The future. The singularity has passed, and post-humanity is still here, and thriving. Artificial Intelligences rule the roost, but mankind in all its glorious forms has just begun to take its first steps into a wider, fuller, more dynamic and overall complicated reality.
When a hostage situation and resultant 'net blackout causes havoc at a cafe, a recently decanted ponified citizen is caught in the middle of some very strange goings on, between the real world and that digital paradise they call Equestria.
Chapters (13)
So... this is more or less an Optimalverse situation, with a less 'colonization-driven' Celestia? Neat.
Woah. So humans kinda became this little entourage of semi-autonomous AIs? All of these concepts are so far out
"personal cloud", hm? I like it
Small correction:
> There are a number of globally recognizable brands in the world, infact
"in fact" - two words ;)
3688899
well it started off as a "what if there was more than one AI" idea... well, it actually started off with a nebulous "what if we had to build Equestria" idea some time before the Optimalverse popped up, went through a few different "how could we do this in the Optimalverse" phases, then returned to me deciding to do my own thing.
So you can think of this as "humanity goes post-human and post-physical, only post-human tends to have four hooves". This is Equestria and Equestrians making their way through a massively expanded Ordinality of worlds, where the trivial fact that it started off physical and human is just one minor facet.
In several ways, this is already post-post human. The first singularity has been and gone, and things have already taken a turn for the Vingian. I'm just charting a ship through these waters and bringing back something mostly-relatable for you guys to play with.
3688988 Well, I love it, so far
3688899
Yeah, I've actually written about 8000+ words for this setting so far, and it went through about five different attempts at getting chapter 1 out. None of them felt quite right.
I'm using a bunch of new, fun words which almost exist to describe things which we don't (yet) have, so you'll have to see them in context to get what they're evolutions of. I've amped up the ponypunk to eleven in this, so be prepared for anything. This is a world vastly different from our own, yet hopefully similar enough you're not lost. Kind of Transmetropolitan, with ponies.
If somebody would do Spider Jerusalem with MLP I would love them forever. Can you imagine Twilight wearing those glasses going "To me, filthy assistants!" ?
3688899
Very interesting premise. I'm definitely seeing shades of the various sources you mention, particularly the optimalverse and accelerando. The multiple competing AI angle is quite interesting - I imagine there is an ever-shifting network of alliances between the AIs to maintain the balance of power and prevent Celestia from running roughshod over the competition.
Your ability to envision and communicate the ramifications of the world are also engrossing, and inventing new terminology to communicate it is an effective approach.
All in all, a very solid premise.
3688899
You should check out Accelerando, if you haven't already. It's got a very similar feel, looking a possible post-singularity path.
Also, I should note that I am getting the sense of Celestia playing the long game and trying to outmaneuver the other AIs for ultimate dominance.
3689011
Spike is Channon, Owloysius is Yelena, or the other way around?
3689168
Funnily enough, I'd do Spike as Yelena and Trixie as Channon
Excellent story A++ would read again
3689173
Yelenajack and Channondash.
Fascinating. A blend of Conversion Bureau and Optimalverse blended with a more traditional post-Singularity setting (if such a thing can be said to exist.) Benign corporate AI overlords, cartoons made real, the cloud as global hivemind...
Yes, I think I'm going to enjoy this immensely.
Looking forward to more.
One thing, though: the whole false memory is kind of freaky. Is it really necessary for the bod-mod to come with a mental retcon?
I love this sort of sci-fi. The whole personal cloud of daemons idea is really interesting.
3689109 Which Accelerando? I found two stories with this name.
Title wouldn't happened to have been inspired by 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,' would it?
Either way, I'll check this out over the weekend.
Very nice so far, I like the concept behind it, and I like how you have more than one posability. Its not all doom and gloom, more twords the more optimestic outlook of post sigularity existance.
I rather like your man/machine melding,it feels very workable, and very doable, and alows humans to keep doing what thay are best at, yet having the ais working to manage the crap that we are rather good at screwing up. I do like how you include in there that its not all rainbows and sunshine, but, that its really a whole lot of grey,
This is awesome. Can't wait for more!
3689255
I approve of this.
3689341
The one by Charlie stross
3689257
That's what the main character was wondering too, wasn't it?
3689376
The title is, but it's not a crossover.
3689566
This is more trans metropolitan than blade runner, and whilst it inherits some from optimalverse and tcb, it is based on and in neither.
It's as optimistic as the culture novels, let's say, and I hope similarly colourful.
3689616 Make it three stories then.
Thanks! It's in my to read list now.
Wait... how did I quote this in my post and miss the error?
> they weren't truly independant daimons
should be "independent".
3689682
drat! that's rather irksome that the spellchecker didn't catch it
3689257
Well the way I see it is this: memory is fickle. What's actually happening is (somewhat) backed up by neuroscience. Namely, when he got the body-mod, he also got a brain-body map update so that his body and his brain/mind both agreed what shape he was. This then translates over to his memories of when he was a child by substituting in his current status instead of his original one, because his brain can't tell the difference.
I have no idea whether this would actually happen, but it was a fun idea, so I ran with it
3689624
Yup. Intuitively he knows that he's remembering things wrong, but his brain is convinced it's right. Well, that's what eigenstate vectors are for, eh?
3689707
Nyerguds is still best Spellchecker!
3689707
Oh. Huh. Let me see...
Guess I couldn't parse that bit of technobabble. I thought he might have been referring to the new sensation.
Not that I mind the tech-speak! There's no reason to expect the very model of a singularitarian to have a vocabulary identical to someone with a baseline meatbody.
This is a lovely story already. Reminds me of Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End. Futuristic, but not so far in the future that we can't already see the shapes of it in the mists.
Interesting. I like the strange level of normality that emanates from this story. The singularity is over, we get on with our lives. As Goofy. Or a pony.
3689341
I'd go with this one: Charles Stross "Accelerando"
EDIT
Dang it. That's what you get for opening the page, then going out for dinner. Anyway, that page has the story under Creative Commons.
3690241 Ah, thanks for the link! You've helped me save money. I had wish-listed it on Amazon, where free it most certainly isn't.
3689376
Pretty sure it was. He mentions 'whuffies,' which were the social currency used in "Down and Out."
I've read this chapter like three times already. It just nails the whole "World ended for the better, guess we should keep going" vibe of the most promising near-to-mid-future sci-fi stories.
3690516
yup, the word "whuffies" comes directly from out and about. Warm fuzzies are the currency people use when you don't actually need real currency any more
I'm pretty sure the way "my" whuffies work aren't the same as in out and about, but the name stuck with me.
Well now, this chapter takes us well beyond the augmented reality of Vernor Vinge, and even past the trans-humanism of Doctorow's "Down and Out."
Is there another futurist whose predictions you're borrowing, Mids?
3714324
Yup, this time I'm borrowing from 'the ordinalverse' by one midnight shadow n_n
Just as engrossing as the first chapter, though I'm still having trouble keeping track of the characters and their relationships to each other. I imagine it will become clear in time.
3714558
Is that where the semi-sentient avvys (avatars, I assume) come from? They're probably the most interesting individual facet of this world so far for me.
3715339
I'd be lying if I said they haven't ever been done before, but yes, the semi-sentient avatars are my own. The idea came from how we already generate characters and personas for ourselves, but formalised and enhanced.
3714558 Is it online somewhere? Anyway, very interesting so far!
I believe that there is more than one person in a given mind, but usually fewer than two. We swap bits of personality in and out of active use based on context and company, and some transform themselves so immensely between work and play as to be near unrecognizable. Seeing the avatars and other thought constructs of this setting seems like a logical extension of this belief.
More on topic, I see CelestAI is up to her usual tricks, though with real competition and a much slower growth curve as a result. I find myself wondering what other Hasbro IP's she's folded into Equestria. Especially those of Wizards of the Coast, though that's my personal specialty leaking through.
But I ramble. This continues to be fascinating. Eagerly looking forward to more, especially since I'm not sure where the story's going next.
3720625
Yeah, it's online, on this very site in fact. The only story in it so far is called "out and about in the equestrian kingdom"
3720731
In my own canon, Celest-AI in this iteration has folded everything from Hasbro into her own continuity, plus quite probably a few more. Everything which can be online with its own memespace is, and fans of these franchises create themselves avatars to represent and exist within them, in a series of linked, alternate artificial (though the distinction between "artificial" and "real" is pretty much moot at this point) realities - hence "ordinalverse", a series of universes.
I thought it might form a fun setting
This continues to be fascinating.
3714806
It's relatively simple.
Our four-legged friend Mixed Oats used to be a human until he got ponytraits. He has a female pegasus semi-sentient avatar named Mint Julep, and now a GPS daimon (also semi-sentient) that wants to be a crow living in his head.
Malcolm Rogers is a sheriff. His avatar is called Kojak (yes, his avatar is bald and has a lollypop). He's also wetwared to the gills to the degree that he pared off another copy of his mind to go do the rest of the policework online whilst his real body went off to "have coffee" with Mint Julep until her host Oats woke up - only Oats took long enough to wake up that Julep and Rogers ended up sleeping together.
(the thing is, that's all they did, but ssshhhh don't tell the shippers that)
3730048
Ah, cool. Yeah, Mint Julep was a bit of a wild card, so it's a bit clearer now, thanks
Achievement unlocked: First Steps!
That's probably the reason why. Real artists are harder to impress with that kind of stuff
But... they don't normally wear clothes!
[edit] Wait, that's the Sheriff she bunked up with? That was kinda not clear at all, Middy
[/edit]
All this switching between Equestria and the real world is making my brain hurt
Another lovely chapter! I'm really wondering what the underlying plot of this story will be
Remarks and corrections:
> it's strained mechanism
"it's"? Really, Middy? Really?
> Let Julep be your guide, you need to let loose once in a while.
That looks like two sentences strung together with commas.
3733188
I was jetlagged and in England! Plus eating too much! It won't happen again! *whimper*
Also yes, "Julep" slept with the sheriff. That's the problem with his being naked - not her so much.
3733188
Also also, the actual story is a doozy. I think you'll like.
3734405 I do like me some doozies
3734397 On a completely unrelated note, Mint Julep is the nickname of the guy who made the cover of The Daily Unlife (and who did a load more FO:E art
)
Argh, fimfiction, stop claiming crap when i type for symbols you want to toss in. But I like the idea of this, the terms are very shadowrun/neuromancer based in the overview. And love the interaction of synthspace to meatspace, especially how modded the sheriff is to do this. The question left is when dealing with an ai of that level, is when it realizes and makes for someone to do what it cannot by nature, circumstance, or active meddling.
3737294 If you mean it inserting i and b and u tags while you're typing normal words, that problem is usually fixed by tapping both of your [ctrl] keys once, so the system realizes they're, in fact, not held down while you're typing normal stuff