A quick look at a thought process · 2:47am Dec 27th, 2017
So, Exchange Program occurs in summer of 2008 (established by time since 9/11, and also Sunset Shimmer's portal activation date, assuming the show start date is the day that happens in Equestria). And astute readers have noticed that Rachel and Shankar are at least passingly familiar with the LessWrong 'sequences' - a series of essays on a variety of topics, which were written across a period including summer of 2008.
So I thought, "Hey, suppose Rachel finally gets a free moment, sits down at the computer, and checks out her blogroll - what is she going to find?" So I checked. And the argument they just had in the car was extremely topical to the June 30th 2008 post, and she seemed to use that knowledge. So it ought to be after that. If I set the story so Saturday is the 5th of July… then I kind of didn't mention that it started on Independence Day, when it ought to have been mentioned if it were. If I let it be the week after that, then I missed the 4th of July altogether. On the other hand, we'd still get to cover the conventions and the olympics. That'll probably be good enough for those purposes.
Okay! Exchange Program started on July 11th, 2008. There we go.
This carries the further implication that they just wrapped up the Quantum Mechanics sequence last month. Now, considering my plans for the next chapter, I've got to decide what Rachel's reaction to that was. Followed it and understood? Eyes glazed over and stopped reading for a bit until it got over? Read without understanding? Introduced to the site after that sequence was over and so isn't getting it in her current-posts reading, and hasn't reached it in her catchup reading? And the same questions for Shankar. Neither of them has brought up any of the natural questions one might ask, based on that sequence, concerning magic. Or maybe they were asked offscreen, or they've been too overwhelmed or distracted to get around to them yet.
Now, I am unable to assess how difficult it would be for someone who has not taken math of many-dimensional vector spaces to follow along that sequence. On the other hoof, since I was going to write about that anyway, supposing that she's just finished that would help me bump up my estimate of her knowledge. And it wouldn't be so mentally available out of context that it would automatically occur to her to use it up to now. Conflicts averted! I can have her know some things.
BUT I do not have to. As I alluded to earlier, she could have just started reading LW in the past few weeks. She certainly only started dating Shankar in that general timeframe, and that may be related, one way or another. I haven't pinned down much there. Plus, I don't want to have to suddenly go in and explain why she knows so much about QM. It would make the LW-ness explicit rather than an easter egg, which I'd rather avoid; and leaving it unexplained would strain credulity.
So I'll let her be still catching up on the sequences while reading the current stuff, but she started some time in the metaethics sequence, not the QM sequence.
Addendum: You know what else was published that week? June 29, 2008 -> HOW IS BABBY FORMED. This is set in the crux of history, folks.
It's always fun to set up a world.
Further notes: Indiana Jones' Crystal Skull installment and Wall-E just came out.