A time travel device is invented that only travels forward in time
Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
41–50 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#42Fascinating how many religious ideas have been posted here. REAL HUMAN: A robot masquerades as a human being to avoid decommissioning. Plot spoiler: there are no humans left, only robots pretending to be human. Even robots need a class system.
I think Stanislaw Lem wrote that already. Or was his one the other way around?
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#43Fellow NaNoWrimo-er! You should have started this exercise in October. Anyway, here's mine: The current iteration of God and Satan (or whatever fictional supernatural character you choose) BOTH suddenly go AWOL and throw the entire system of heaven and hell into a quandary. Turns out they are both vacationing on Earth on some remote island, spending their days fishing and drinking beer. Romantic twist: One is male, t…
Sounds fun. I would love to read this! I hope you finish your NaNoWrimo. :)
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#44Fellow NaNoWrimo-er! You should have started this exercise in October. Anyway, here's mine: The current iteration of God and Satan (or whatever fictional supernatural character you choose) BOTH suddenly go AWOL and throw the entire system of heaven and hell into a quandary. Turns out they are both vacationing on Earth on some remote island, spending their days fishing and drinking beer. Romantic twist: One is male, t…
> The current iteration of God and Satan (or whatever fictional supernatural character you choose) BOTH suddenly go AWOL
Reminds me a little of my favourite series of comics ever, Preacher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(comics)
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#45Wow. Tons of religious suggestions. Here is another one.
I'm going to write my own version of it but feel free to use the concept:
What's it like to live forever?
You are transported to hell because you are an Atheist. Everybody is doing their best to see how they can leave hell because their flesh is on fire, and they aren't dying. Some, think if they beg god that eventually he would let them in heaven. Then you stumble onto a group of scientist who like you are atheist.
They asked you if you have ever heard of the uncertainty principle. You answer yes. Is that where you can't know the position and speed of a particle to arbitrary precision at the same time. They answer something like that, but it also means that a particle has a probability of being in any part of the universe albeit most of those probability are small. That means you have a probability of being in heaven right now.
Given that we will live forever, that means anything that can happen will happen; one of these days we will magically appear in heaven. It is possible.
Then you realizing this is true and begin to feel hopeful. Then you think what if god instantly sent you back to hell what then? You go back to the scientist and explain why it wouldn't work.
Then they ask, what if god lost his godhood? What if all the particles that made up god suddenly diffused. It is possible.
Well, basis of the story is anything that can happen will happen when you live forever, so play on that.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#46Imagine if Hell were a sort of financial market. Demons trade soul futures, essentially betting on the future price of souls, which of course they consume for food. Other demons (backed by investors) devise new schemes to tempt humans into mortal sin. Failure means the souls go to Heaven, not Hell. If the demons bringing in souls should somehow create a bubble with a grand new scheme that's guaranteed to bring many s…
Funny enough a friend of a friend of mine actually wrote a book with a very similar theme - "Three Parts Dead" by Max Gladstone ( http://www.amazon.com/Three-Parts-Dead-Max-Gladstone/dp/B00D... ) The book was inspired by the 2008 financial crisis, and features deities who make contracts for uses of their powers.
It's a terrific book, and a very fresh concept. I highly recommend it, especially if you like world building.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#47Dystopian society. A new, incredibly accurate set of psychometric tests (something like IQ/MBTI on steroids) is discovered, and society as we know it is restructured into a kind of pre-emptive meritocracy. Perhaps even a different angle where the people tested are prisoners of some 'free' society and are used for its advancement.
Slightly odd other idea: some new AI technology is developed, massive leaps are made. Everything seems great until the AI start developing in odd, sometimes psychotic ways. Turns out the 'Artificial' Intelligences were originally humans, with parts of their brain slowly replaced with electronic alternatives until no meat was left. Because the process has to copy the original subject's brain so closely to work, some human characteristics are copied over and can emerge as the system matures. It turns out the original experiments were violent prisoners, and more recent, 'stable' ones were done on small children. Cue ethical catastrophe.
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#48Fellow NaNoWrimo-er! You should have started this exercise in October. Anyway, here's mine: The current iteration of God and Satan (or whatever fictional supernatural character you choose) BOTH suddenly go AWOL and throw the entire system of heaven and hell into a quandary. Turns out they are both vacationing on Earth on some remote island, spending their days fishing and drinking beer. Romantic twist: One is male, t…
1. A story about a rich man who, afraid he will go to hell, hires a spiritual "coyote" [0] to smuggle him into heaven.
2. Legion of Creation: I read a 2009 Wired review [1] of the films (unrelated) Legion [2] and Creation [3]. Not realizing the article was reviewing two separate films, I thought it was describing a single film about an angry God sending an army of angels to assassinate Charles Darwin and cover up his theory of evolution. It sounded like a more interesting film than either Legion or Creation, so I imagined a mashup called Legion of Creation. :)
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_%28smuggler%29#Coyotes
[1] http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/09/legions-tattooed-ange...
Re: Ask HN: Burning idea for a story you've always wanted written?
#49[deleted]