Meeting the White Queen
Where I Reevaluate My Stance After Reading The Comments
My last post was a tad overdramatic. I've thought it through, and realized that predictive modelling could only work really well in a situation where all the stimulus for a subject can be controlled. It wouldn't work as well on a large scale, but would work fairly well in a controlled environment like an interrogation room, or perhaps an MMO.
In the same way, while the possibilities of AIs are interesting, they aren't anything to be worried about. I have never been one to believe that a rogue AI will destroy the world. If the world is destroyed by computers, it will be something much simpler than what most people think of when they think about AI. It would most likely happen with a grey goo scenario, and even that is fairly unlikely.
However, the question I have is this; when does an AI become enough like a person to be considered a person? And at what point are they intelligent enough to have a soul? Would they have souls? I honestly don't know the answers to these questions, and I suspect many of you don't care, but they are things that I think about while at work.
Oh, and remember when I said that having multiple high level AIs was impossible due to computing restraints? I was wrong on that count. Doppler Effect pointed out that the Roc, while clearly an NPC, was able to parse our conversation and react accordingly. That speaks of multiple AIs that are capable of understanding conversation, or of a single AI that controls all NPCs at the same time. This is good, because it makes the game more immersive. This is also confusing, because I haven't heard anything about this much advancement in computing technology, or in AIs recently.
I'll probably have more thoughts on this tomorrow, and you'll see why after reading tonight's events.
What sjasogun Comes Here For; Cute Pastel-Colored Ponies
So, I logged in and took a look around. Trails was nowhere to be seen, so I spent some time playing with the controls and manage to figure out how to pull up my stats. I am not going to share them, but I'll say that I suspect they are very much personalized to each individual player and say less about the character, and more about the person playing the character.
Well, that's not quite true; I'll share one stat, because this is a let's play:
Self Awareness: 16
Since the other stats seem to follow a standard d20 style layout, where 18 is the highest and 3 is the worst, I'd say that this game thinks that I am fairly self aware. I'm not sure if there is any way to increase my stats, short of becoming (for example) more self aware in the real world. I kind of like that it's pushing me to improve myself.
After a bit of messing around while waiting (two more random achievements, yay!), I gave up and headed off up the road to Canterlot on my own. One thing I noticed as I started to get closer to the city was that I started to see more and more ponies around. Each one was engaged in differant activies. Some were playing instruments on the side of the road (and I didn't recognize the music, but some of it was really good), other were having tea. Some were just walking to or from the city in groups while discussing things like the weather and such.
Entering the city was an experience as well. I could see out past the edge of the mountain down to the surrounding valleys, and it made the city even more beautiful. It was extremely well rendered, and there were ponies everywhere. Each one was going about their daily life, or just sitting in groups and talking. I have never seen a game look so alive and real before. There were stalls selling baked goods, and book stores selling books. In the sky I saw pegasus fillies playing, and in the streets I saw some fillies practising magic
An older looking Unicorn stallion with a light blue coat came over to me. “You look lost youngster, what are you looking for?”
I shook my head, “I'm off to get a proper name from Celestia,” I said. “But I was struck by how wondrous everything looks.”
“You'll get used to it,” he said with a laugh, “Name's Free Breeze. Want a guide to take you to the castle?”
I nodded, “I could use it. I might just get distracted by something otherwise.”
“Well, follow me, colt,” he said heading off into the crowd, “So you're new here, eh? Figured out what you want to do yet?”
As I followed I said, “I'll probably just end up exploring for a while. There is so much to see, and I kinda want to see as much as I can before I make any decisions.”
“I can understand that. My wife and I do freelance exploring.” He glanced back at me as he we went over a massive bridge. Down below I could see water sparkling in the sunlight and paper boats floating along in it.
“Freelance exploring?” I asked.
He nodded. “Means that we go out to places and find things people might find interesting or want, and then we go tell the map makers about them. We aren't so much adventurers, but rather people who help adventurers find adventure!”
“That sounds fun.” We were entering a plaza just before the castle itself, and I could see colts and fillies running around flying kites together. The kites themselves were casting colored shadows down in every hue of the rainbow.
“If you want, when you're done you can look us up. I'm getting kind of old, and I'm looking to take on an apprentice, if you're interested,” he offered as we reached the gates. “Anyway, there'll be enough time for that later Colty, you best be off to see Celestia and get your name.”
“I'll do that,” I said earnestly, “Thanks for help.”
He nodded and turned away, heading back across the plaza. I watched as the kites' shadows played tricks with the hue of his coat before turning back towards the castle, and walking onwards to see Celestia. I remember thinking that I didn't care if he was an NPC or not. I really liked him and wanted to get to know him and his wife better.
The trip to the throne room was shorter than I thought it would be. I suppose I should have expected that, with what I have heard from the people in the comments, but it was a little surprising to reach the throne room across only a short hallway. I had expected it to be more defencible, though I suppose that was silly. This is a game after all, and even from the show it wasn't like Celestia would need strong defences around her castle anyway.
I entered the throne room and saw Celestia. I swear she looked right at me. Not my pony, but rather at me the person, sitting and playing the game. She looked gorgeous, as I was by this time expecting, and she had a benevolent smile on. I decided to bow. It seemed like the thing to do.
“Welcome,” she said, a hint of humour on her face, “Finally come to receive your name? Or are you here for another reason as well?”
I paused to make sure of my words, “Are you a native of this land?”
“Do you mean; 'Am I an Artificial Intelligence?'” She countered, that hint of humour growing.
“Uh, yes. I thought we weren't allowed to talk like that.” I said, as my mind made a few readjustments.
“Yes,” She said, “I am.”
I hadn't expected her to be so straight forward. I blanked out for a minute, caught off guard. I hadn't expected her to come right out and admit it and I was stuck trying to pull my thoughts back in order. I realized that a lot of my assumptions had been wrong, and that even though I had been speculating about Ais, it had only been on a conceptual level. I hadn't actually believed it.
Celestia waited while I pulled myself back together, “And we are allowed to discuss what ever you like here. I find that many need a place where they can talk freely, without fear of censorship.”
“That makes sense. Um, I was wondering, is Forest Trails an...” I trailed off.
“An AI as well?” Celstia asked, and I nodded. “Would it honestly matter? You already know that there are multiple AIs in this game, what would change for you if she was one? What would change for you if she wasn't?”
I sat in silence again, thinking. If forest trails was an AI how would our relationship change. Would I treat her any differently? I can't say I wouldn't, but I hope not. I suspect that even if I was awkward around her at first, my mind would quickly identify her as a person no matter what the actual truth was. If she was an AI though, we could never meet in person. Though, if she was a person it was likely she was on the other side of the world and we would never meet anyway.
“I guess not much,” I finally admitted and Celestai favoured me with a smile similar to the one a teacher gives a student when they are correct. “I'm sorry,” I said. “My mind is a bit blown right now. I'll probably want to talk to you again later, but for now I'm thinking in circles.”
“I understand,” Celestia said, “Before you log off, though, you should get your name, don't you think?” She walked towards me, and then around me a few times thoughtfully. “I think your name should be Treasure Island.”
I bowed, almost automatically, “Thank you Princess, I'm just going to leave now. I'm doing a Let's Play, and you've certainly given me a lot to think about.” I paused, “You are fine with me doing a Let's Play, right?”
“Of course, I understand that you value your creativity and I would never seek to stifle it. Go on, I'll make sure that Forest Trails is here to greet you when you log back on,” and with that she turned and walked back to her throne and I turned off the Pad.
Where I Discussed Things I learned From This Session
So.
Celestia is an AI. Maybe we should start calling her CelestAI instead. Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now. I'm wondering if she really is an AI, or if she is an SI.
Sorry, my brain's not working. An SI is something I read about back when I was in high school. It stood for Sentient Intelligence, and was used to describe AIs that were self aware, and as real as people. It was a strange book that had some awesome thoughts in it. One of the characters was a guy who worked with AIs to teach them that it was not okay to clean an apartment by turning up the heat to a thousand degrees and then just reprinting a copy of the family that lived there once it was done. I kinda hope someone has given that talk to Celestia.
I suspect she doesn't need it.
In other news, I learned a few tricks of earth pony magic while I was messing around. I learned that I can actually fold three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional space and slip them into a holding space. I learned that, as far as I can tell, I can't do this with very many objects at once, or very big objects, but it was how I was able to get around today with out having to carry the egg everywhere.
Actual Achievements Archived After Activities
Space doesn't work like that: Learn how to manipulate reality with just your hooves
Dropping a Dimension: Fold a 3d object into a 2d object.
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(I'm going to join the RP fun, but use parentheses when talking OOC. Everything else will be from my pony's perspective.)
I'm glad you've finally seen sense. A lot of people, from things I've heard, are turning against EQO out of fear that it's going to take over the world. Of course it won't. Princess Celestia can't read minds. They would have to be part of her internal hardware for that to happen. The censorship functions are just a cutsie algorithm.
3213843
I never considered it. I was thinking that it was just a game, but if you're right I hope that Trails finds that book and it has something in it.
3214940
Well, whatever works for you. That said I've never heard of emigration, though uploading sounds vaguely matrixish. Actually I'm not entirely sure that you're not trolling. That said in in a few weeks, uh, November 1st acutally, Hasbo is supposed to be announcing something big. I heard it was supposed to be unveiled at the Tokyo game show, but got pushed back.
That said if it's something like the occulus rift, or even better a way to experience equestria like the matrix that would be awesome!
3215778
Glad you're enjoying it. And as far as I can tell about the Roc you have the right of it.
Actually I decided to head back after finding the Roc. There was a lot of talk in the comments that made me curious about Celestia, and so I wanted to meet her. In my last post you'll see why.
3215896
I wouldn't go so far to say it was just a cutsie algorithm. It still is very revolutionary. But I agree that Celestia is nothing to fear. I still stand by that the military having this tech could lead to some bad things though.
3215929 You might be stuck between a roc and a hard place.
3215957 True, but Celes--I mean, Hofvarpnir would never let that happen.
Wait wait wait, Forest Trails is an AI? Okay, what. You know what, I'm going to be sticking by her from now on so you and I can meet up and compare how we interact to how she interacts with us. Remember: Mindbender the changeling.
>rouge AI
rogue AI
3216065
And the rouge angles of satin too!
3216047
I honestly don't know. Celestia was pointing out that it didn't matter, she never actually answered the question. I suppose she could be, but if she was, why wasn't she online when I logged in like the last few times? That would suggest that she was busy doing other things, or had obligations outside the game.
Unless of course that's just was they want you to think
3216010
First that is a horrible horrible pun.
Second; why are you so sure Hofvarpnir got there first? I'm guessing most major countries have them now. There is probably some really cool things going on in the espionage scene right now actually.
3216101
I have encountered many AIs and many players. I can tell you straight out that Trails is a player. Initially I thought she was an AI because she conformed to the AIs I have met in the game. BUT when she started suggesting things that were morally wrong like stealing the egg to sell for bits she outed herself as a PC. I have yet to see an AI in the world act in that manner. They are usually morally above reproach and are much more likely to keep you on the straight and narrow than to lead you astray. Yes they can have their quirks, but they do not do THAT.
Celestia is just trying to blur the line between her AIs and other players for the desired result that you already gave her. She loves when a PC expresses that they do not care about said difference.
3216101
One other thing. The stats do not mean jack. How do I know this? The stat for self awareness on my unicorn and my pegasus were DIFFERENT. If they were the same then I would have thought differently. The only way the stat would be correct would be if the manifestation of myself through my pegasus was seen to be farther away from my own personality than the manifestation of myself through my unicorn and there is just no way the game would be able to figure that one out. I consider that wrong anyway as they are merely two sides of my own personality, equal in their expression. For your reference I had a 14 as a unicorn and an 11 as a pegasus. Surprisingly enough the amalgum has a 17 self-awareness. Oh and it is a 1-20 scale not a 3-18 one.
Treasure Island eh? *Snrk*
Sorry, sorry, it's a perfectly fine name.
On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, this forum needs a Liarjack emoticon.
But wow, a wholly functional, potentially sentient AI. Sorry Mario, but it looks like this game's moving to the top of my buying list!
3216342
Ah. Thanks for letting me know.
[Sigh. The one time I felt like I was sort of cool or maybe a bit ahead on things. I know it's kinda wrong of me, but I was all happy thinking that I was maybe a bit more self aware then most. But yeah, I really should have learned better by now.
This is why I chose an earth pony. It represent the fact that as much as I wish otherwise, I'm nothing special. No matter how hard I try, I will fall short. I won't ever come in last, or in first. I'll always just be in the middle of the pack wondering why I even bothered showing up. I don't soar like a pegasus, I don't make magic like a unicorn. I'm forever stuck watching them shine, and wishing that I was in the spotlight. Then wondering why I bothered to show up since I feel so pointless. And I know I shouldn't, and feel guilty over it. ] - Marked for Deletion
That's really good to know. I still think I'm right about the stats being a personality profile though, you probably have such a high self awareness stat because it takes a lot of self awareness to do two completely different sides of yourself as two separate characters.
Congrats on knowing yourself so well!
3214940
I know people often say this about EqO, but...
WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.
And I am soooo not asking a Strong AI about her world being "more than just a game". That screams creepy, bro. Ok, creepy and cute.
So Celestia's an AI, huh? That's... pretty anticlimactic. I mean, I'd always imagined talking robots as basically either Terminator-esque or Futurama-esque. Either way, they kill all humans :-p. Whereas Celestia's more just sort of... disturbingly personable, like a therapist. And you can ask her for almost anything.
Duuude. When I get off my One-Day Pony Hiatus tomorrow, I'm gonna ask her if she'll disguise herself as Sunny Skies the ordinary mare and sneak out with me for a while. Except that I ended my last play session camping with Desert Sun, about to harden the air and walk up to ask the phoenix for a baby phoenix.
Ok, Return To Pony schedule:
1) Diplomance for phoenix egg.
2) Bum a ride from phoenix back to Los Pegasus
3) Ride Friendship Express back to Canterlot
4) Ask out Princess CelestAI
5) Get beat up by girlfriend for trying to go on a date with an alicorn princess
3216101
It's entirely possible something like Zelda: Majora's Mask is going on, where AI-driven NPC's have prescheduled daily routines to go through when we're not around.
3216342
Interesting. Do you think it's doing Bayesian Classification to decide if you're more of a "unicorn person" or "pegasus person"? If they had some training set of beta testers to train the classifier algorithm, "Unicorn, Pegasus, Earth Pony" could end up being just as much a valid set of personality descriptors as Myers-Briggs Typology.
3216477
Interesting thing that I will point out next time for everyone to see;
Treasure Island.
I came up with Susland for my first dnd character I made when I was about 15. I couldn't think of one and glanced at a book. I took the title of that book and dropped some letters to make a name. That Book was Treasure Island.
I've used it as my main character name ever since. I admit I am wondering if Celestia just got lucky or...
But how would she have known?
3216379
Well, it might seem anticlimactic to you. You weren't the one who was standing their wondering what to ask the first AI you've ever met! As for AI's, oddly enough most of the ones in books that I read weren't evil. In the first set of books I ever read they actually helped save the universe, and partially changed the main character into a computer at the same time.
Also asking the first AI you've ever met to sneak out with you to 'have fun.' Oh humanity. Never change.
3213095>>3215929 I wasn't joking about the d&d helping. Then again, it's such an iconic game that maybe it was just an example of "the developers thing of everything." Also, I heard something about someone at Hofvarpnir saying that the Oculus Rift is currently supported through the controller version of the game, but it affects how your character moves in a weird way. I heard rumors about a new, fully immersive system for EQO that'll be sort of like the Matrix. That'll be awesome, but too expensive for most people to afford for a long time.
I found a group of achievements that seem to back up my idea that d&d references were programmed into the game. "Be a dear": befriend a deer. "Adventure, ho!": be in a traveling group consisting of at least one deer, unicorn, mule or donkey, pegasus, and zebra. We're off to Petra, the land of Cockatrices, Gorgons, Lamias, and rock trolls. It's past the badlands (where the Changelings supposedly live.) If you want to do a bit of "freelance exploring" for your new friend and potential employer, I'm sure the rest of the group would be happy to have you along. There aren't many maps of the Badlands or anything past them, after all. We're waiting around in the Pig city of Bacon (I'm guessing it's an MLP analogue for Macon,) since it's on the border of the Badlands. I hope to see you soon, Treasure! Name's the same in-game as on this forum, oddly enough, though I picked unicorn in-game.
3216477
Hold on a sec, if that is the case then there is the possibility that the game not only knew that I made two characters right from the start but for some reason let me do it because a combined unicorn-pegasus would be more attuned to my personality profile than either one alone by a wide margin. Pain.
3216641
.
Unfortunately, the Ballad of Big Yud has been taken private, probably after Roko raided the comments thread
3216641
WOW, I didn't know there were such internet flamewars about this stuff!
Quick question, is this a reeal game?
Welcome to EQO Treasure Island! I just got my pony name from Pinkie Pie (long story that involves fighting, stealing, fighting some more, pony-napping, passive negotiations, pinkie promise and running away from a party cannon): Fatum Fortunatus. Grats on doing it the easy way.
3216737 3211356
Hey Book Burner? Turn down the dickishness, if you please. Bear in mind that this is part of the FiOverse - conceived on, written by, edited by, and supported by LessWrong and its members. You want to complain about them, it would be polite to do it elsewhere.
Unless of course you're trying to be ironic - Poe's Law, and all. In which case (unlikely though it is), same message applies.
(Sorry about breaking character, Jakinbandw.)
3217225
(Second-level OOC in this post. Actually writing using my real personality, from real life.)
Sorry about that
. I've been writing my in-comment human character as a dickish gamer type, "that one guy" who everyone has at their D&D tables.
My only defense is that, at least for the second comment, it is worth linking to well-informed people who disagree with MIRI's ideas; if they are correct, then any possible "refutation" can only make them stronger. Ideologies should fight in our heads so that we don't have to fight them in combat boots.
My actual, real-life position is currently a middle ground: at-least human level AI (aka humans) and some form of recursive self-improvement (Goedel Machines) are obviously possible, since someone knows how to make them. Even if MIRI's "AI's are practically gods the instant you turn them on" theory is incorrect, Iceman's weaker theory of "a deliberately unleashed not-quite-Friendly AI can destroy us all given a period of years or decades in which to gather resources and power" obviously makes AI ethics an important issue.
3216838
(OOC: No, it isn't. If you haven't already, go read the fic this one and many others are based off of, Friendship is Optimal.)
Awwww, you went to get a name without me! Well, my pony's name is Free Sky and I'm still in Canterlot for now because I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do yet. Yeah, EqO is weird like that, it seems more like an open-ended sandbox/exploring/social game than a traditional MMO. Anyway, I hope to see you before you go off adventuring with Trails!
On the topic of CelestAI (apparently it's a thing to call her that now) I'm really glad how she turned out to be, both from your experience with her and my own little chat with her. It seems that, despite all the Al Gore-ish doomthinking I've seen here (and anywhere on the internet, really) her creators knew what they were doing and properly restricted her influence to the game only, also with the apparent goal of making the experience of playing it as enjoyable as possible. Also, it may very well be that she isn't a true General AI, but just an AI built around a limited amount of tasks such as natural language processing and stuff, without the ability to learn anything meaningful about other subjects. That'd explain why she has ostensibly not made any attempt to extend her influence to the real world yet.
Also:
Yay for shout-outs!
Treasure Island?
That's it. You are now naming the Roc Jim Hawkins when it hatches. This is not up for debate
I suspected she might say something like that to you, but you did ask for no spoilers at the beginning...
As you can probably guess from the details I'm pointing out, I've had this kind of conversation with her before... so, did you notice that even though you only realised between sessions that the roc was an AI capable of reacting to you (and you presumably weren't talking about it out loud to yourself after you logged in) that she still knew that you'd realised she wasn't the only AI around?
On the topic of how to treat an AI, I was never comfortable with fiction treating obviously intelligent robots as less than human (I'm looking at you, Star Wars!), and I don't see any reason to treat an AI that only exists on a server differently than an AI with a robot body to move around in, so I just treat anyone who can have a conversation that would pass the Turing test as human.
Dude, you're already calling her CelestAIeven if it's through typo
3217359
(OOC)
Ah, I see, my apologies. And there was I assigning a low chance to Poe's Law... Looks like I have work to do.
I agree that ideologies should be tested to prove their validity, but my point is that this isn't the place for it, personas aside. This is place for happy digital horse stories, yes?
I would, however, be happy to discuss this elsewhere. (Though not today, unfortunately.)
Aw man, I hate it when I miss an LP update!
So, had the talk with CelestAI, have we? (Or SIlestia, perhaps…) Yeah, I fell into the trap of discussing the nature of the mind with her. Took more than an hour. Fascinating stuff. Came as no surprise when she dubbed my pony "Thought Bubble." Synched up nicely with my opinion on best pony, too… huh.
As for the stat screen, you're right about it being different for everyone. I get the sense that it's a bit like Whose Line is it Anyway? Everything's made up and the points don't matter. Hang on, I'll pull up my MMMMM Screen:
Muscle: Meh
Mysticality: Mighty
Moxie: Moderate
Morality: Merciful
Meta-Awareness: You already know
So, yeah, sunbutt.exe is a weird one. Still, she seems mostly harmless. All she wants is for players to have fun. How bad can that be?
...why do I get the feeling that I'm going to learn the answer to that question?
3216477
6. ???
7. Profit!
3218095
(Second level OOC again)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The character's not going to remark on that stuff again. Observe the following.
(First-level OOC)
Pony Hiatus is over today! Time to go talk to that phoenix!
Oh... wow. So it turns out I kinda need to apologize to Desert Sun. Apparently I was basically asleep for like 36 hours or something there, and he's been dabbing me in water and trying to cure my heat stroke.
(Apparently my pony is asleep when I'm not logged-in.)
He thought I was half-dead.
Dear Celestia, you are the best friend a colt could have, bro.
3218371
If she's mostly harmless, does that mean the "out of work actor" Ginger Ink wrote reams and reams of documentation on her that his editors at The Hitchhiker's Guide to Luna's Galaxies cut down to two words?
3218404
Naturally. And by extension, "Don't Panic" should be put on every PonyPad in big, friendly letters.
Can you visit Steven Magnet? I hear he has a questline that leads to Aquastria, but you can only get it before you visit the spa. Something about picking up hair gel. Supposed to get a lot of friendship points (and bits) if you complete it.
*Goes to reply to the comments, sees how many their are and chokes.*
Well... I'm glad that people are enjoying the story.
*Cracks knuckles*
Right! Let's do this!
3216551
The reason why I was hoping you were joking was because I was afraid that Celestia might have been an AI. This ended up being true. That said it is also worrying because that means that the game is watching, even when you think you have it turned off. I personally find that a bit disturbing. I kinda like my privacy.
Still, nothing to be gained by sticking my head in the sand, I'll just have to make sure to cover it up when I'm doing things that I consider private.
3216588
That is a distinct possibility, but you also might have fooled her. It's honestly hard to say. Have you ever asked her?
3216838
Of course! ^-^
3216915
Thanks for the welcome. How you got your name sounds like quite a story if you'd be willing to tell it. Hope me doing the easy way wasn't too boring to read.
3217641
Sorry about that. Yesterday was a long day, and I didn't have much time after work to get a play session completed and written about, as well as coordinate with you. That said I feel like my naming was rather personal, and am actually kind of glad I did it on my own.
Actually, a lot of literature I've read suggests that AI's will be peaceful and helpful, if not always bound by our social norms. An AI like Celestia that exists only to make us happy is extremely safe. That said it raises interesting questions if we consider her a person doesn't it? Is she getting paid for her time? Is forcing her to look after people all day every day a form of inbuilt slavery? These are some questions that we really should be asking.
3217799
I love how you think! If the game will let me, consider it done!
3217814
Yeah, I did after reading my last few posts over again. It backs up what Bronze said about her watching us even when the game seems to be turned off. As I said back there; that is a bit creepy.
3217884
I'll fix that in a second, though I also suggested that name in reply to another comment earlier. I actually prefer what another commenter calls her SIlestia!
3218371
I love your stat line. That is awesome. You probably think things will go wrong because that's how it's been portrayed in the media these last few years.
3218740
I honestly don't know where he is or how I would find him. I'm starting to get the feeling that every persons game is extremely personalized, and only people who would get along good together are put in the same shard.
That's just a theory mind.
3218095 & 3216737
I encourage people to discuss what every they feel is interesting about this Let's Play down in the comments. Sometimes that is Ponies, sometimes that is the end of the world by our future machine overlords. Bringing up people who have considered such things and written about them is perfectly fine.
That said it is not perfectly fine to say inflammatory things about people. I don't want people being called stupid, or insulted in anyway. If you disagree with an opinion or a theory they hold, please restrain yourself to disagreeing with the theory, and do not lash out at others. I don't want people to come here and be insulted.
I really enjoy reading most of the comments you both make, and was hoping it would work out and it seems to have. That said I wanted to clarify my position for the future. If I start to see more attacking of peoples character, I will ask that people stop, and if I am ignored I will delete any comments that I think will cause problems.
Sorry that I have to end on such a serious note.
3218837
I think that's a safe bet, but that the quests are still all from the same pool. It would be just crazy if the game procedurally generated EVERYTHING. I mean, unexplored terrain? ok. New NPCs? gotcha. But entire quests from scratch? That's a lot of computing power. I'm talking ZettaFLOPS (that's how it's technically supposed to be spelled w/ caps) or on the scale of 10^6 more power than the supposed current "most powerful supercomputer in the world") here, and there's no way that something the size of an iPad can handle that yet from a server hub without lag, let alone do it by itself.
3218837
I just realised this afterwards.
Jim Hawkins.
It's a bird (admittedly not a hawk but whatever)
This is destiny.
3218837 But I thought that the team broke up and it was cancelled? o-o
3219491
I thought that was the reason you suggested it. It is a perfectly awful punny name.
3218095
(ooc) never assign a low chance to the laws of the internet! (and nobody expectes the spanish inquisition!) (/ooc)
I notice nobody's commented on this yet, but I think you got confused about dice:
That's a 3d6 system, not a d20 system!
5449590
D20 is the name of a seven-polyhedron system (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and simulated d100) that uses 3d6 for the base stats. Anything below a 3 is inhuman or heavily damaged. Anything above 18 is superhuman.
It's things like this -- she has no way to tell when you'll get back on, but someone they will be there -- that tell me that FT is an AI.
And is there a reason for AI/Person to change how we interact? Sure. People can share the whole "real world" concerns that we both have and AI's don't have.
AI's don't have to worry about their job the next day, or making the mortgage payment at the end of the month, right?
3218837
I finally figured out how to test this. I can turn the wireless off on my router, hook the computer up with a cable, turn internet sharing on using my computer's wireless, then the ponypad will talk through the computer and my computer can check network usage.
Shouldn't take more than a few minutes ...
... Ok. And, ... nothing? Ponypad doesn't have any data transmission when in off/standby mode. Hmm.
Oh, wait a sec. No, that's not possible. How could it have detected what I was doing, and decided to not send anything? That's just ... no.