4 ms·

I think we've reached that point (which I know has a name) where I honestly can't tell if this is a satirical gag or genuine.

crocodiletears 5y ago
I'm really hoping someone here jumps up and takes credit for it as a prank.
unmole 5y ago
Meh. That happened a long time ago.
hprotagonist 5y ago
Poe’s law
tormock 5y ago
choward 5y ago
Seriously. I thought it was satire for sure but I started the checkout process just to be sure and it seemed real.
colecut 5y ago
It seems to be a "just kidding... unless you want to" situation
0xcde4c3db 5y ago
Especially considering that there's a surprisingly on-the-nose analog in The Handmaid's Tale. I can't find the actual passage, so I might be mangling the details, but from what I recall there were printing companies that pivoted to printing prayers... only for the paper to be immediately recycled and used for the next order. The point of paying for it was basically to signal that one was pious and/or wealthy enough to not care about the waste.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- JNRowe 5y ago
  Your recall looks to be pretty good ;) "At the corner is the store known as Soul Scrolls. It’s a franchise: there are Soul Scrolls in every city centre, in every suburb, or so they say. [...] Ordering prayers from Soul Scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety and faithfulness to the regime, so of course the Commanders’ Wives do it a lot. It helps their husbands’ careers. [...] The machines talk as they print out the prayers; if you like, you can go inside and listen to them, the toneless metallic voices repeating the same thing over and over. Once the prayers have been printed out and said, the paper rolls back through another slot and is recycled into fresh paper again." Side note: I found the quote by searching my comment history¹ and then picking up the book, because that is faster than finding the text in the book without any hints. I really can't decide if that is good thing or not. Like some super weak version of Chiang's Remem² ¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672286 ² https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth_of_Feeling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth...
  - aspenmayer 5y ago
    Ted Chiang is a great writer, while not being showy. I like his writing for how easy he makes it seem to write compelling ideas into narratives. I found his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others quite a good intro to his oeuvre. I quite liked the film Arrival, which is based on the title work of the collection. I should read more of his work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Other...
- Thorentis 5y ago
  That book was surprisingly accurate in many details, but grossly inaccurate in who the perpetrators were. For instance, I think that analog better parodies the modern day virtue signalling than it does people praying.
iLoveOncall 5y ago
Moneygrab, as is all that uses blockchain.

crocodiletears 5y ago

I'm really hoping someone here jumps up and takes credit for it as a prank.

unmole 5y ago

Meh. That happened a long time ago.

hprotagonist 5y ago

Poe’s law

tormock 5y ago

choward 5y ago

Seriously. I thought it was satire for sure but I started the checkout process just to be sure and it seemed real.

colecut 5y ago

It seems to be a "just kidding... unless you want to" situation

0xcde4c3db 5y ago

Especially considering that there's a surprisingly on-the-nose analog in The Handmaid's Tale. I can't find the actual passage, so I might be mangling the details, but from what I recall there were printing companies that pivoted to printing prayers... only for the paper to be immediately recycled and used for the next order. The point of paying for it was basically to signal that one was pious and/or wealthy enough to not care about the waste.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
JNRowe 5y ago
Your recall looks to be pretty good ;) "At the corner is the store known as Soul Scrolls. It’s a franchise: there are Soul Scrolls in every city centre, in every suburb, or so they say. [...] Ordering prayers from Soul Scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety and faithfulness to the regime, so of course the Commanders’ Wives do it a lot. It helps their husbands’ careers. [...] The machines talk as they print out the prayers; if you like, you can go inside and listen to them, the toneless metallic voices repeating the same thing over and over. Once the prayers have been printed out and said, the paper rolls back through another slot and is recycled into fresh paper again." Side note: I found the quote by searching my comment history¹ and then picking up the book, because that is faster than finding the text in the book without any hints. I really can't decide if that is good thing or not. Like some super weak version of Chiang's Remem² ¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672286 ² https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth_of_Feeling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth...
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  Ted Chiang is a great writer, while not being showy. I like his writing for how easy he makes it seem to write compelling ideas into narratives. I found his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others quite a good intro to his oeuvre. I quite liked the film Arrival, which is based on the title work of the collection. I should read more of his work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Other...
Thorentis 5y ago
That book was surprisingly accurate in many details, but grossly inaccurate in who the perpetrators were. For instance, I think that analog better parodies the modern day virtue signalling than it does people praying.

iLoveOncall 5y ago

Moneygrab, as is all that uses blockchain.