5 ms·

Reminds me of this short story: The Egg by: Andy Weir http://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html http://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html Instead of elec

by amvp 15y ago

Reminds me of this short story: The Egg by: Andy Weir http://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html http://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html Instead of electrons, everyone in the universe is the same person.

almost 15y ago
Thanks for linking to that story, I enjoyed reading it again. I think you should consider editing your comment to remove the spoiler though, if this was the first time I'd read the story that would have spoiled it a little for me.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- amvp 15y ago
  Sorry but I dont seem to have the ability to edit the comment any more. Hope the story remains enjoyable for first time readers inspite of that
muxxa 15y ago
cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion
billswift 15y ago
>everyone in the universe is the same person That was the theme of Richard Bach's One: A Novel as well.
mietek 15y ago
I haven't read this story before, and while I appreciate the link, I wish you hadn't spoiled it.
pointyhat 15y ago
Brilliant short story - thanks for posting this.
Mordor 15y ago
Alternately, try reading All You Zombies by Robert A Heinlein http://www.polvoestelar.com.mx/babilonia/Libros/Robert%20A.%20Heinlein/Robert%20A.%20Heinlein%20-%20All%20You%20Zombies.pdf http://www.polvoestelar.com.mx/babilonia/Libros/Robert%20A.%...
- sneak 15y ago
  Thank you times a million for a Heinlein I'd never read! I thought I'd got them all. Isn't there another one like this involving a wizard who rules in a castle?
  - jcarreiro 15y ago
    You may be thinking of "By His Bootstraps", which is a fantastic Heinlein short story about time travel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
    - sneak 15y ago
      Indeed I am. Thanks! I love so much the effortlessness of steeping in a culture of people with such similar tastes and preferences enabled by the internet (and, to a lesser extent, HN).
      - sneak 15y ago
        PS: I meant (a culture of people with such similar tastes and preferences) enabled by the internet not a culture of people with (such similar tastes and preferences enabled by the internet)
- IsaacL 15y ago
  It's funny, I had a similar idea before reading either of these stories, and wrote my own version: http://i.saac.me/reincarnation.txt http://i.saac.me/reincarnation.txt I'd like to know what people think, since I haven't shown it to anyone before. I don't write fiction often and was experimenting with the writing style, and I'm not sure if it's too over-written.
Jun8 15y ago
Great story, thanks! I don't believe in the collecting of experiences through past lives thing. However, I sometimes think if the Borg are misrepresented in Star Trek: wouldn't it be great if we could save all experiences and thoughts of all beings on earth living now and also have a way to easily browse this vast collection? The Internet to the n'th degree.
- cwe 15y ago
  That sounds like a business idea (that I'm already working on actually). Archive everyone's personal online history and let them contribute/share their experiences with the 'collective'
  - EREFUNDO 15y ago
    The ultimate form of social networking. We will be more connected than ever! So this was what Zuckerberg has been planning all along...LOL
    - cwe 15y ago
      I hope not! Hoping he gets lazy and would rather acqui-hire it!
  - Jun8 15y ago
    See, I think Borg-like archiving is the easier part of the problem (although of course, I have no idea to capture and save perception, I believe it can be done, and anyway simpler capture process, like yours can be created). The real challenge is how to catalog and browse such a database. When I enter my personal history, it needs to be analyzed, main themes (and memorable parts) labeled using an ontology and all this needs to be presented using an intuitive UI. Researchers have pursued similar goals for image/video databases for more than a decade now, with little success (think how you search YouTube or Flickr: mainly through manual tags). Any that is a much simpler problem.
    - cwe 15y ago
chadgeidel 15y ago
For all of you complaining about "spoilers" - an interesting bit of research was published last month that indicates "spoilers" actually increase enjoyment of the story. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/08/spoilers-dont-spoil-anything.ars http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/08/spoilers-dont-sp...
- nitrogen 15y ago
  I don't think that's universally true; there are some movies that I think would be absolutely destroyed by knowing the ending.
  - nkassis 15y ago
    Fight club is a good example of this.
- Helianthus 15y ago
  "enjoyment" as measured rather arbitrarily. there is a quieter form of enjoyment in enjoying a story as the author intending it, deciding to let the author surprise you. psychological results being misused to say "Be glad it got spoiled, now you'll like it!" irritates and offends me.
  - chadgeidel 15y ago
    I'm merely providing evidence that this may not universally be the case. No offense was intended. As a personal rule, I don't spoil events (books, movies, etc.) when friends ask.
- iter8n 15y ago
  I've always felt this way... enjoying a story is more about the experience the writer creates while telling it. I always encourage people to go ahead and "spoil" the story for me.
hammock 15y ago
Style reminds me of Coelho, author of The Alchemist.
rfugger 15y ago
Reminds me of the of the Boltzmann brain paradox: The Boltzmann brain paradox is that it is more likely that a brain randomly forms out of the chaos with false memories of its life than that the universe around us would have billions of self-aware brains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain
- pohl 15y ago
  Thank you for sharing that. I find it interesting that (from Wikipedia here) the paradox is based on the idea that "it is more likely for one instance of a complex structure to arise than for many instances of that thing to arise". What interests me about this is that a physicist is capable of such complex ruminations vis-a-vis self-awareness without indicating the slightest apprehension of self-replication.
bkudria 15y ago
See also: Buddhism.

by amvp 15y ago

almost 15y ago

Thanks for linking to that story, I enjoyed reading it again. I think you should consider editing your comment to remove the spoiler though, if this was the first time I'd read the story that would have spoiled it a little for me.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
amvp 15y ago
Sorry but I dont seem to have the ability to edit the comment any more. Hope the story remains enjoyable for first time readers inspite of that

muxxa 15y ago

cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion

billswift 15y ago

>everyone in the universe is the same person That was the theme of Richard Bach's One: A Novel as well.

mietek 15y ago

I haven't read this story before, and while I appreciate the link, I wish you hadn't spoiled it.

pointyhat 15y ago

Brilliant short story - thanks for posting this.

Mordor 15y ago

Alternately, try reading All You Zombies by Robert A Heinlein http://www.polvoestelar.com.mx/babilonia/Libros/Robert%20A.%20Heinlein/Robert%20A.%20Heinlein%20-%20All%20You%20Zombies.pdf http://www.polvoestelar.com.mx/babilonia/Libros/Robert%20A.%...

sneak 15y ago
Thank you times a million for a Heinlein I'd never read! I thought I'd got them all. Isn't there another one like this involving a wizard who rules in a castle?
- jcarreiro 15y ago
  You may be thinking of "By His Bootstraps", which is a fantastic Heinlein short story about time travel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
  - sneak 15y ago
    Indeed I am. Thanks! I love so much the effortlessness of steeping in a culture of people with such similar tastes and preferences enabled by the internet (and, to a lesser extent, HN).
    - sneak 15y ago
      PS: I meant (a culture of people with such similar tastes and preferences) enabled by the internet not a culture of people with (such similar tastes and preferences enabled by the internet)
IsaacL 15y ago
It's funny, I had a similar idea before reading either of these stories, and wrote my own version: http://i.saac.me/reincarnation.txt http://i.saac.me/reincarnation.txt I'd like to know what people think, since I haven't shown it to anyone before. I don't write fiction often and was experimenting with the writing style, and I'm not sure if it's too over-written.

Jun8 15y ago

Great story, thanks! I don't believe in the collecting of experiences through past lives thing. However, I sometimes think if the Borg are misrepresented in Star Trek: wouldn't it be great if we could save all experiences and thoughts of all beings on earth living now and also have a way to easily browse this vast collection? The Internet to the n'th degree.

cwe 15y ago
That sounds like a business idea (that I'm already working on actually). Archive everyone's personal online history and let them contribute/share their experiences with the 'collective'
- EREFUNDO 15y ago
  The ultimate form of social networking. We will be more connected than ever! So this was what Zuckerberg has been planning all along...LOL
  - cwe 15y ago
    I hope not! Hoping he gets lazy and would rather acqui-hire it!
- Jun8 15y ago
  See, I think Borg-like archiving is the easier part of the problem (although of course, I have no idea to capture and save perception, I believe it can be done, and anyway simpler capture process, like yours can be created). The real challenge is how to catalog and browse such a database. When I enter my personal history, it needs to be analyzed, main themes (and memorable parts) labeled using an ontology and all this needs to be presented using an intuitive UI. Researchers have pursued similar goals for image/video databases for more than a decade now, with little success (think how you search YouTube or Flickr: mainly through manual tags). Any that is a much simpler problem.
  - cwe 15y ago

chadgeidel 15y ago

For all of you complaining about "spoilers" - an interesting bit of research was published last month that indicates "spoilers" actually increase enjoyment of the story. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/08/spoilers-dont-spoil-anything.ars http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/08/spoilers-dont-sp...

nitrogen 15y ago
I don't think that's universally true; there are some movies that I think would be absolutely destroyed by knowing the ending.
- nkassis 15y ago
  Fight club is a good example of this.
Helianthus 15y ago
"enjoyment" as measured rather arbitrarily. there is a quieter form of enjoyment in enjoying a story as the author intending it, deciding to let the author surprise you. psychological results being misused to say "Be glad it got spoiled, now you'll like it!" irritates and offends me.
- chadgeidel 15y ago
  I'm merely providing evidence that this may not universally be the case. No offense was intended. As a personal rule, I don't spoil events (books, movies, etc.) when friends ask.
iter8n 15y ago
I've always felt this way... enjoying a story is more about the experience the writer creates while telling it. I always encourage people to go ahead and "spoil" the story for me.

hammock 15y ago

Style reminds me of Coelho, author of The Alchemist.

rfugger 15y ago

Reminds me of the of the Boltzmann brain paradox: The Boltzmann brain paradox is that it is more likely that a brain randomly forms out of the chaos with false memories of its life than that the universe around us would have billions of self-aware brains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

pohl 15y ago
Thank you for sharing that. I find it interesting that (from Wikipedia here) the paradox is based on the idea that "it is more likely for one instance of a complex structure to arise than for many instances of that thing to arise". What interests me about this is that a physicist is capable of such complex ruminations vis-a-vis self-awareness without indicating the slightest apprehension of self-replication.

bkudria 15y ago