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YoungAchamian

We walk conditioned ground and name our folly civilization.

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joined 2022 September 05 18:51:23 UTC 

				
User ID: 680


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
YoungAchamian


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
We walk conditioned ground and name our folly civilization.

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 05 18:51:23 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 680


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Tinker Tuesday for November 3rd, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Great pieces of advice thank you! I think the voice/Character creation first + speaking them out loud looks very helpful!




avoid two primary characters starting with the same letter (and especially starting and ending with the same letter!)




I’m fucked here though. I went with a roman republic setting and apparently roman naming conventions were such that it was fairly common for you to have the exact same name as your father, your sons, and sometimes even your cousins. Gaius Jullius Caesar had the same name as his father and the same name as his grandfather. There were also only a small handful of personal names even available.


Further more, personal names (the first one) are only used intimately so most people are going to call you by your cognomen (third name), which you practically share with all your male family members. Combo-ed with the fact that since a cognomen is what friends casually call you, it needs to be something that sounds like a first-ish name to the reader in my opinion.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think this just Modbait/Trolling. Its blatant consensus building, it was posted in the midterms thread and for some reason is being reposted here. It comes from a fresh account made a couple hours ago. But in case you aren’t.




We must conclude that the people who disagree with us, those who voted opposite to our desires yesterday




You need to get your head out of your own ass. There is no WE. There is no OUR desires. Your conception of politics being such that only your policies are correct is very much the dysfunction affliction the republic. You ARE the mirror of democratic party thinking they needed to fuck democracy to save it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for November 3rd, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Anyone here have any advise for writing a fantasy novel?


I've been inspired for some reason in ways I've never before been inspired to write. Originally as a "Fixing" of a novel I read with an interesting premise, but it's slowly been mutating as I branch more and more away from the original other than the beginning framework and aesthetic veneer (that I want to make deeper). I've written about 15k words so far over 6 chapters, sort of haphazardly strewn over the book. I have a general plot outline and a deeper epic fantasy authorial cannon + magic system that I've conceptualized. I even have a nice complex romance subplot sketched out with some "Sapphic yearning".


But I seem to suck at coming up with names, or fictional idioms. And apparently I suck even more at making engaging descriptive dialogue. I've been having my alpha-reader-slave (ie my GF) read my chapters and then quizzing her on them. The general pattern is that I'm actually ok when things are happening, but my dialogue is bland or non descriptive. Several male characters read through my voice instead of their own. Things like theming or subtle clues seem to alternate between too subtle and a bag of bricks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Quality Contributions Report for October 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's interesting. What is the pure self? How much of interacting here acts as a good or bad abrasion to your understanding of your own identity? Metamorphosis is not good or bad, it merely is. TheMotte being the carpenter replacing planks on your ship of Theseus. It's possible that some rotten planks are replaced but also that weird ones are added. Is that a good thing? If you intent is maintain your self unchanged, any memetic mutation would be bad.


Idk I have weird, protean thoughts about this. Very unformed/stream of consciousness.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Quality Contributions Report for October 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Way of Kings with the magic coming from Shards means that having such a powerful stone means you have magical powers.




Uhhhh... not to be pedantic but magic doesn't come from stones in WoK. Technically speaking it comes from trauma and oaths with eldritch entities.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Quality Contributions Report for October 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I am lazy and not particularly skilled writer, and my opinions are substantially unpopular here that I have never had an AAQC and probably never will, even if I think I am occasionally manage a reasonable and correct point.




You should be careful. I thought the same way, and now for some reason I have 3 AAQCs, 2 of them for frustrated rants. I'm a bad writer, and I am also lazy. When I first started posting the mods told me I got a lot of reports because I apparently have unpopular positions. This place can metamorphize you merely from the memetic infection of reading and writing on it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I know we have some home LLM enjoyers here who use LLM-agents for personal projects. @ThenElection I think you mentioned you did.


Have any of you tried these two papers on your home-swarms? LatCom & LatentMAS I'm actually very curious on their claims, I think these could be fascinating, but I'm still in the process of buying GPUs/parts for building out my own system.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes. It is technically an application of Dunyain philosophy applied in a Gothosian fashion. A statement of the human condition.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Trust me, I intend to where there is a Libertarian candidate. I'm actually overjoyed one is available to me on my ballot.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can tell you that economically to me it is indeed a nothingburger. But politically? I will be voting democrat (I voted for Trump in 24) almost entirely because of it. The "America First" President, who ran on no more foreign adventures decided that the high from bombing brown people and getting his dick sucked by Mossad honeypots was so much better than actually fixing ANY of the myriad problems in America. The American system is unfortunately designed so that the only way I can meaningfully express my displeasure is to hold my nose and vote for the opposition party. Who actually knows if I am at all representative of the independent electorate but obviously others think so too.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Damn early morning brain fart strikes again.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's really not a constitutional crisis. McConnell blocked Obama's SC nominees. The constitution didn't catch fire despite all the screaming the left did. Dems blocking Trumps Fed judge nominees is predictable escalation of norms. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Whether or not this is a productive state of affairs is besides the point.


Democratic control of the House and Senate, which seems likely will probably result in Trump's actual impeachment. The interesting question is will they pull that trigger. There are enough "reasons" to make it on its face justified but almost everyone knows that the real reason is they hate him. That would be a significant escalation of degrading norms. Leading to situations where having the presidency and failing to maintain one of the legislature chambers is fatal. Also President Vance is likely more competent and less of a situation to be milked going into the 2028 election. The political calculus will be interesting.


I'd note that the last time Dems went with a political calculus approach, RGB's retiring under Clinton instead of Obama, it blew up in their faces in a massively bad way. Are Dem voters willing to stomach another round of Dem establishment fuckups as they try 4D chutes and Ladders instead of actually delivering wins the voters want. Might be interesting to see normie Dems string the representatives up by their toes and vote DSA-version Trump into office in 2032.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Why does the government need to decide who gets dates? It's not like they can't opensource the algorithm and the methodology. This isn't going to be "Here's your certified date, go on it or you will be fined" or anything They just need to run the app and maintain it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
So is Japan and Korea to my knowledge. I hope America will do it before we approach the TFR they are at.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I personally think this is a place for a public option to step in, and I say that as a libertarian. Society has a vested interest in solving this problem. One of the sole purposes of governments is to solve collective coordination problems. This is absolutely a collective coordination problem. There is just no profit mechanism for a private company to match people well, it destroys their usebase, and I don't think there is a solution to that, one that also doesn't act as a roadblock to users joining in the first place.


Obviously the traditional approach is to do this at the local community, but that ship has been sailing for awhile now. It's hard to create local communities that last if nobody is getting married and starting families. It also requires members with social prestige/authority in the community to organize it, and so runs afoul of the same problem third-spaces do, too many free-riders not enough organizers. And lastly it ignores the simple fact that we are just that much more socially atomized in this day and age.


Hell I'd make the app/algo if anyone knows a hookup to the FedGov to get it funded


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 30, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is the sort banal AI future I will find hilarious. Death by AI bureaucracy. Can you imagine the dark humor of AGIs taking 4 days to decide which agent will feed the human slaves a single ration? With increasingly bizarre names far beyond what our small-minded "sanitation engineering" minds can come up with. It's like a Douglas Adam's scene. Reinventing social intelligence from scratch.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Interesting, and interesting idea to mull over. We are increasingly a more navel-gazing, narcissistic culture. However without really distilling and stewing on this yet, I can tell you that the projections of the Mottean purpose for its posters rings hollow for my personal perspective. And despite enjoying that idea that I'm some special unique snowflake (some nice tasty narcissism) I know I am not. So I'd extrapolate my own motivations towards others as well. I come here because I enjoy the search and discovery of Truth(tm). What truth that is? Well that's the fun part. It's like internet archeology/anthropology, there are so many truths, so many narratives that everyone believes. Shaped by their culture, their personality, their identity. So many different flavors to taste.


Why do I post here? Originally because some people have wrong/dumb/misguided ideas and it rose to an emotive level that I felt it best to tell them that. But I also enjoy an argument, I'm a disagreeable contrarian, and because a discussion is the anvil upon which ideas are tempered. I'm not playing for the cheers of the crowd, I'm not in the arena for their adulation. If I was, it is possible I would post more tho... so maybe it's not the worst thing. I think one of the worst corruptions of the principles of open-discourse is the devolution into debatebro crowd-based arguments. The one where arguments are soldiers, you aren't fighting to understand or even to test your own ideas but to win the adoration of the audience.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not sure how to say this without coming across as an Asshole, but I do not intend to be one.


It's more that he takes an extremely maximalist position on a technically unknowable topic. He seems to lack any sort of epistemic humility towards his understanding of ML. This comes across to me as a layman's problem, but its not exclusively so. Having a career in the field, you tend to run into a recurrent problem that the SotA, headline-making approaches, often don't work for the actual practical problem you are trying to solve. Lack of compute, lack of data, lack of labels, lack of CONOP similarity, often a ton of unknowns, and commonly funding. I have trained and modified transformers till I've been blue in the face on a large number of sequence problems, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, sometimes they are just ok and are beat by simpler models. It is essentially a irregular applicability manifold. I think as you work experiments like this you get a better appreciation for how hard it is to predict whether a particular approach is going to bear fruit. Dase doesn't seem to have that, and it's telling to me.


Take for example this recent ban. I'm not digging too far into the offending thread, but what stood out to me was his assertion that "Brute Force AI is stupid and believing it makes you a retard" which is rich because a year ago, he and I got into it about the exact same topic, but his position was reversed! "Moore's law for AI is the future and believing otherwise makes you a retard!". I can keep going with examples, some of them I find really annoying. Anyway it's the sort of maximalist behavior the "recent converts" display, this sort of zealous maximalism that erodes nuance, uncertainty, and wisdom. Recent is probably a load-bearing word in our disagreement, but I'm thinking of the behavioral analogy more than the temporal element. I'm sorry if that is not clear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For a moment there I added an extra 0 to that number and thought "damn!!" but 25k is not enough for me to try what I assume is a part time job engagement farming for followers. Someone pointed out that WaltBismark was on here a couple of years ago, reading his comments I got the impression that writing the way they do goes beyond just putting your opinions in text, it really feels like they are deliberately crafting their posts to be engagement hooks.


But in general I agree with what I think is your general thrust. I think the push to monetize destroys the authenticity of one's opinions. Reading folks opinions here, I generally frame them as honest without ulterior motives. Beyond the usually annoying behavior of treating every conversation like its a debate-me-bro spectator sport, repeat with sleazy moves to convince the audience, not the conversant, similar to what George_Hale mentioned in some other thread(I swear it was this but I can't find it). After all why lie on some obscure forum beyond lying to oneself? There isn't much social cachet to be gained, there isn't money to be earned, I doubt anyone generates a significant following from Motteposting. I can believe this is someone's actual unfiltered thoughts on a topic. That changes when money becomes involved, and it destroys something precious.


I never understand who is paying anyone on the internet. I am suitably too autistic to understand following others or hero worship. Idk who pays for OnlyFans, Twitch Streamers, Substacks, Twitter Premium, Linkedin Premium, etc. I have no idea why anyone cares what influencers think, and who even pays them enough money for it to be full time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I enjoyed reading the user viewpoint series.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Despite disagreeing with poster above, I think in this case data is missing a fairly straightforward element: Dating preferences are highly localized, Aggregate statistics is highly not. The locality has a lot to do with local culture, local norms, local socio-economic factors, and local attractiveness. The problem cuts both way. Opt-out is making sweeping generalizations projected from his hyperlocal data but the reverse is also true, people making sweeping generalizations from aggregate statistics towards highly specialized local regions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Narcissism of small differences I suppose.




Very much so. He has very strong opinions on the topic. I would liken him to a the zeal of a recent convert.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wow this is how I find out he was banned from jousting with RR continuously for a whole year.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


When the anecdotes and the data disagree usually trust the anecdotes. I don’t know anyone in same-age relationships. My date today I have 20 years on.




Sure but that goes for the reverse. I'm a couple states north of you and I know about 14 long term relationships/marriages with a 1-2 year age gap and only 1 with a 10 year age gap. But I'm in my mid 30s for context and I'm guessing you are over 40, unless...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Random Musings on the State of TheMotte
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
One of the thoughts I had (very protean) about the evaporative cooling/abstract topic discussion is that in a large part we have lost a bunch big names that went on to write Substack articles for the more populous internet: Tracy, Yassine, Kulak, Dase, etc. If many of those posters engaged in more abstract, or prolific topics and find that engagement on those topics draws interest, power, fame, and status, is it any small wonder that they move offsite to something that benefits them more? It's not something we as the community can really fix.