNA that contain endogenous retroviruses
3) Viruses can crystalize - an ability that even ancient viruses have. And when viruses crystalize, some will form massive band gaps, making those crystals transparent.
4) Every human has it in them to become transparent (mutation of some sorts).
5)Because of the change in cell structure, the invisible man's brain is changed too. His intelligence is reduced. And because light can pass through him, his biology doesn't require food for energy. Light suffices.
6) Because they're blind, invisible people bump into things and moan a lot due to lowered intelligence. Tadah, ghosts.
I've been jumping around some ideas: either extend HG Well's the Invisible Man universe (that a number of experiments in the late 1800s created these "ghosts"), or a Fringe-like thing, where some scientist (Walt Priest) was experimenting in the late 1980s, and the story takes place in the future, where an investigative journalist (Olive Dunham) discovers his secret. There is also another version in my mind where it's written as a horror story, but I can't write horror to save my life
I think I have given up writing it, focusing more on my other book - on virtual machines instead. Feel free to steal it
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#74Scientists develop an "observe-only non-interfering backward time machine" which allows them to send a camera/mic back in time to observe and listen the events of past but they cannot change anything.
At first time spans are short: they can only go few seconds back. They improvement it until they can get signal from hours ago and it is now a break down for fighting crime and makes it financially acceptable.
Many attempts later it can go up to 200-500 years back and historian are in their dream lands. Many political mysteries can be revealed now. Governments are fighting to hold the progress back but too many dirty secrets are revealed now and the political map of the world is changed.
Criminals are trying to learn how to commit crimes the way that device cannot detect them or find loopholes in the law but with very little success. With crime levels going down and nothing interesting in the last century's history scientists aim for over 1000-2000 years. And the real trouble comes after one crazy atheist says: "you know what... let follow Mohammad & Jesus's every foot step"
The next thing you know Jews, Christians & Muslims are united against the device. The largest terrorist attack in the history of mankind (aka big bang 2) takes place and the device and every bit of information about it burns in the wrath of religion.
Mini Twist: we know this because we have built a device to go back in time and find more about the mysterious origin of the name and causes of big bang 2.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#75to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us,
and help us.
9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
9:30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#76I have plenty, I like the idea of J.L. Borges: writing the summaries of books I would like to write but am too lazy to.
The end of Man - A Scifi book.
In the near future, some men start having fertility issue. The trouble is quickly diagnosed: it is a side-effect of Wi-Fi waves, and all male humans ever exposed to Wi-Fi are sterile, with no remedy. A few years later, the world changes as only a few aborigenees can procreate, and receive all the attention, and power. A new society begins, and the reaction of the female part of humanity is not the less comical of this book, whose author, understandably, took the penname of Wilfried Esperamus
When Kings Went to War and Prison - A history book.
A few French kings were man of arms, and their chivalry ethics would not let anyone attack the enemy before them. The authors, Edward Ledrew, narrates beautifully the few dramatic stories where the heroes became burden of nations, where a single missed tactical step ended in years and decennies of prison and ransom, and quite nearly resulted in the death of a country.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#77Modern day version of The Count of Monte Cristo, set in Silicon Valley and along Sand Hill Road Entrepreneur starts company, gets funded, company goes HUGE, but company product turns out to be highly disruptive in a bad way for a large group of disadvantaged people, entrepreneur tries to change the product to exist in union with the people, but is countered and eventually thrown out of company by investors for a mist…
You can't portray self-improving AI and not wind up destroying the planet.
As long as you are able to create and set goals for the entity (AI), goals that it must obey and cannot override, then this should never be a problem.
The three laws of robotics would be a good place to start. My greatest fear is it's code landing in the hands of someone with ill intentions. Imagine it, a machine with the combined knowledge of almost everyone who ever lived, capable of working 24/7, full speed, without any breaks. Given enough time it would be able to answer ANY question you could ask it, it could build anything you desired and it could cure every sickness known to man.
But it could also create unimaginably powerful weapons of mass destruction, it could create a pathogen capable of annihilating the entire human race and yes, if asked, it could create a robot army unlike any depicted by sci-fi before. Our fear should not be that of the AI itself, but rather the man behind the computer screen. For it was neither the maker nor the carrier of LittleBoy that was responsible for the annihilation of Nagasaki, but rather the President whom sent it on it's way.
I just pray that the creator of the first AI, is a kind one. For he shall poses both the greatest weapon known to mankind, And the greatest blessing ever to be bestowed upon us.