101–110 of 164 posts
Fantastic story. Will read more from this author!
I do not quite understand how the guys in the simulation can determine which level they are at. If L1 universe interferes with L2, will the guys in L2 see the divergence in L3? How do they determine their own level? Fantastic story. Will read more from this author!
2. Make the value of n appear in the simulation
3. If you see that number in yours, increment n and go back to Step 2
4. Else, the number you see is how many simulations down you are.
I do not quite understand how the guys in the simulation can determine which level they are at. If L1 universe interferes with L2, will the guys in L2 see the divergence in L3? How do they determine their own level? Fantastic story. Will read more from this author!
I do not quite understand how the guys in the simulation can determine which level they are at. If L1 universe interferes with L2, will the guys in L2 see the divergence in L3? How do they determine their own level? Fantastic story. Will read more from this author!
If you run the program once and not observe anything happening, that means you know you're top level. Then you resolve to not rerun the program.
If you run the program once and observe the black sphere, then run it again and not see the black sphere, you know you're level 2. You resolve to not rerun the program. And on it goes.
EDIT: box to sphere.
A further short story by the same author, very short and very suspenseful, about a powerful AI facing an existential task: https://qntm.org/transit If you like longer stories, then https://qntm.org/ra . "Magic is real. Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity." Magic as an abstraction layer.
Ra sounds similar to "Mother of Learning", another rationalist-adjacent work of fiction about a universe with logical, well structured magic, and a student who gets trapped in a groundhog day scenario: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning Its an excellent story, but very long. I'm not sure if it's longer than Homestuck, but the length is comparable.
A further short story by the same author, very short and very suspenseful, about a powerful AI facing an existential task: https://qntm.org/transit If you like longer stories, then https://qntm.org/ra . "Magic is real. Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity." Magic as an abstraction layer.
Ra sounds similar to "Mother of Learning", another rationalist-adjacent work of fiction about a universe with logical, well structured magic, and a student who gets trapped in a groundhog day scenario: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning Its an excellent story, but very long. I'm not sure if it's longer than Homestuck, but the length is comparable.
Highly recommend both.
You could give this somewhat of a horror ending by having the characters realise, after figuring out the implication of turning the simulation off, that the top level would not have had the black sphere appear and as such would have no reason to keep their simulation running and were about to turn it off.
Ian M. Banks novel “surface detail” comes to mind. Please note it is better than the tawdry wiki write up. Somehow, it gets similar points across — similar to this essay, but deeper in feeling. Let me also say the authors here have done really well with so short a format. To paraphrase my toddler son, I want more story!
I've been an avid fantasy fan since forever, but I'm a relative latecomer to sci-fi novels. I recently finally completed making my way through all of the Culture novels - thoroughly enjoyed every one, and was kind of sad to have reached the end! Have you come across any other sci-fi authors that approach the style of Ian M. Banks? Otherwise, any recommendations for other sci-fi with the depth that the Culture series…
"Iron Sunrise" and "Singularity Sky" come to mind. Maybe also "Quantum Thief".
What of the style / vibe / etc are you looking for more of?
A further short story by the same author, very short and very suspenseful, about a powerful AI facing an existential task: https://qntm.org/transit If you like longer stories, then https://qntm.org/ra . "Magic is real. Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity." Magic as an abstraction layer.
Ra sounds similar to "Mother of Learning", another rationalist-adjacent work of fiction about a universe with logical, well structured magic, and a student who gets trapped in a groundhog day scenario: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning Its an excellent story, but very long. I'm not sure if it's longer than Homestuck, but the length is comparable.
You could give this somewhat of a horror ending by having the characters realise, after figuring out the implication of turning the simulation off, that the top level would not have had the black sphere appear and as such would have no reason to keep their simulation running and were about to turn it off.