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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (astralcodexten.com)   2157 thread views

ACT: Hardball Questions For The Next Debate

astralcodexten.com

I'd guess the vast majority of you read Astral Codex Ten regardless of whether it gets posted here, but Scott's latest culture war (adjacent) post is not to be missed.

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Right, that poem in hexameter with the constraints of half the vowels forbidden was Scott flexing on the rest of us wordcels, I'm in awe.

The hardest flex of him is in the comments:

I've never understood why people think English is bad for dactyls. I really like them and wrote a piece entirely in dactyls once to see what would happen: https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/08/17/the-goddess-of-everything-else-2/

WOW this has made me think of that post in a new light. Read it at least four times and had no clue.

Many people have said this! I'm torn between "I guess I wasted my time doing this" and "people seemed to find it beautiful, and I wonder if it's because subconsciously they noticed it was poetry even if they couldn't exactly put their finger on why."

A dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables.

Dactyls are easy though? I remember arguing with my teacher in 4th grade that they sounded a lot better and were easier to write than iambic pentameter. I didn't know they were called dactyls at the time but I wrote in that style because it seemed so much easier and more natural.

No I don't believe you, it's a type of dinosaur 😌

Yeah, Scott is talented in both prose and poetry to a level I struggle to see myself ever reaching, but that's alright, I'm content in being far above average myself.

but that's alright, I'm content in being far above average myself.

In prose, poetry and humility?

2/3 is a passing grade right?

I'm coping by telling myself he probably used ChatGPT to do most of the work.

I did actually try using GPT-4 for the same purpose, with a bit of coaxing and pointing out BPE errors, it did produce what seemed like hexameter, but I couldn't get anything close in terms of quality. Eh, let's see how 5+ handle it.

Indeed, Scott has that touch of the divine not accorded to us mere mortals. I so so wish I could write like he does, instead I have to contend myself with merely enjoying his output, which in all honestly is a pretty great position to be in too, think about the large masses who don't have the skills to even get anything out of Scott's works.

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