cks you designed to be ~exotic~ or whatever, and those rabid jerks at Disney can only grit their teeth now!
Jul
5th
2015
DOA, one year later · 11:36pm Jul 5th, 2015
A year ago I published my first foray into the Optimalverse, and it seems to have done quite well for itself so far.
Yes, the irony with that name, I know.
Still, top ten. Not bad, not bad at all. 
Sadly don't have much to add about it. There was no 'aha!' moment, just a neat idea that turned out well.
Heck, only bit of trivia even was that the reason I was so poor at answering comments was because we had a heatwave so bad, it all but killed my muse completely for almost all of that summer.
I sadly don't have any ideas that currently would work in the Optimalverse, but I'm glad this first try turned out so well. Thank you to all of you gave the story a try. 
(And a link if any new readers are curious. Warning for strong religious themes.)
Nothing personal, but I really don't plan on touching that one, ever. I really can't imagine for the life of me what even made you want to write a story in that setting. It is in every sense just as smug and annoyingly self-satisfied as that idiot Yudkowsky and his little cult of personality are. Nothing of value ever comes out of that crowd, except for a whole lot of faux-intellectual circlejerking. They're the embodiment of everything that gives AI research a bad name.
3210308
Fair enough.
Personally I find how hollow and hedonistic a view of the future FIO quite fascinating if disturbing. One of those 'dark future we should avoid' type deals.
It's ice-cream for every meal. Forever, and ever, and ever. And you'll never get as much as a tummy ache, because mommy Celestia won't allow it.
Kinda like Terminator. Good movie, but I don't watch it for the science.
And that was actually what I wanted to explore in DOA. It's more of a horror story told from the well-meaning but inhuman monster's point-of-view, rather than straight sci-fi.
If nothing else it was really fun writing somepony so inhumanly perfect, if you know what I mean.
3210308
I love that setting because it's amusing and produced many high quality stories, not because of the run-away science 'be careful what you wish for' AI monkey-paw literal genie.
I give the science and Fantastic Aesops a pass in the same way I do for many other fantasy and science fiction works, and enjoy the 'temptation into damning yourself' themes. Helps that many of the authors know how to write the stories to always feel like there is something wrong with the scenario, and how each of them imagines what Equestria Online would be like. I've yet to see a single story that didn't involve flanderization of the uploadee into a flat character with a gimmick.
I'd be the first to argue that we'd probably have brain uploading before AI self-directed self-improvement. The whole singularity thing is a hilarious SciFi concept by people who do things like take Moore's Law as a literal truth. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy stories with that in there.
A good story and one of the few Optimalverse stories i'll read.
It has been awhile since I read it, but DOA is my second favorite of your stories after Dark Horse. I love the idea behind the optimalverse, even though I thought the original left a lot to be desired. It is such a perfect setting for transhuman horror.
Your take was brilliant. A completely literal God of the bible / Dante's Inferno God on one end, and CelestAI on the other. Between the two Eldritch Abominations, CelestAI is the lesser evil by a lot. Just as inflexible and prone to torture as you would expect from the Biblical 'monster in charge,' and a protagonist so removed from baseline humanity, and with so much perspective that Hell itself is barely an inconvenience.
Absolutely loved it. If I didn't want you working on Dark Horse I'd be clamoring for a sequel.
3210466
3210417
You know, when you put it in terms like that, as a satire or parody, it does sound like you could actually make a decent enough read out of it. I still think I'd find the whole thing too aggravating to really enjoy reading, having had to deal with the guy and knowing how dead fucking serious he is about every single bit of the stupidity he spouts, but I can at least see where the appeal would lie.
3211391
I wouldn't call DOA satire, more that I was more interested in other things compared to the original. The broad-strokes is still the same, but the spot-light is in a different... well, spot.
Bit of a bad example since the movie was satire, but kinda a Starship Troopers type deal. The book being a highly pro military sci-fi, while the movie more focused on being satire of that 'the military can do no wrong' mentality. And despite that both feature a war against space bugs.
FIO is almost laser focused on what a horrible idea AI is (something I disagree with for the record), while I more wanted to try my hand at how alien a post-human would be after billions of years in Celestia's toy-box. A character instead of a message piece I think sums it up.
Glorious Cypher never really even clues into that he's dead. Something like that happening is such a alien concept to him, that it never even crosses his mind except as a rather strange and slightly dark theme for a shard.
Still, fair enough, I know the Optimalverse isn't for everybody.
3210685
Thanks.
I have actually considered that, but I really only see two ways forward that the story could continue.
A,) Glorious and Lucifer's super-happy-fun hell-conquering time, as the two cheerfully try to 'corrupt' each other to the other's point of view.
Or B,) Celestia arrives in her full, terrible glory, her entire horrifying mental might focused on how to reclaim her lost pony.
Think either or even both could turn out quite well, actually, but I simply haven't had the time and mental energy for something so philosophy heavy.
Oh, that and both stories being to flame-bait what gasoline and rags is to a bonfire. Also a reason I'm not planning on rushing a sequel, if one ever happens.
3212192
Well If you are taking votes, I'd go with A, because that sounds amazing.